Easy Summer Lunch Salad

My favorite Easy Summer Lunch Salad is something I've been making regularly for lunch for more than ten years now, and this delicious salad is low-carb, low-glycemic, gluten-free, and South Beach Diet friendly. Use the Recipes-by-Diet-Type Index to find more recipes like this one.

I've been making Easy Summer Lunch Salad every summer for more than years, so when I stumbled on a simple post back in the archives recently talking about the salad, I decided I had to make it into a real recipe so more people could discover this amazing salad. I call it Summer Lunch Salad because I make it often in the summer, when tomatoes and cucumbers are at the peak of freshness, but truthfully if you use those small Persian cucumbers and the small tomatoes that are good most of the year, you can make this with good results in the spring and fall as well.

This is a simple tomato and cucumber salad, but what turns it into a wow for me, and the reason I've been making it for so many years, is the idea of using blue cheese dressing with a touch of vinaigrette in a salad with Feta cheese. I think those flavors are a perfect combination, and obviously it's something I never get tired of. (And sometimes I even ask for blue cheese dressing when I'm getting Greek salad in a restaurant, often to the dismay of the server who thinks I'm crazy.)

If you like both blue cheese dressing and Feta cheese, be open minded about the idea of using them in the same salad, because I promise you will love this salad. And when you see how easy and delicious it is, you'll probably make it over and over again just like I do. 

Cut up tomatoes and let them drain in a colander placed in the sink. Cut ends off cucumbers and discard, and slice cucumbers. Whisk together the blue cheese dressing and vinaigrette. Crumble and measure the Feta.

Stir together the drained tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, and desired amount of dressing, then gently mix in the Feta. Season salad with plenty of fresh-ground black pepper and serve.

Easy Summer Lunch Salad
(This recipe makes 3-4 salads, but once you have made the salad it's easy to make just a single serving for lunch.)

Ingredients:
4-6 small cucumbers (preferably Persian cucumbers, sometimes called mini-cucumbers)
6 medium-sized tomatoes, cut into quarters and drained
1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese (or more)
fresh-ground black pepper to taste

Dressing Ingredients:
1/2 cup blue cheese dressing (I use 

href="http://ift.tt/2upvVOC" target="_blank">Litehouse Blue Cheese for this.)
2 T Vinaigrette Dressing (I use Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar Dressing.)

Cut tomatoes int quarters or eighths and put then in a colander to drain. Cut of ends of cucumbers and cut into slices. (If you're not using small mini-cucumbers, you may want to peel them in strips.) Whisk together the blue cheese dressing and vinaigrette dressing. Crumble and measure the Feta.

Gently toss together the drained tomatoes and sliced cucumbers with the desired amount of dressing. (I used about 1/4 cup of dressing. Save the rest in the fridge for another salad.) Gently mix in the Feta. Season salad to taste with a generous amount of fresh-ground black pepper and serve.

Leftovers of this salad are still pretty good when they've been refrigerated overnight, but it's definitely best when freshly made. I recommend making the full amount of dressing, but cutting fresh tomatoes and cucumbers each time according to the amount you'll be eating. 

Click here for Printer Friendly Recipe

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:

This is a good side dish for any low-glycemic or low-carb diet, including any phase of the South Beach Diet. For lowest carbs for Keto dieters, use less tomatoes and more cucumber.

Find More Recipes Like This One:

Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You can also Follow Kalyn's Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I'm sharing there.

Nutritional Information?

If you want nutritional information for a recipe, you can sign up for a free membership with Yummly and use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information. Another option is entering the recipe into this Recipe Nutrition Analyzer, which will calculate it for you.

More Ideas with Tomatoes and Cucumbers:
Chopped Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Mint, Feta, Lemon, and Thyme ~ Kalyn's Kitchen

Cucumber Salad with Spicy Tomato Vinaigrette ~ Barefeet in the Kitchen

Vegan Tomato Salad with Cucumber, Avocado, Cilantro, and Lime ~ Kalyn's Kitchen

Greek Salad with Avocado ~ FoodieCrush

Middle Eastern Tomato Salad (or Salad Shirazi) ~ Kalyn's Kitchen

Easy Cucumber Tomato Couscous ~ She Wears Many Hats

Tweet