25 Favorite Healthy Cucumber Salads to Keep You Cool

Summer means cucumbers, and here are 25 Cucumber Salads to eat all summer long!

How do you feel about cucumbers?  I'm always kind of shocked when someone tells me they don't like them, but then I realize maybe those cucumber-adverse people have only had grocery store cucumbers.  Those overly large waxy creatures are a poor substitute for fresh garden cucumbers, which are loaded with a delicate flavor that I just love.  If I don't have cucumbers from the garden I love the mini Persian cucumbers that you can buy at Costco, or the European cucumbers that are available all year.  As soon the weather gets hot I start craving cucumber salads.  Back in 2011 I posted ten favorite cucumber salads, but four years later I have a lot more favorites, so I'm updating this post to share 25 Favorite Healthy Cucumbers Salads to Keep You Cool.  Hope you enjoy trying some of them!

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Slow Cooker Brown Rice Veggie Bowl with Asparagus, Red Bell Pepper, Zucchini, and Feta (Gluten-Free)

This Meatless Monday Slow Cooker Brown Rice Veggie Bowl has asparagus, red bell pepper, zucchini, and Feta

Summer means garden-fresh vegetables, and this Slow Cooker Brown Rice Veggie Bowl is a simple way to cook them without heating up the house.  I made this with my nephew Jake and even though we ended up tasting it at the end of a long cooking day when we had sampled lots of other things, we gobbled this up and I was excited to have the leftovers another day.  The recipe couldn't be simpler.  Start by cooking brown rice in the slow cooker with vegetable stock, spices, and a chopped onion until the rice is nearly done.  While the rice cooks, chop up vegetables of your choice; we used asparagus, red bell pepper, and zucchini, but you could also substitute other vegetables that taste good with Feta such as yellow summer squash or green beans.  Add the vegetables and cook until they're tender, then stir in some crumbled Feta and serve, topped with a little more feta sprinkled on top.

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Recipe for Grilled Sriracha-Sesame Turkey Meatballs

Yes, these Sriracha-Sesame Meatballs really were cooked on the grill!

(For Phase One Fridays I feature Phase One Recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and these Grilled Sriracha-Sesame Turkey Meatballs are something I've been making for a few years now.  You could also cook the meatballs on top of the stove, or right on the grill grates as well if you don't have a grill pan like mine.  This recipe was not originally Phase One, but I discovered you could make the meatballs with almond meal for a phase one version.)

I'm known as the queen of cooking gadgets among my friends, and a few years ago I got a new stainless steel grill grid pan from Sur La Table that really got me excited.  It's flatter than the grill pan I use to cook vegetables, with holes that are small enough to make it perfect for cooking lots of interesting things on top of the grill.  It was definitely this pan that got me thinking about cooking these Sriracha-Sesame Turkey Meatballs on the grill.  I'm always looking for interesting ways to cook ground turkey, and these Sriracha-sesame flavored meatballs were a big hit with several people I tried the recipe on.

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Green Chile Turkey Taco Salad with Peppers and Avocado (Paleo, Low-Carb, Gluten Free)

This Green Chile Turkey Taco Salad with Peppers and Avocado has a dressing that's seasoned with green chile salsa.

I'm a big fan of taco salad, so recently when my niece and cooking assistant Kara was doing the Whole 30 challenge, I thought it would be fun to come up with a taco salad that's Whole 30 approved.  I also wanted a taco salad that didn't have beef, and this delicious Green Chile Turkey Taco Salad with Peppers and Avocado is the combination we came up with.   Simmering the meat with green chile salsa and other seasonings, using a little of the same salsa to add flavor to the dressing, plus adding green and red bell peppers and finely chopped fresh Poblano chiles to the salad greens gives this salad a lot of savory chile flavor with just a little heat.  Kara and I both loved the flavor of this turkey taco meat mixture; if you have family members who don't want salad it would be delicious inside tortillas for regular tacos as well.

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Summer Means Grilled Vegetable Salads, and Things I'm Thinking About on Tuesday (6-17-2014)

Whole Wheat Orzo and Grilled Vegetable Salad with Feta, Olives, and Herbs

Even though the official first day of summer is a few days away, lately I've been thinking of those things I love to cook in the summer but never make any other time of year, and grilled vegetables that get turned into salad are at the top of that list.  I love grilled vegetable salads, and there are a couple on the blog that are my all time favorites, starting with the Whole Wheat Orzo and Grilled Vegetable Salad with Feta, Olives, and Herbs shown above.  I could eat this all summer long!  Two more grilled summer salads I'm equally crazy over are Grilled Sweet Potato Salad with Basil, Thyme, and Feta and Grilled Zucchini Greek Salad.  Did you notice the common ingredient in these three favorite grilled salads?  Yes, I do love Feta cheese and recently my favorite Feta cheese showed up again at Costco after I hadn't been able to find it for a couple of years.  It doesn't take much to make me happy; finding that Feta at Costco again totally made my day, and the summer has gotten off to a good start.

Now, here are a few more things I've been thinking about . . .

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Power Greens Salad with Blueberries and Almonds (Paleo, Gluten-Free, Vegan)

This delicious healthy salad has power greens, blueberries, and almonds to help you eat your SuperFoods.

It's Father's Day in the U.S., and all day today I'll be thinking about my amazing father, and wishing I could spend a few hours with him.  My dad was a loving and intelligent guy who liked music, reading, Kentucky Fried Chicken, tartar sauce, and any dish that had shrimp in it, and if he was still here there's no doubt I'd be making his favorite Shrimp and Macaroni Salad today.  I don't think anything can prepare you for the loss you feel when both your parents are gone, but I'm still grateful for holidays like today and how they remind me of what amazing parents I had.  If you're lucky enough to be spending the day with your dad, I hope you have a wonderful time.

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Cuban Flank Steak Recipe (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free, Can Be Paleo)

Flank steak is delicious when it's marinated in Cuban flavors and grilled.

 (For Phase One Fridays I feature Phase One Recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites,  and this Cuban Flank Steak is one of my most-used ways to cook beef on the grill.   If you're grilling for a beef-loving Dad this weekend, I can promise this will be a hit!)

In one of my previous lives, before I became a food blogger and a South Beach Dieter, I used to be president of my local teacher's association, aka the teacher's union. This was a demanding high-pressure job that I sometimes loved, sometimes hated, but one thing I did enjoy about the job was the chance to travel. I went all over the U.S., and it was in Miami Beach that I had my first experience with Cuban food. I loved the way beef and pork were marinated in lime juice in the Cuban cuisine, so a few years ago I tried to re-create that flavor in this flank steak. If you like flank steak, give this flavorful Cuban-style marinade a try!

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