Summer Salad

Today was my aunt and uncle’s anniversary, so our family had them over for a celebratory dinner at our house. I was asked to cook, and happily agreed, as I will use ANY excuse to be in the kitchen creating all day. I made marinated tuna skewers with a ginger lime sauce (that will be posted separately once I perfect it) and veggie/squash kabobs with this salad on the side. Needless to say, there was none left by the end of the meal, and I knew my experiment was a success.

I’m calling this recipe “Summer Salad” since it’s light, refreshing, and full of summery flavors. Also, who knew Watermelon went so well with vegetables and cheese? I guess at least a few people, since apparently the Watermelon-Feta combination is a popular one, but I’m going to give you my recipe anyway. I will always give credit when and where credit is due, so any resemblance that it bears to another that you might find is purely coincidental.

Ingredients:

8 cups finely diced seedless watermelon (Roughly half of a medium watermelon)

2 cups diced heirloom tomatoes

1 cup reduced fat crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup thinly sliced mint leaves (about 4 sprigs)

Combine ingredients in a large bowl and toss gently. No dressing is needed in my opinion, as the natural juices of the watermelon make the salad moist enough and help to combine the flavors nicely.

TIPS:

• Serve the salad in the empty watermelon shell and garnish with tomato and mint leaves! 
• Any type of tomato will do for the salad. I love heirloom tomatoes because they’re so pretty and always add beautiful, bright colors to any dish. You may even be able to do without the tomatoes too, but I found they added a nice acidity in lieu of dressing.
• For cutting the mint, layer several leaves on top of each other and roll them up. Then slice them widthwise, creating the “chiffonade” effect which works perfectly for salads. You can do this with basil too (which may also work well in this salad… Next time)!