The weather has been hot, with temperatures hitting 100 on a couple of days, and heat indexes as high as 114. Rain has been sporadic and very light. Despite that, gardens seem to be thriving, with even lettuce and other cool-weather salad greens still providing enough to provide families with enough for salad dinners during this hot weather.

The one thing that the high temperatures and lack of rain seem to have impacted is the insect variety of garden pests. Produce coming from the gardens is beautiful and unblemished, and reports of squash bugs have gone way down; the gardeners don’t mind not having to deal with bugs.

One of our gardeners provided this salad recipe to use as a tasty side dish during these hot days, utilizing garden produce. It requires no cooking, only a little chopping:

 

Chicken Feed

 

2 C chopped tomatoes or halved Tommy Toes

2 C chopped cucumber or zucchini

1 C chopped green onions

¼ C chopped fresh basil

¼ C chopped oregano and/or thyme

¼ C apple cider vinegar (NOT white!)

 

Mix, chill, serve, enjoy.

 

Turn it into a meal by adding diced cheese for your protein.

 

Low sodium (don’t need salt with the vinegar), low sugar, low fat, low cholesterol, high % of healthy!