Summer Salad

"CaliforniaLavender" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Snipped this from a Memorial Day menu:
"Homey old favorites, and we're having it on Sunday... Marinated
tomato, cucumber, and onion salad"
My mother always made this salad at the beginning of summer, and we
kept it going until the fall. She used cukes, red onion and tomatoes
with a simple oil and vinegar dressing. When I married, my husband
knew it as just cucumbers and onions with a vinegar, salt and sugar
dressing. I'm wondering what other versions are out there. The best
part was the final meal in September -- the super-saturated veggies as
a sandwich on pumpernickel bread.

My mother always made that salad. She was from Indiana and they called it
'thunder and lightning'

Quoted message said:

CaliforniaLavender said:

Snipped this from a Memorial Day menu:
"Homey old favorites, and we're having it on Sunday... Marinated
tomato, cucumber, and onion salad"
My mother always made this salad at the beginning of summer, and we
kept it going until the fall. She used cukes, red onion and tomatoes
with a simple oil and vinegar dressing. When I married, my husband
knew it as just cucumbers and onions with a vinegar, salt and sugar
dressing. I'm wondering what other versions are out there. The best
part was the final meal in September -- the super-saturated veggies as
a sandwich on pumpernickel bread.

I remember as a kid my Grandmother would serve lettuce and sliced
tomatoes with a dollup of mayonaise as an accompanyment to various
other vegetables like "white half runner" green beans, pinto beans,
stewed squash and mashed potatoes. Homemade real mashed potatoes with
lots of real butter and salt and pepper! It was delicious!

Bill

CaliforniaLavender said:

Snipped this from a Memorial Day menu:
"Homey old favorites, and we're having it on Sunday... Marinated
tomato, cucumber, and onion salad"
My mother always made this salad at the beginning of summer, and we
kept it going until the fall. She used cukes, red onion and tomatoes
with a simple oil and vinegar dressing. When I married, my husband
knew it as just cucumbers and onions with a vinegar, salt and sugar
dressing. I'm wondering what other versions are out there. The best
part was the final meal in September -- the super-saturated veggies as
a sandwich on pumpernickel bread.

I love that salad. It tastes just like summer. I use Zesty Italian
as my dressing. I never thought about making a sandwich with the
veggies -- that sounds great.

Tara

CaliforniaLavender said:

Snipped this from a Memorial Day menu:
"Homey old favorites, and we're having it on Sunday... Marinated
tomato, cucumber, and onion salad"
My mother always made this salad at the beginning of summer, and we
kept it going until the fall. She used cukes, red onion and tomatoes

What do you mean by "kept it going"? Kept making it? Or: kept adding
stuff as you took it out but never used it all up?

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

Kept adding stuff as we took it out, but never used it all up until
Labor Day.

Kept adding stuff as we took it out, but never used it all up until
Labor Day.

CaliforniaLavender said:

Kept adding stuff as we took it out, but never used it all up until
Labor Day.

Is there an advantage to that or is it just a thing to do? Do you
make a lot to start with so the amount you take out and put back in is
small compared to the bowl? Is there any special care?

I've never heard of this so I'm curious about it!

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

CaliforniaLavender said:

Snipped this from a Memorial Day menu:
"Homey old favorites, and we're having it on Sunday... Marinated
tomato, cucumber, and onion salad"
My mother always made this salad at the beginning of summer, and we
kept it going until the fall. She used cukes, red onion and tomatoes
with a simple oil and vinegar dressing. When I married, my husband
knew it as just cucumbers and onions with a vinegar, salt and sugar
dressing. I'm wondering what other versions are out there. The best
part was the final meal in September -- the super-saturated veggies as
a sandwich on pumpernickel bread.

My family makes both these versions, with several variations. We use a
good bottled Italian dressing. The trick is how long it is soaked in the
dressing. Sometimes we just sprinkle the cukes and *red* onions
(always) and sometimes tomatoes with the dressing just a few minutes
before serving or put it all together and soak for days or something in
between. The "sprinkle" adds flavor but doesn't "wilt" the veggies.
Soaking for days does "wilt" the veggies to way beyond limp.

The "sprinkle" was good for cukes, onions, toms served on some crisp
lettuce.

Others:

Couple crisp lettuce leaves, several slices toms, a dab of Ranch,
sprinkled with crisp, crumbled bacon.

Pear half with a dab of mayo sprinkled with grated cheese.

Canteloupe chunks and big, purple, seedless grapes (doused in champagne
ain't too shabby)

Then all the old standards:

Corn salad
English pea salad
3 bean
Macaroni salad
carrot and raisin
Waldorf
5 cup
Ambrosia
Potato salad
Black-eyed pea salad
Texas Caviar

And anything else we can dream up when it is 100 degrees in the shade with
90% humidity!

Elaine, too