Cucumber and egg salad sandwiches

I absolutely love egg salad, but I know it’s probably ridiculously fattening. This version supplements with chunks of cucumbers to add a little crunch and bulk. We have a bunch of cucumbers in the fridge right now from our CSA, so this was a good way to use a few and have lunches to take to work/school.

Cucumber and Egg Salad, adapted from allrecipes

5 eggs
2 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons capers
3 tablespoons mayo
1 tablespoon dill

Hard-boil eggs (cover eggs with cold water, bring to boil and then cover and simmer for 10 minutes). Run cool water over and cool. Chop eggs and combine with rest of ingredients. Add salt and pepper if desired.

Watermelon and cucumber salad

I kind of picked some weird recipes to use up the diverse box of fruits and vegetables we got this week. And on this one, we were just “eh.” I think I’d prefer a different mix of seasonings, as the watermelon and cucumber work well together on their own but this dish just seemed to have too much going on. We served it alongside a very good steak prepared by my husband and jazzed up with a Penzey’s grill blend.

Cucumber and Watermelon Salad with Hoisin-Lime Dressing, recipe here

1 1/2 large English hothouse cucumbers, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 3 cups)
3 cups 1/2-inch cubes seeded watermelon
3 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1/3 cup coarsely chopped lightly salted dry-roasted peanuts

Combine cucumbers and watermelon in medium bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 15 minutes and up to 4 hours. Drain; discard liquid.
Whisk lime juice and hoisin sauce in small bowl to blend. Pour dressing over cucumber-watermelon mixture and toss gently. Season salad to taste with pepper. Sprinkle salad with cilantro, mint, and then peanuts. Serve immediately.

Heirloom tomato salad

If you don’t like raw tomatoes, you might as well stop reading here. It’s a shame to miss out on a perfect summer dish, but I understand it’s a pretty common aversion. This month’s Cooking Light had a feature on heirloom tomatoes, and the greens, yellows, oranges and reds were just beautiful. I’d never actually bought any tomatoes that weren’t red before, so I was delighted that our CSA farmer had some yellow heirlooms (he told us the name, but I can’t remember), as well as some cherry tomatoes to go with the usual reds. So pretty! I balked at buying three types of fresh herbs and skipped the mint, but next time I think I’ll skip the parsley instead.

Heirloom Tomato Salad, Cooking Light

2 cups assorted heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon drained capers, chopped
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil
2 pounds assorted beefsteak heirloom tomatoes, each cut into 6 wedges
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 (1/2-ounce) slices sourdough bread, toasted or grilled

1. Combine first 9 ingredients in a bowl. Sprinkle tomato mixture with salt and pepper; toss gently. Serve with bread.

Two of my favorite things

Last month we traveled to Illinois for my brother’s graduation, which meant we were eating out every meal for several days. Since to me, eating out is a bit of a treat, I never order the healthy option on the menu. But when you’re doing that 6 meals in a row, you start to feel a little sick. So as one my final meals there, I thought I’d be slightly virtuous and order soup and salad. The restaurant had a special salad that day, greens with grilled peaches and a blueberry vinaigrette. Yum. So I made a mental note of the ingredients and thought I’d try to re-create it at home someday. Since we got peaches and blueberries this week, I figured it was a sign. Ideally, the peaches would be grilled, but since ours is out on loan, I just used the broiler.

Peach Salad with Blueberry Vinaigrette
Serves 4

1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil
4 peaches, sliced
8 cups salad greens (we used romaine, but various baby greens or spinach would be lovely)
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup feta cheese

Brush peaches lightly with oil or butter. Grill or broil for 10 minutes.
To make dressing, blend blueberries in food processor or blender until smooth. Add vinegar and mix. While blade is running, drizzle in olive oil.
Put two cups of greens on each plate, evenly divide peaches, almonds, feta and dressing.

Arugula, Beet and Goat-Cheese Salad

I marked this recipe when I still thought beets were a possible candidate for the bunch of purplish vegetables we’d gotten from the CSA. Although they weren’t beets at all, I still gave this a try to use our arugula. Plus, we had almost all the other ingredients on hand. I thought the combo of the sweetish beets, peppery arugula and creamy goat cheese worked well, but my husband couldn’t get over the beets. The cookbook we got the recipe from is one of our favorites for quick meals that don’t require a lot of ingredients. It’s a compilation of recipes from the Everyday Food magazine from Martha Stewart, and recipes are organized seasonally. (This recipe came from Fall, but generally we stick to the correct season.)

Click below for recipe