Simple Cucumber & Tomato Salad

Simple Cucumber & Tomato Salad

Sometimes you don’t have time to do a fancy recipe, or maybe even just the willpower. But a bear’s gotta eat. So, something simple will have to do.

It’s super simple, and super healthy, and can be made with basic ingredients.

It’s embarrassing calling this a “recipe”, but it seems the best way to describe it to you.

Simple Cucumber & Tomato Salad

A simple salad, just like the title says!
Last updated August 7, 2019.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keyword: salad
Author: Plant-Based-Bear.com

Ingredients

  • cucumbers chopped
  • tomatoes chopped
  • onion diced, almost any variety will do
  • fresh dill finely chopped, optional
  • fresh mint finely chopped, optional
  • lemon or lime juice fresh is best!
  • pinch garlic or sea salt

Instructions

  • Chop up some cucumber. I tend to like the Persian cucumbers for this, but I will be making it in the next few days with some huge hothouse cucumbers I got on sale. I like big servings, but have found that about 2 larger Persian cucumbers, or ⅓ to ½ of a large hothouse cucumber is about a serving.
  • Chop up some tomato. Usually I have some Roma tomatoes, as they're often cheap, but anything will do. I use 2 small tomatoes or one large, so I have about 80% as much tomato as cucumber.
  • Dice the onions. Works great with green onions from the whites to the green, or yellow or white onions, too.
  • Finely chopped the mint, or dill or whatever green, fresh herbs you might have around, and sprinkle on top. Sometimes if I don't have fresh dill, just dried will work great as well!
  • Add a pinch of garlic or sea salt.
  • Put a strong splash of lemon or lime juice all over the top.
  • Mix it all up, and store in fridge until ready to eat!

Notes

This is one of those salads that seems to improve if you let it all “marinate” together for a bit.  Making it in the morning for lunch is great!

That’s it! Super simple, and delicious, and incredible on a hot summer day!

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Simple Cucumber & Tomato Salad
Simple Cucumber & Tomato Salad, ready to eat. This one, I got lazy and just used dried dill!
No Oil Tabouli Salad

No-Oil Tabouli Salad

I’ll not get into a debate about whether it’s Tabouli, Tabouleh, or Tabbouleh, but needless to say, when the weather is hot (or even not), this is a great thing to make and have a cup or two of! It’s one of my favorite prepared salads!

I’ve long followed a recipe which I think I got online somewhere long ago. However, most tabouli is made with olive oil, and, well, that’s not going to work for me. So I’ve made some adjustments:

No-Oil Tabouli Salad

Parsley-based, cold, fresh salad.
Last updated July 28, 2019.
Prep Time1 hour
Cook Time5 minutes
Total Time1 hour 5 minutes
Servings: 6 large servings or more
Author: Plant-Based-Bear.com

Ingredients

  • 1 c Bulgar wheat dry
  • 1 1/2 c boiling water
  • 1/4 c lemon juice or put as much as you like!
  • 2-3 T tahini (pre-made or grind your own)
  • 4-5 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 t to 1 1/2salt
  • black pepper
  • 4-8 green onions minced
  • 4-6 c parsley packed, minced (about 4-8 bunches)
  • 10-25 mint leaves chopped
  • 2 medium tomatoes diced

Instructions

  • Put the Bulgar wheat in a big bowl, cover with the boiling water, and cover with lid or plastic wrap for 10-15 minutes, which should get it mostly tender.
  • In the meantime, start mincing, and then add lemon juice, tahini, garlic, salt, and pepper to the big bowl with the Bulgar, and mix well. (Salt can be left out or left until the end if you want to monitor it.)

Notes

If serving immediately, mix in the rest of the ingredients, but do try to chill for just a bit first. This one is great COLD!
If serving much later, consider leaving out the greens until right before serving time, and then mixing together.

I have a big Tupperware bowl that I use for this, and while I haven’t measured the parsley in years, I basically just fill the bowl until I don’t think any more can get in! Then I carefully stir, with one hand mixing, and one hand holding it in the bowl.

I’ve also done it where I mixed in all the liquids into the Bulgar, and then topped with the greens, leaving them this way in the bowl until ready to serve, and then mixing it up, instead of leaving them completely separate.

For today’s version, I added extra lemon juice, and I also had some fresh dill, and diced cucumbers. While it may not be “authentic,” I’ve never been one to care, and I like the little bit of extra crunch and it’s certainly delicious, although I learned that a little chopped dill goes a long way!

At the top, I said this is a great salad to make on a hot day, but that’s a bit of a lie. It’s actually great to EAT on a hot day, and working endlessly mincing is never that much fun. But, if I do make it on a hot day, I know there will be a delicious reward waiting a bit later, and for that, I’m willing to do it!

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No-Oil Tabouli Salad.
The big bowl isn’t full already, before I can even get this into the refrigerator!