Late Summer Cucumber Salad Recipe

Here in Central Oregon it is like someone flipped a switch that turned off summer and turned on fall. The wild fire smoke has been especially bad this year. We had many smokey days and nights where the unhealthy or even hazardous air quality caused us to keep all the windows and doors closed despite temperatures in the 90s and lack of air conditioning. The last thing I wanted to do was make the house hotter by cooking, and filling the hot house with the smell of food, and not be able to open the windows. So, I got creative and made many meals that did not require cooking. This is one of the salads I made using cucumbers from our garden.

Ingredients:

3 cucumbers, peeled if skin is thick, cut into chunks 8 oz. artichoke hearts 4 Tbs. red onion, minced 1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped 4 oz. feta cheese, cubed 1/3 cup balsamic vinaigrette

Instructions:

In a medium size bowl mix cucumber, artichoke hearts, red onion, olives and feta with dressing. Let marinate in refrigerator at least 1 hour for best flavor. Enjoy!

If you enjoy this recipe, there's more in my e-cookbook, 31 Whole Food Dinner Recipes (that happen to be gluten free, grain free and are almost nightshade free). You can get the e-book here.