I’m excited that In Good Taste is growing and to provide you with more quality recipes, cooking tips and entertaining inspiration, you’ll be hearing from a few new voices on a semi-regular basis. Esther Reisinger is another food-obsessed twenty-something who will be here from time to time sharing her cooking, shopping and dining experiences.

Sometimes you do the best when you’re trying the least.

Maybe you hurl the basketball desperately towards the basket from half-court at the buzzer and make it.

Maybe you find one night that your hair looks awesome just as you’re about to go to bed and bemoan the fact that no one gets to see how good you look.

Maybe you snap a picture of your little niece at the beach and notice later that in the background of the photo you have captured a shot of a centaur sunning himself.

Maybe you make a last-ditch effort to add a healthy component to your meal by using up the random assortment of vegetables that happen to be in your fridge. You grab a half-used cucumber, tomato, and avocado and slice them up. You wonder why you happen to have all these half-used vegetables, I mean, why can’t you ever use a vegetable all at once? You find the answer to this question when you throw some dressing ingredients onto the vegetables and toss it all up, then take a bite and discover that you’ve just made magic.

Oh, and that last one about the vegetables happened to me. I know. You totally thought I was making up that crazy little scenario.

This salad was a happy accident that will now be part of our regular rotation. We fell hard for it. There’s a good chance that my husband would’ve drunk the remaining dressing with a straw if I’d given him one.

Why should you try it? It’s perfect for summer. It’s easy and light and refreshing. The depth of flavor from the dressing is the perfect accompaniment to the delicate flavors of the vegetables without overwhelming them.  And with Memorial Day coming up, I think it’d suffice to say that this salad would do any picnic good.

(Also, I haven’t tried this option yet so don’t quote me on it, but I imagine that adding some feta to this could be rather sensational.)

Cucumber, Tomato and Avocado Salad

What You Need:

1/2 Cucumber, peeled and sliced, with the slices then cut in half
1/2 Tomato, coarsely chopped
1/2 Avocado, coarsely chopped
1 T. olive oil (I use lemon-infused)
1 T. red wine vinegar
1/2 T. sugar
1 tsp. lemon pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

How-To:

Add cucumber and tomato to a bowl and sprinkle with all of the ingredients except the avocado. Toss well to coat. Adjust seasonings to taste, if desired. Add avocado and toss gently. Serves 2.

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Tagged as: avocado, cucumber, picnic side dish, salad, tomato