Hello Summer! The first day of summer is June 20th and that also marks the day of my mate Vince’s birthday! Happy birthday Vince and I hope you get spoiled.

We have an excessive heatwave here in northern California and living at 4,000 elevation with 100 degrees is no fun. I do not miss our 110 summer days in Fair Oaks, California. But we went for boba yesterday and the weather read 106 in Placerville. Thankfully we were in and out of the boba shop, which by the way any Placerville friends out there check this new place out called-  Teapost Boba on main street

This week is way too hot to cook anything more than a simple salad, which is not considered cooking. Rather it is a matter of dicing veg and then tossing it in a bowl and serve! Easy right?? Let’s get to this beautiful summery salad that includes some of my favorite seasonal produce.

Summery Strawberry Cucumber Salad Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 large English cucumbers – sliced
• 4 cups of strawberries- quartered
• 1 cup of mango -diced
• 1/2 cup of red onion – thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup of crumbled feta cheese
• A handful of fresh mint leaves (keep in mind what variety of mint you use)
• Optional- Handful of pecans or walnuts

Lemon Dressing Recipe

• 1 lemon (reserve juice)
• 1 lime (reserve juice)
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1. Rinse the produce thoroughly then prepare the fruits and vegetables. In a large bowl combine all of the salad ingredients except the cheese and mint and lightly toss.
2. To prepare the salad dressing, add the ingredients to a bowl and whisk to combine.
3. Pour the salad dressing over the salad, and then top with feta cheese and fresh mint leaves.

Recipe notes:

• You can most certainly add any greens to this salad especially spinach or arugula.
• You can add any nuts of your choice.
• I used Persian cucumbers but I do prefer using English cucumbers. Your choice so use what you like.
• Any dressing works really well but I find the lemon, balsamic, oil is perfect.
• Be mindful of the mint you use as some are extremely strong! For example, peppermint is very strong so use sparingly. I used “spearmint” in the salad.

Enjoy!

Happy Father’s Day!!