Since it’s the first day of summer I decided to post a simple summer salad recipe using some amazing fresh garden vegetables. This recipe is so simple, it’s really hard to call it a recipe. Just some fresh ingredients with good seasonings.

My grandmother made this when I was a kid and as many of my recipes do, this brings back so many great memories. Growing up I lived right next to my grandparents and I remember the giant garden my grandfather would plant. The garden always had fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers, lettuce and of course zucchini. This is just one of many recipes that my grandmother has inspired and I have tried to keep the simplicity of her recipes while adding my own twist. My twist on this is to use purple onion instead of yellow onion which is what my grandmother used and I’ve substituted olive oil for vegetable oil simply because I like it better.

Summer Salad Ingredients:
2-3 large Tomatoes
1 Cucumbers
1/4 medium Purple onion (thinly sliced)
2 Tbls Cider Vinegar
1 Tbls  Olive oil (vegetable oil will do just fine)
Salt and fresh ground pepper
Optional: chopped garlic and 1/4 cup shredded carrots

Summer Salad method:
Chop the tomatoes into large chunks. Cut the cucumbers into round slices. I like to make them a little fancy by running a fork across the skin from end to end before cutting them.

It just adds a little flair!

I didn’t do it today, but you can also add shredded carrots to this salad. It adds a good crunch and great color. Add all the vegetables to a medium size mixing bowl.

In a small bowl mix vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. If you are adding fresh garlic add that now and stir all together.

Pour the vinegar and oil mixture over the vegetables and mix together to coat. Enjoy!

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Ciao, Mike.