Cucumber Tomato Salad

My garden is still overflowing with cucumbers.  We can't eat them, pickle them, or give them away fast enough.  Even if we ate cucumbers 3 meals a day, we would still have too many.  And yes, this is only from one plant!  Those things grow like weeds! 

When I was finishing up dinner the other night, I realized that I had forgotten to make a veggie to go with the meal.  I needed something fast so I decided to make a quick cucumber tomato salad.  It's so refreshing and tasty, it makes you forget you are actually eating something healthy!  

I like to start by washing and slicing up my cucumbers and tomatoes and putting them in a serving bowl.  I grind some fresh salt and pepper over the top.  Then I will drizzle over some oil and vinegar over the top.  In 5 minutes tops, I have a yummy vegetable to serve with my meal or as a stand alone snack.   

I have a slight addiction to gourmet spices, seasoning blends, olive oils, and vinegars.  I love that you can make the same basic dish and make it different every time based on a slight variation each time.   So even though I make this salad frequently, I always try to change it up to keep it from getting boring.  Sometimes I'll use rice vinegar and sesame oil.  Other times, I'll use olive oil and apple cider vinegar and toss in some fresh basil.  I've even added some sliced sweet red onions, mozzarella cheese, and olives to the mix.   

This time I used olive oil and a 20 year old aged pomegranate balsamic vinegar.  In place of salt, I used some Garlic Gold Sea Salt Nuggets.  Have you tried Garlic Gold before?  If you haven't you really should.  (No, they aren't paying me to say this...I just love this stuff).  I picked up some with a Groupon-like deal a while ago and I'm obsessed.  Little crunchy nuggets of garlic and sea salt.  This is not the garlic salt my mom used when I was little.  This stuff is awesome.  

I think that this was probably my favorite combination that I have put together so far.  Maybe we were really hungry, or it was really that good, but I was really disappointed when the bowl was empty.  

Cucumber Tomato Salad

1 cucumber

1 large tomato

1-2 tbl olive oil

1-2 tbl vinegar

salt and pepper

Wash cucumber, peel and seed if desired.  Slice.  Wash tomato and slice.  Place tomato and cucumber slices into a serving bowl.  Drizzle with oil and vinegar.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.   

This post was shared on Whole Food Fridays Week #11 and Creative Thursday Link Party #26