Summer Salad Series: Cucumber & Herbs

Summer is in full swing and we are smack in the middle of my favorite month: July. I love July because it hosts my favorite holiday, Independence Day, and because it's typically hot*hot*hot! This year another reason was added to the list of why July is my favorite month and why Independence Day is my favorite holiday: my dad let me know this 4th of July that he had asked his longtime girlfriend to marry him! Weeeeee!

I was so excited to hear this news and wanted to celebrate with them as soon as possible! Since my boyfriend, puppy, and I were out of town in the Outer Banks for the holiday...

 ... I quickly set up a plan to have them over for dinner the following weekend. My dad loves this barbeque joint near our house, so we planned to pick up some samis & cornbread from there and I volunteered to make healthy, southern-inspired side dishes. I knew my boyfriend and I were planning to go to the local farmers' market the morning of our dinner, so I quickly brainstormed several side dish ideas all based around ingredients I knew we could pick up at the FM.

For the last three weeks of July, I'm going to throw it back to the Farmers' Market inspired posts from a few years ago and post one of these summer salad side dish recipes each week. These salads are all healthy, light, refreshing, and of course, delicious! They were a big hit at our dinner and perfectly complemented the southern flare of the meal. They would each work as a side dish to any summertime dinner and would be great to take to a potluck or picnic.

The first recipe I'm posting is this cucumber/herb salad. They make a similar one at the barbeque place we went to, but the one there tends to be a little oily. I wanted to create a homemade version where I could control the ingredients, make sure I was using organic cucumbers, and get everything fresh from the farmers' market. My version turned out to be just as light and refreshing as the restaurant one, and less greasy to boot!

No spoilers, but here are the ingredients you can look forward to seeing in the following two Summer Salad Series posts: peaches, beet greens, tomatoes, basil, balsamic glaze, sage... yum! Make sure to check back each week to see how these ingredients shake out!

OK y'all, let's get cookin'!

Farmers' Market Cucumber Salad
Servings: 6-8
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: n/a

Ingredients:
5 small organic cucumbers (or 2 English cucumbers), peeled and sliced into rounds
2 teaspoons sliced red onion
1 handful fresh mint leaves
1 handful fresh Italian parsley

Dressing:
4 teaspoons champagne vinegar
2 teaspoons raw apple cider vinegar
6 teaspoons grapeseed oil
1/8 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper (FCBP)
Pinch pink Himalayan sea salt

Add the cucumbers & sliced red onion to a food storage container with tight fitting lid.

Place the mint & parsley leaves on a cutting board together, and run through them with a sharp knife several times until the herbs are finely chopped.

Add the herbs to the cucumber/onions and toss.

To make the dressing, add all ingredients to a small food storage container with tight fitting lid. Place the lid on the container and shake vigoroursly for bout ten seconds.

Drizzle the dressing over the cucumbers/onions/herbs.

Place the lid on the container and gently shake it so that everything mixes together and the cucumbers are thoroughly coated in the dressing.

Refrigerate for about two hours before serving so that the flavors of the onions and herbs can infuse with the cucumbers.

Serve alongside your favorite summertime meal and enjoy!

Salute!