Crunchy Cucumber Salad with Cherry Tomato & Avocado

This salad is perfect if it's a hot summer day, or if you have excess cherry tomatoes, or if you want a quick salad that almost everyone likes, or all of the above! It's very good made with in-season tomatoes just off the vine and fresh cucumbers, particularly small pickling cukes. But it's also perfect any time of year made with regular grocery store ingredients.

In this version I used homegrown
yellow pear and orange Sungold tomatoes

We were introduced to this salad when visiting family friends over the summer. They gave us a delicious dinner that included this favorite, and when I got home I started making it again and again. It is so yummy! The basic premise is to combine the cool sweetness of small tomatoes with the fresh crunch of cucumber and tie it together with slick, creamy avocado chunks. It's all flavored with whatever is your fastest/favorite vinaigrette.

Ingredients:

1 pint sweet cherry tomatoes, any kind (best choice = orange Sungold)

3 small pickling cucumbers, or any cucumber (1-2 if it's larger size)

1 ripe avocado

1/4 cup vinaigrette (homemade or premade)

black pepper to taste

Assembly:

1. Smash or cut up your cucumber. If using fresh pickling cucumbers or similar small cukes, my suggestion is to smash them rather than just cutting them up. Smashing creates all kinds of jagged edges and surface area for the avocado and dressing to nestle and spread into. However, you can also cut up any cucumber for this. If using a larger type you may want to peel it.

I use the butt end of a chef's knife to smash,
then turn the knife and cut up any large pieces. 

These are not officially pickling cucumbers
but they are the right size and they smash nicely.

2. Cut your tomatoes in half. Peel and cut up the avocado into chunks. Combine all ingredients.

3. Pour on dressing and gently stir everything together. You can also add black pepper if you like. 

And now, serve! I like to put the big bowl on the table with small dishes and let people serve themselves. This salad is so easy and refreshing. I hope you try it!

Homemade Granola with Nuts, Seeds & Candied Ginger

 

Whenever I get into a routine of stocking and restocking a certain grocery store item--buying it again and again, basically--I wonder if I should figure out how to make that item myself. For example, for many years I've been buying locally made granola. It is delicious and crunchy and full of different nuts and seeds, but it is also packed in plastic and the price has been going up from 7 to 8 to 9 dollars a bag. Can't I make my own granola with less plastic and for a lower cost? 

I was also inspired by a friend who makes batches of granola at Christmas time and gives it as gifts, packed in mason jars with jaunty fabric on the lids. She uses candied ginger and it's such a treat to run across a bright burst of ginger in your morning oats. So, this is the story of learning to make my own granola, loaded with nuts and seeds and candied ginger. Most of these things can be purchased in the bulk section of the local natural foods store, so I feel like I'm reducing some plastic use. (Note that the jar of ginger shown below has been refilled with bulk ginger.)

A few tips for this granola: The basic premise is that you bake everything together EXCEPT the delicate coconut flakes and the cranberries and ginger. If you put the coconut in too early it will burn, so you just want to toast it ever so slightly. And the candied stuff doesn't need to be baked at all.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/3 cup pecans, walnuts, almonds, etc., roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch ground cloves (optional)
• 1/2 cup coconut flakes (I like to use the wide ones)
  
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup candied ginger, chopped

Assembly

Heat oven to 325F. Prepare a baking pan with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix together oats, pumpkin seeds, and nuts.

Here's how much I chop the nuts--only a little bit

On stovetop, heat coconut oil and maple syrup until just warmed through. Add vanilla, salt, and cinnamon (and optional cloves) and stir to dissolve the salt as much as possible. (It may still be visible and that's okay.)

Mix the liquid together with the dry ingredients, getting most of the oats coated in the oil-syrup. Then spread the mixture onto the parchment paper, even things out, and slide into the oven.

 

Bake for 30 minutes, checking for toastedness. I like my granola to be just lightly golden, particularly the nuts. If you think it needs a bit more time, put it back and check again in 5 minute intervals. You can stir it around during baking whenever you like. 

Once it's the color you want, add the coconut flakes and bake for 2 more minutes (until the flakes are just browned on the edges). Remove from oven and set somewhere to cool.

When the granola is cool, mix in the cranberries and ginger pieces. Then store in a sealed container.

I like to eat my granola sprinkled over yogurt with fresh berries. It is my favorite breakfast!

Let's Check In! May 2023

Mt. Wantastiquet as seen from a kayak on the West River, Memorial Day 2023

Hello dear reader!

This is my first post this year and it's already the end of May. I'm so sorry to leave you hanging if you've been checking here for updates. (And if you have, thank you!! I love you!!) I am still here and doing fine, but I'm finding that blogging is falling low on my list of things to do each week. Here are some things I've been doing and thinking about.

Roller Skating

An encouraging friend got me out on the ice rink quite a bit this past winter, and as ice skating season ended, she suggested we switch to roller skates instead of just hanging up our gear completely. The local parks & recreation has roller skating at the thawed ice rink in the spring and fall, so I've been going and even taking lessons! I have learned to skate forward, stop, fall correctly, skate backward, and am currently working on a turn that takes me from forward to backward in one terrifying maneuver. Roller skating is an amazing feeling, kind of like flying, and especially great if there is good music playing.

Korean Food

I am still obsessed with Korean food and have fallen into a pretty solid pattern of Korean lunches. I am slowly putting together some photos and notes about this and maybe in future I'll write a post about my tteokbokki, bibim guksu, mul nangmyeon, kimchi fried rice, ramyun and fish cake soup experiments.

 

Running

After spraining my ankle in 2020, I got back to my former schedule of weekly short and long runs, but then I came up with a case of trochanteric bursitis. The pain didn't seem related to running particularly, but I cut down on my running for a whole year. I still ran 3-times a week or so, but only a mile at a time. When I finally got my bursitis diagnosis, I started doing a bunch of things to counteract it, including taking Turmeric, doing 15+ minutes of daily yoga, using a topical cream with CBD in it, and getting monthly acupuncture and massage. This medley of things didn't necessarily erase my discomfort right away, but it did make me feel more energetic and inspired to run more, which I suddenly started doing in February. I am slowly gaining back strength and endurance and it feels great. Bonus: the bursitis pain has started to fade. Touch wood!

Tarot & Oracle Cards

During the pandemic I decided to teach myself about Tarot (specifically the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition), and from July to September 2020 I researched one card a day (there are 78 cards total). Since then I've been dabbling in one-card draws and some larger readings. It's pretty fascinating both in the symbols and meanings of the cards, and the way that the human brain can form connections and stories when presented with any of these symbols in any order. I've collected several tarot decks since then, and also some decks of Oracle Cards (which can be any system and meanings and don't have to follow tarot rules).

Herbcrafter's Tarot + Good Karma Tarot

Community College

I'm in the midst of a 10-course certification in Community Health with the local community college, which I'm doing as professional development for my job. I'm now on my 4th class, having completed Introduction to Healthcare last summer, Intercultural Communication last fall, and Principles of Public Health this past winter/spring. My current new summer course is Case Management. I've been writing a lot of essays and online discussion posts for the classes, and may even share some of what I've been working on here on the blog.

What about you? Leave a comment with one thing you've been up to in 2023!