Fresh Tomato Zucchini Salad

Okay, with new air card connected I'm ready to rock and roll again! Finally we have a connection that doesn't seem like dial up! Lucky me, we had some zucchini, well a lot of zucchini, so I took some with me to Oregon last week. My next door neighbor brought over a bag of tomatoes and assured me that's all he will be growing after his run in with the local gendarmes, and then a sweet lady down the road gave me a tour of her house and garden after I inquired about their fence, and she shared a giant white onion with me, yay!
I was invited to a sweet friend's house for dinner that night. She was serving a lamb roast and baked yams, oh my! I offered to bring the salad, so I chunked up a whole zucchini after slicing the seeds out. I added some chopped onion, about 3/4 of a cup, and two whole tomatoes chopped. I drizzled it all with a dressing made of 1/3 c. vinegar, 2 T. water, 2 T. italian seasoning, 2 t. seasoning salt and 12 T. each of olive and canola oil. Add coarse ground pepper to taste. It was a nice light salad that complimented the roast and yams perfectly! Marvel and Bob loved the salad so much they ate all of it! We did have one other guest so this served 4 very generously. I think I would like to try purple onion the next time for a nice color contrast.
Here's a break down of the recipe.

Fresh Tomato Zucchini Salad
1 large zucchini, seeded and cubed
two large tomatoes, chopped
3/4 cup white or purple onion, chopped

Dressing
1/3 cup vinegar
2 T. water
2 T. italian seasoning
2 t. seasoning salt
2 T. each extra virgin olive and canola oil
coarse ground pepper to taste
Whisk all ingredients together and pour over salad. Stir gently to coat

Monday Madness - Dear Mother Nature.....

 

I thought we had an agreement! I collected the toilet paper rolls, empty milk cartons, saved the salad tubs, bought grow lights, all to get started on Spring planting.  I even sacrificed my breakfast bar to start to this venture.....

 

See the little salad seedlings peeking out of the soil?  They have come out of their long slumber on a promise that they will be the star of the dinner table someday soon.

 

The Cress is already growing tall, and soon will be ready to harvest... I had even told them they would get to go outside this morning to enjoy some warm sunshine.....

 

.......and then you send us this!!!!!  I thought your affair with the WIND was over! You were the one who said he was just a big blowhard, so pushy, and messing things up all the time. Then you had to throw in his buddy SNOW!

 

It's just shameless how these poor little daffodils are shivering! If you really want to have a romantic fling, would you consider RAIN? He's manly, but can be so gentle and soothing to spend time with. He's great for going on walks with, and really helps the garden turn green and lush. Wouldn't that be much nicer than frost bitten, wind blown blossoms and fruit trees stripped bare by WIND'S violent nature? Treated right, RAIN will also let SUN have a bit of time to brighten things up and wrap you in his warmth. I don't know about you, but I'm so ready for you to dump WIND and SNOW and move on to some REAL  weather men. 

Bountiful Baskets - a Food Co-op

 

A bountiful spread of fruits and vegetables was my gathering last Saturday at our Bountiful Baskets pick up. Look at all the goodies in this "basket"! From sweet juicy strawberries to fresh green spinach and a new one for me, sunchokes, we've been enjoying a bountiful feast each day since then. The bonus has been that I've lost a pound this week, and had tasty fruits and vegetables each day. The cost for all of this? Since it was our first time participating it came to 19.50 with tax, but when you figure we got over 30 lbs of produce then hey, what a bargain! I've shared some with my in-laws as they can't get out to shop, and they sure enjoyed the fresh berries and mangoes in our fruit salads. Tonight we will be having a Cornish game hen with roasted yellow squash, sweet potatoes, cabbage, carrots, and a spinach salad on the side. If you happen to live in Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington or Wyoming you are in luck. Drop offs are every 2 weeks, and if you are a volunteer there's a little extra for you. Stop by the Bountiful Baskets website and get in on the good life!