Recipe: Cucumber Tomato Salad with Zucchini and Black Olives in Lemon Balsamic Vinaigrette

The vegetables in my garden just recently started ripening and I needed to find some recipes to use the cucumbers, tomatoes, and zucchini.  I made three separate dishes that used one, two, or all three ingredients.  All were tasty, but today I am highlighting one recipe in particular.  It was super delicious and used all three ingredients and two herbs from my garden.  To make it even better, most of the other ingredients were already in my pantry!  I found it at allrecipes.com which has a fun function where you can search for recipes with certain ingredients that you plug in (which I just discovered a few weeks ago!).

Cucumber Tomato Salad with Zucchini and Black Olives in Lemon Balsamic Vinaigrette

Ingredients

• 2 large cucumbers, diced
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 large tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup chopped black olives
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

In a large salad bowl, mix together the cucumbers, zucchini, red onion, tomatoes, black olives, basil, and thyme. In a separate bowl, whisk together the red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, lemon zest, lemon juice, kosher salt, sugar, and pepper until thoroughly combined. Pour the olive oil slowly into the dressing mixture, whisking to combine. Pour the dressing over the salad, and serve.