Cucumber, Tomato and Feta Salad

Sense of Home Kitchen

This past weekend I met a woman who has a fantastic "Summer Kitchen" and I am so sorry I did not have my camera with me.  It is an old, small, simple building that has been on her farm for many years.  She has it tucked back into the trees so that it stays cool and it is surrounded by hostas and other shade plants.  It has a wonderful old-fashioned screen door, baskets hanging from the ceiling, a small table, above the window a shelf that holds her canners, an old cabinet for jars, etc., a stove, small refrigerator, and sink.  She had several jars of canned black raspberry jam and grape jelly, made from fruit growing nearby.  There were, what she called, "Granary" refrigerator pickles in a bucket on the table.  She said she spends a lot of time in her summer kitchen, cooking there keeps the house cool.  Years ago, before air conditioning, a summer kitchen was a common sight on farms around here.  They were commonly built before there was electricity and a wood burning cook stove was the means of cooking.  Come summer the stove would be hauled out to the summer kitchen to keep the house cool.  I would love to have one in which to do the year's canning and preserving, even dehydrating heats up the house.

Cucumber, Tomato and Feta Salad
~From the Sense of Home Kitchen~
This salad was born out of an excess of cucumbers and tomatoes coming out of our garden last year.  It is the salad we have been eating nearly every evening for the last two weeks and we are still not tired of it.  I prefer the cucumber peel be left on, for some reason these had been peeled, I can't remember why.  No specific measurements are needed, the ratio of tomatoes and cucumbers are up to you or your supply.  I use red onion, green onion, chives, or herbs, whatever I have available in my garden, for added flavor.

Cucumber, washed and diced
Tomato, washed and diced
Red onion, slivered or green onion, chives or herbs, minced
Oil and vinegar for a dressing (or Italian Dressing)
Feta, crumbled over the salad

Mix and serve.
 
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