Summer Salad

This is probably one of my all time favorite things to make in the summer. It’s easy and doesn’t require any cooking… which when it’s 95 degrees out…is a bonus! Also, leftovers are fabulous {You can even toss the leftovers into an omelet or scrambled eggs the next morning for something a bit different!}.

Now the veggies I have here are somewhat optional…if you have a red bell pepper, zucchini, something along those lines that’s yummy raw add that in either instead or with the other veggies!  By the way this normally goes best with burgers or steak or grilled chicken. {We had it last night with burgers!}

This is also one of those very rare occasions I’ll tell you quality 100% matters. Make sure you get good fresh tomatoes, good cucumbers, etc etc. Their taste matters because it’s mainly what you’re going to be tasting in this! So…. get good ones!

Ingredients:
• 1/2 Medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 English Cucumber, chopped into bite sized pieces
• 2 Big Tomatoes, chopped into bite sized pieces
• 3/4 of a big pack of mushrooms, chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1 Lemon
• Olive Oil
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Basil
• 1/4 Cut Chopped Rosemary
• Salt + Pepper

How to:
• Firstly chop up your onion and add it to a different {smaller} bowl than you’re going to use for the salad. Now cover the onions with water and let it sit while you finish everything else up, this is going to prevent that harsh onion flavor / bite. If you don’t mind it then skip the soaking… but I find it’s nice to do especially if you’re going to serve it to large crowd. Now you can use a red onion, white onion, yellow… literally whatever you have on hand don’t buy anything special!

• Wash and chop the other veggies up and dump them into a large bowl as well as the herbs. Drain your onions and add them into the bowl.

• Add Salt, Pepper, a good healthy drizzle of olive oil and squeeze the juice of one lemon in. Mix it up, taste and adjust seasoning. You might need to add more lemon juice or olive oil or what not.

•Enjoy!

{ I personally think it tastes better if it’s had a half hour or so to sit in the fridge. But you can serve right away if you need to! }

If you’re one of my friends who grows their own food…this salad is wicked cheap to make. For me all the veggies were on sale this week and I grew the herbs…so it cost me around $4.50{ish} to make, and I got at least four servings out of it.