With the onset of Spring, I’ m just itching for fresh food and sunshine. It’s a little early for produce from my own garden but thanks to the marvels of our modern grocery stores, I can get all I need to whip up this salad in a jiff. This serves as a delicious side dish bursting with garden flavor and can be kept in the refrigerator for several days.

My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

When you see how quick and easy it is, this may very well end up being your favorite salad of the summer!

I’ve already got my garden started for this year and can’t wait to begin bringing in my own tomatoes to put up. I miss having neighbors that garden though. Back when we lived in the teeny tiny town of Rogersville, I’d often find baskets of vegetables left on my front porch by kind neighbors, who I swear grew a garden just so they’d have vegetables to give away! My grandparents have always done that, too. We just get such pleasure in giving to others and the gift of home grown veggies is a tradition long passed down. With that in mind, I’ve planted an OBSCENE amount of tomatoes this year! ~grins with excitement~

Are you ready for a taste of summer? Well here it is!

You’ll need: Tomatoes (I’m using Roma), a big old red onion (which is actually purple so I have no idea who decided to call it red), and two cucumbers.

You can use any raw veggie you like here really, just go with what you like. Be sure to wash them well before using them.

and this.

I LOVE me some Italian dressing. Original, Zesty, any way you look at it, its delicious. HOWEVER, my Mama called and told me I had to try this so I headed right on out to do just that. As an Olive Garden fan, I gotta tell ya, this stuff is dead on to what they serve in their restaurants (my opinion).

Oh and a note: Kraft didn’t sponsor this post or anything. They have no idea that I’m fantasizing about drinking a case of this stuff but if anyone from Kraft reads this and wants to feed my habit, knock yourself out

Chop or slice your cucumber.

I’m leaving my skin on but you can peel it if you prefer.

Place that in a large bowl.

Do the same with your tomato.

Toss that in there too..

If you want you can just use a can of diced tomatoes and drain them.

Chop up your onion..

noticing a pattern here, I bet…

Add that in.

Pour the whole bottle of dressing over it.

Ugh. I made this last week and ate every last bit of it. As soon as I press send on this post I’m heading to get the stuff to make it again!

Lawdy it’s good.

Stir

Cover with a lid and place in the refrigerator for several hours to marinate

If you have a sunshiney pyrex casserole dish like this one, all the better.

This dish makes me happy. The pattern is called Daisy but there are a few other Pyrex patterns often referred to as Daisy as well so this is sometimes called yellow daisy, orange daisy, or golden daisy. I just think of it as my sunshine pattern. I have this same casserole in three sizes as well as a set of Cinderella mixing bowls in this pattern.

Serve as the perfect side to BBQ, Grilled Burgers, whatever your heart desires!

I just plop it in a bowl and dig in all on it’s own!

Are you planting a garden this year?

What do you plan on growing?

I’m always looking for ideas and I’d love to hear from you!

You can visit my post from last year on Raised Bed Gardens in 30 Minutes by clicking here.