Eating From the Garden: Cucumber, Tomato, and Golden Beet Salad
Oh Texas June, you befuddle me with your shiny garden produce set to the backdrop of triple digit days. Summer technically hasn’t even begun yet but the green beans and squash and tomatoes are needing extra water and mulch to survive the heat. Whereas I was once picking strawberries and peas on warm Midwestern June days, I now find myself at the tail end of summer harvests and watching the okra reach for that mid-day sun.
And so here we are, picking giant cucumbers and making pickles, the lettuce and radishes and peas long since replaced. It is full and it is rich and it is surely summer if we get to eat just a handful of red ripe tomatoes here and there, right?
“But it isn’t even summer yet!” remarked Elijah this morning, ever the knower-of-facts and corrector-of-Mamas. True, but if it’s over 80, it’s summer… and who decides that summer starts the same day in Minnesota as it does in Texas anyways? I’m sure there is a logical explanation somewhere but unless it involves tomatoes, it is lost on me.
So I think I’ll just pick some green beans, eat this salad, and call it summer, even if Elijah and the calendar say otherwise.
Cucumber, Tomato, and Golden Beet Salad
Note: Raw beets are wonderfully delicious and healthful but we have only had success with a small patch this spring. Because we prize them for their nutrition, we use these golden beets from Azure as a great addition to the vegetables currently coming from our garden.
Ingredients
- 2 yard-long cucumbers (or 4 smaller)
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 2 large golden beets, peeled
- 1 cup fresh cilantro
- 4 green onions
- 3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 4 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- salt to taste
Directions
Chop the cucumbers and beets into bite-sized pieces and toss into a medium mixing bowl. Mince the onion and cilantro and add to the vegetables along with the tomatoes.
Toss together and then drizzle in the vinegar and olive oil. Season to taste generously with salt.
Let sit for 20 minutes to allow flavors to meld before serving.
we are vegetarians, and we depend upon the brand, peas, and lentils to provide us with our much needed protein and the greens with our iron. I freeze, can, pickle, ferment, and dry all the extra and we have a ton of extras. Lately we have been eating fresh salads and roasted vegetables to our heart’s content. tonight we are eating the last of the turnips from my daughter’s garden. All my turnips are fermenting. I am going to roast turnips, beets, carrots, and potatoes with sliced onions and garlic, all homegrown. The purple hull peas are producing like crazy so we’ll have a pot of those too. I am making a sweet basil salad with sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, and bell peppers. My husband likes fresh dill sauce on his but I eat mine plain. Everything in the salad and the dill sauce comes from my garden except the balsamic vinegar. I dread the cold winter. Usually during the coldest nights, I spend my time planning my garden. I lived in El Paso TX for a couple of years and wonder if your area is as hot and dry? Do you irrigate your garden?
I am so enjoying eating more vegetables. It has been a learning curve re-programming my diet to emphasize veggies, but it pays off in so much more energy and better health. Now if only my garden would grow! Another learning curve.