Cucumber Salad

Last week I harvested several things from Tricia's Garden (Thief!). I've had these cucumbers sitting here for a couple days and didn't know what to make. So I figured I would give a cucumber salad a try. I've never eaten a cucumber salad, let alone made one, but all the recipes looked pretty simple. The basic ingredients seem to include chopped cucumber, some sort of vinegar, sugar, and various spices. So I came up with the following.

• 2 garden fresh cucumbers
• 1/4 Cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 teaspoons organic white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• garden fresh cilantro

1. Cut the cucumbers lengthwise and scoop out the seeds, then slice thin. 
2. Mix the other ingredients in a bowl.
3. Add the chopped cucumbers and mix thoroughly.
4. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

remove seeds and chop cucumber

mix vinegar, sugar, salt, cilantro in a bowl

add chopped cuke and mix with other ingredients

let sit in fridge for a at least an hour

I haven't actually eaten mine yet. I just made it and stuck it in the fridge, so we'll see....

TriciaSoGarden

Early this morning I went over to take a look at the Melon St. Garden aka TriciaSoGarden. I feared the tomatoes might have taken over the world. The zucchini, cabbage, beans, peppers, and cucumbers have come along nicely! [EDIT: Later, she came home and chumped me.] :( 

Chicken Salad

What do you do with leftover chicken? Make chicken salad, which I learned upstate at the 'Let 'Em Ins' several years ago. And what a valuable lesson! Especially during the Summer grill-happy months when it seems like I grill chicken thighs a couple times a week. I almost always have 1 or 2 pieces of chicken left over, and I can use it to whip up an easy chicken salad for a lunch time sandwich. Cucumber and mayonnaise, along with the leftover chicken, make up the bulk of the recipe, so after those 3 main things you can generally make do with whatever you have on hand. Simply omit or substitute as you like.

Ingredients 

• 2 leftover grilled chicken thighs
• 1/4 Cup mayo
• 1/2 Cup diced cucumber (seedless) (or celery)
• 1 Tablespoon tangy horseradish
• 1/2 Tablespoon whole grain mustard
• 1/2 an avocado

Mix ingredients to make the chicken salad. I like to eat it on a kaiser roll with sliced cucumber. This yields 2-3 sandwiches