Click here for some Summer Salad recipes…
Salads have come a long way from the token leaves of limp lettuce and wedge of tomato on the side of a plate. With a smashing variety of Summer leaves and garden vegetables available now, we’re just spoilt for choice. Far from being marginalised as the ‘side-order’ they once were, salads are now a main meal in their own right – and practically anything and everything goes into them!
Cucumbers
The phrase “cool as a cucumber” is not without merit. This vegetable’s high water content gives it a unique moistness and cooling bite. Cucumbers are scientifically known as Cucumis sativus and belong to the same family as the courgette, pumpkin, and other types of squash. Unbelievably watermelon, 
American’s favorites summer fruit is really a vegetable and also a part of this family!
The flesh of the cucumber is primarily water but it also contains vitamin C and caffeic acid. Cucumber preparations containing caffeic acid are often used in soothing skin cosmetics, applied topically for swollen eyes, burns and dermatitis.
It’s a shame to restrict the sliced cucumber to baggy-eye-relievers alone. You’ll get a real flavour-rich feeling by popping them in your mouth, not on you eyes! Add them to your menus during the warm summer months when they are best-in-season and at their most delicious.
Here are some ‘cool as a cucumber’ ideas to include them in your summer menus:
- For refreshing cold gazpacho soup that takes five minutes or less to make, simply purée cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers and onions, then add a little pepper to taste
- Mix diced cucumbers with sugar snap peas and mint leaves and toss with rice wine vinaigrette
- Make a classic Greek salad with chunks of cucumber, tomato, feta cheese and black olives
- Use half-inch thick cucumber slices as petite serving “dishes” for cubed cheese such as feta. Lovely canapés
- Add diced cucumber to tuna or chicken salad for extra crunch and texture
- Pour cucumber juice over ice cubes or drink it straight. Use cucumber juice in cocktails, smoothies, and other drinks. Cucumber ice cubes also make a pretty garnish for a bowl of summer punch
- Chopped cucumber mixed with tomato, red onion and pepper makes an excellent salsa. You can also make raita or tzatziki by mixing diced or shredded cucumber with yogurt and other spices. This makes a delightfully cool sauce for sandwiches, wraps, and curries.
Tomatoes
There are few vegetables that better mark the summer months than the sweet juiciness of a vine-ripened tomato. Although tomatoes are now available year-round, the truly wonderful qualities of tomatoes are the best when they are in season from June through to September.
With so much choice and variety available to us in the fruit and vegetable section these days, we often take tomatoes for granted. We automatically put tomatoes in our trolleys in the supermarket, and in our sandwiches at lunchtime. But we forget how many other uses tomatoes have – in salads, pasta sauces, curries, pizzas, ketchup, garnishes, stuffed with rice or couscous – every cuisine in the world uses tomatoes as one of its staple ingredients.
There is substantial evidence that a diet containing at least five servings of fruit and vegetables a day can lower your risk of cancer, heart disease and other conditions. A serving is one medium tomato. How easy is that….
Here are some ways to enjoy tomatoes this summer…..
- Enjoy a classic Italian salad. Slice onions, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese and drizzle with a little olive oil
- Pureed tomatoes are a great addition to bean and vegetable soups
- Combine chopped onions, tomatoes, and chili peppers for an easy to make salsa dip
- Add tomato slices to sandwiches, salads and pizzas to boost the vegetable content
- Make your own real tomato sauce using fresh tomatoes in season, some olive oil, garlic and basil
- Roast tomatoes and garlic in the oven to serve with pasta or in a salad
Lettuce
With so much interest in “grow your own”, more and more home gardeners are planting all kinds of delicious lettuces. Try two or three varieties together for more colour and crunch. When preparing salads at home, broaden your range – you’ll not only eat more interesting salads but the nutritional profile of your salads will be higher.
As a general rule, the darker the leaves, the greater the nutrient content.
Even if you don’t grow lettuce yourself, today’s supermarkets offer a wide variety of crunchy leaves just waiting for you! A simple dressing can make all the difference to a selection of salad leaves. Herbs are also good for adding flavour and it’s easy to grow these yourself too.
- Mix baby spinach leaves with thin slices of orange and some pine nuts
- Liven up plain salad leaves by adding slices of pear, walnuts and some crumbled blue cheese
- Top a pizza with some peppery rocket before serving
- Add lettuce to sandwiches, or use large lettuce leaves instead of bread to create a sandwich
| Calories | Fat | Saturates | Sugars | Fibre | Salt | Other | |
| Lettuce | 11 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.005 | Folate – 44ug |
| Tomatoes | 14 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 2.6 | 0.8 | 0.02 | Vitamin C – 14mg Carotene – 479 ug |
| Cucumber | 8 | 0.1 | 0 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.005 | Vitamin C – 2mg |
Lettuce – serving size is 1 cereal bowl (80g)
Tomato – serving size is one medium or 7 cherry tomatoes
Cucumber – serving size is a 2 inch piece / 80g
And lets not forget, our friend the Pepper ….
Red peppers are high in vitamins A and C, which are antioxidant vitamins. They are also a source of vitamin B6 which is essential for releasing energy from protein. To get the same amount of vitamin C as just half a red pepper, you would need to eat 2 oranges, 3 kiwis or 40 cherry tomatoes! Like all vegetables, peppers are naturally low in fat, contain some fibre and small amounts of many nutrients such as potassium and some B vitamins.
| Nutrition per portion (80g) | Calories | Fat (g) | Sat fat (g) | Salt (g) |
| Peppers | 26 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0 |