Building my own cucumber salads
I'll be honest. It's been a day.
OK, so, technically, all days that have ever existed have been days. What I mean is, it's been a busy day, and it's now 3:42 on a Tuesday afternoon, and I'm just now sitting down to write a food column I normally knock out first thing in the morning.
This may be rushed, in other words. Good thing I have a handful of recipes that work in such a situation.
I've been eating a lot of cucumber salads lately. More specifically, one type of cucumber salad: Cucumber, baby tomatoes, a bit of cheese, some salt and a few splashes of balsamic vinegar. Delightful.
My adult housemate, Mandy, has taken notice of this current culinary obsession and saw fit to give me some options within the genre. She texted my way a screenshot of a cucumber salad chart — "BUILD YOUR CUCUMBER SALAD," it exclaims across the top. It reminded me of the "CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER" screens in the blood-soaked fighting games of my younger days. And also of my older days. Really all days. I don't change much.
The recipes are credited to @drynaratanutrition, so if you like 'em, be sure to give whoever the heck that is a follow.
As I do in those aforementioned fighting games, I've picked a cucumber salad from the roster and have stuck with it: Creamy Cucumber Salad. It's good. Adding salt to the dish, although the recipe doesn't call for it, makes it even better.
I can't vouch for the rest of these simple recipes, although I'll likely try them all at some point, but I thought I'd include them all here. I may be rushed, but I can still be thoughtful.
Enjoy.
CREAMY CUCUMBER SALAD
1 cucumber, sliced
1 tablespoon Greek yogurt
1 ounce onion, diced
2 teaspoons dill
1 teaspoon garlic
Mix all the ingredients together, save for the cucumber. After you've completed this task, mix in the cucumber.
Eat it.
ASIAN CUCUMBER SALAD
1 cucumber, sliced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon chili oil
1 clove of garlic, crushed
Mix everything together in a bowl or, if you feel like making a mess, a plate.
Eat it.
EVERYTHING BAGEL CUCUMBER SALAD
1 cucumber, sliced
1 ounce of smoked salmon
1 ounce onion, diced
1 tablespoon cream cheese
1 tablespoon everything bagel spice
Throw all of the above ingredients into a bowl large enough to contain them. Stir until well blended.
Eat it.
SPICY TUNA CUCUMBER SALAD
1 cucumber, sliced
1 ounce tuna
1 tablespoon spicy mayo
1 tablespoon scallions (green onions to us Southern folks)
1 teaspoon sesame
Now, this one's going to work a bit differently. First, you're going to mix everything together. Then, you're going to eat it.
I guess it didn't work all that differently after all.
PEANUT BUTTER CUCUMBER SALAD
1 cucumber, sliced
1 tablespoon of peanut butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 clove of garlic, crushed
The ingredients go in a bowl. You mix them up with some sort of utensil … or possibly your hands. You eat it with some sort of utensil. Or, again, possibly your hands.