Cucumber & Tomato Salad with a Simple Summer Vinaigrette

A simple recipe for a perfect summer salad made with cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and an easy oil and vinegar dressing.

Mama always kept a little garden with cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, peppers (hot, sweet, REALLY HOT, etc.) and strawberries in the summer. Between that and the field peas that grew wild at the edge of the field between our and Nanny’s house, we could always get something fresh for supper.

As a kid, I never got too excited about the squash, zucchini or peppers (though I sure would now) but I always looked forward to field peas and rice, strawberry ANYTHING and fresh sliced cucumbers and tomatoes. I’m pretty sure there weren’t too many summertime suppers at my house that didn’t have a bowl of cucumbers and/or tomatoes sliced up ready to eat.

Most times we just ate them plain but sometimes we’d have the cucumbers with a splash of white vinegar on them or the tomatoes with a little Italian dressing. These days my favorite way to make them is to whip up this easy vinaigrette and make a simple salad of cucumbers, tomatoes and onions.

This dressing is very mild and doesn’t overpower the taste of the fresh veggies. I love to make a big batch of it and keep it on-hand for salads and to have as a quick marinade for chicken.
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