Tomato and Cucumber Salad

Every Spring we purchase a good number of cucumber seedlings and plant them in the garden waiting to enjoy the tasty fruit of our labour.  Consequently we lose about half of our plants to an elusive creature that likes to sever the tender young stems leaving the plants lifeless on the ground!

Hoping to outwit this cucumber plant destroyer, this year we decided to transplant the small, tender seedlings into larger pots and wait for them to develop a stronger stem before planting into the ground.  I suppose not having much confidence in our newly hatched plan was the reason at least three times the usual quantity of plants were purchased.

I’m not sure if it was a matter of successful planning or the culprits acquiring a taste for some other tasty plant this summer finally leaving the cucumbers alone!  To say the least, family, friends and neighbours have been enjoying our bumper crop of cucumbers. I enjoy the feeling of walking past the cucumber displays in the grocery store knowing I can go home and pinch one off a plant!

In my opinion the best way to eat a cucumber is freshly picked, peeled and enjoyed, however a few cucumber radish salads are enjoyable as well.  Although many enjoy cucumber, tomato salads I have never been able to reconcile the texture of tomatoes and cucumbers in the same bite.  This week the two textures finally met in my version of a tomato cucumber salad.

Chopping the tomato and cucumber into smaller pieces made a more palatable experience. The addition of chopped red onion, a little olive oil, salt, pepper, a squeeze of lime juice and fresh oregano added extra taste and texture. Don't forget a little heat from the chili pepper!

Serving the salad on an Asian ceramic soup spoon was a great way of getting the perfect bite!


Tomato Cucumber Salad

These are the basic ingredients, quantities depend on amount you want to make.

cucumber
tomatoes (Roma is the best variety as retains its texture best and is less watery.)
red onion
fresh oregano or dried if fresh not available
salt and pepper to taste
lime juice
olive oil
hot chili, optional

1. Chop cucumber and tomato into bite size pieces, place in a bowl.
2. Dice red onion and chili pepper, add to the tomato and cucumber.
3. Add fresh chopped oregano or a sprinkle of dried.
4. Dress with a little olive oil and lime juice.
5. Toss all ingredients together and serve.

A Cucumber Story


Baby picture...

BF's but not forever...

Hiding behind the leaves...















Hiding behind the fence pole, as still as can be...

Hid from us until we finally took it into custody...















Keeping an eye on this one, obviously trying to open
the latch on the gate and escape! 

THE END