Cucumber Fiesta

SOO MANY CUCUMBERS! I never thought I would say it, but I am starting to miss when we had an overwhelming amount of zucchini, because at least we had half a dozen recipes we could make. Cucumber though, that's a different story. You can't really bake or cook with it because its mostly water. What to do, what to do...

    The answer finally came to us, and it was in the form of salads and sides. Cucumber is fresh tasting and compliments most meals well that are heavier with either meat or starches. So tonight when we made our vegetable pasta like we do whenever we have a lot of veggies from our C.S.A. we want to use up, and served it topped with cheese and a side of cucumber salad.

The pasta had zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes on it!

Cucumber Salad
This recipe is actually something I came by in Ukraine. Almost every restaurant we went to served this cucumber salad as an appetizer. After a half dozen or so times eating it in a row, you never want to see it again. The ironic thing is that after a month or two you begin to miss it, so tonight we made it!

Ingredients: 
2 Cucumbers
2 slices of Onion
3 small heirloom tomatoes
generous pinches of Dill
1 tsp vinegar
2 tsp olive oil

Directions: 
Chop the cucumber, onions, and tomatoes about the same size and mix them together.
Stir in vinegar, olive oil, and dill.

Chill until ready to serve, and top with extra dill.

This meal is great for making lunch with the leftovers. All you have to do is mix together the plain pasta, the cucumber salad, and some balsamic vinegar. Its light and fresh tasting, but still a feeling good lunch for a hot day.