About this Recipe

This easy salad is the perfect addition to any of your family-friendly meal ideas and uses simple ingredients that you most likely already have in your kitchen. With onion, cucumber and cherry tomatoes you get some servings of vegetables and its a colorful addition to any table.This easy salad is delicious and nourishing and one of the best salads to make when you don't have a lot of time to spare. The more healthy salads that you can incorporate into your diet the better. It is common belief and there is evidence that also suggests that among other benefits, eating more fruits and vegetables appear to have favourable effects for outcomes of cardiovascular risk factors.(1)

Grandmother's Tips for Cucumber Tomato Layered Salad:

1. For a beautiful presentation of colors of this appealing salad, we like to use a shallow glass dish like a glass pie plate or bowl to prepare and serve the salad.

2. This salad has the most flavor if you let it sit for at least 15 minutes on the counter-top before serving.

3. This is an all time favorite in Grandmother’s Kitchen and it is a salad that you will season to taste. Measurements are not exact and it can be made larger or smaller depending how many people you are feeding and if it a main course or side dish.

4. You can use small tomatoes or large.

While some molds are beneficial, others are not, so it’s a good idea to know the difference. Some molds that are okay include the mold that forms cheeses as well as in fermented soy foods like tempeh and miso. Certain types of mold can also be used in antibiotics like Penicillin. Mold also helps with the decaying process in the ecosystem too. However, there are types of mold that can be harmful to your health when consumed so always make sure that you check your fresh fruits and vegetables for mold. Tomatoes are really susceptible to mold since we often store them on our counters instead of in the fridge. So make sure you check your tomatoes and cucumbers for any mold before you use them in this recipe. If you do find mold make sure that you take into consideration how to remove mold from your home effectively by throwing away any moldy food right away.

---

Ingredients

(Print)

Serves: 6

1 medium size or 1/2 a large sweet onion (Walla Walla works nicely)

1/4 cup grapeseed or olive oil

1/4 cup organic apple cider vinegar

2 long English cucumbers

20-30 cherry tomatoes or 1-2 large tomatoes (any tomato works fine for the recipe)

1 Tablespoon dried oregano flakes (or to taste)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

For a beautiful presentation of colors on this appealing salad, we like to use a shallow glass dish like a glass pie plate or bowl to prepare and serve the salad.

1. Slice the onion into thin slices and line the bottom of the dish.

2. Add a bit of salt and cracked pepper and drizzle on approximately 2 tablespoons of oil and stir in to coat the onions. Slice the cucumbers into thin slices.

3. Place a layer of cucumbers over the onions. Gently mix the onions and cucumber together.

4. Sprinkle on a teaspoonful of oregano. Sprinkle salt and pepper.

5. Add 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar and mix gently with a spatula to combine flavors.

6. Slice the tomatoes and the second cucumber and create a couple more layers of tomatoes and cucumber.

7. Drizzle another 3 teaspoons (or cap-fuls) of the apple cider vinegar and 1-2 tablespoons of oil.

8. Sprinkle on a little more freshly ground pepper, salt and oregano flakes. Let sit on the counter 15 minutes before serving.

ENJOY!

Return to this Cucumber Tomato Layered Salad recipe or check out more recipes at Grandmother's Kitchen

It helps to know some of the things to look at when purchasing olive oil. You want to find extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) which refers to the way that the olive oil was extracted, which for this variety is usually a mechanical pressing, versus other types of processing which use chemical solvents to extract the olive oil. Check the expiration date. Make sure to buy EVOO that is only bottled in dark-colored glass, never in plastic as this keeps the light and BPA out of your olive oil.

Buy your olive oil from trustworthy sources, look for olive oils with the Non-GMO Project and Certified Organic label, to help increase the chances that the raw materials will be of a higher quality.

References: (1) Hartley L, Igbinedion E, Holmes J, Flowers N, Thorogood M, Clarke A, Stranges S, Hooper L, Rees K. Increased consumption of fruit and vegetables for the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2013, Issue 6. Art. No.: CD009874. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD009874.pub2.