Summer Cucumber Watermelon Salad

Things are getting much hotter here in Texas. The air conditioner runs non-stop during the evening hours. Thankfully I have one of those programmable thermostats so that I can set it to not run as much while we aren’t at home. Sorry, doggies. You don’t earn your keep so you don’t get daytime AC.

When it’s this hot, there are times when I just don’t feel like eating. For someone who is usually like Pavlov’s dogs when it comes to the dinner bell ringing, that’s saying a lot. I’ve been experimenting more with salads. Here is one example and here is another. One thing I hadn’t tried was a fruit based salad.

I hate slicing a whole watermelon. It seems to involve huge feats of strength and leaves me in a puddle of water and mushed pieces that aren’t cubes. The farmer’s market had irresistible slices of watermelon so I ventured into new salad territory. The pre-sliced method was perfect. I created cubes right over the bowl and there was no mess.

This salad had great flavor to it with the sweet watermelon and cinnamon. The onion added a nice balance too. The colors were gorgeous and just fun to look at on the plate. There were plenty of leftovers and I took them for lunches a couple days.

Summer Cucumber Watermelon Salad  

• 3 cups watermelon, cubed
• 2 cups sliced cucumber
• 1/4 cup sliced red onion
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Cube and slice the watermelon, cucumber and onion and place in a large bowl. Add the oil and lime juice and toss lightly to coat. Sprinkle with cinnamon and toss again. Makes 6 servings at approximately 45 calories each.

The servings were massive servings too. Plenty of bang for your calorie buck. You could also use a different melon or fruit if you don’t have watermelon on hand. If you try a different combination, let me know how it turns out. I love to get new ideas to try.

Do you find yourself less hungry in hot weather?