EASY AND NUTRITIOUS CHICKPEA SALAD

2-1/4 c. diced cucumbers 

1 c. diced tomatoes

1/4 c. diced red onion

2 T fresh lemon juice

1/2 T minced fresh parsley

1T extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

15 oz. can chickpeas (rinsed and drained)

Combine all ingredients together and toss well.

I like to add ripe and/or green olives, feta cheese and sweet corn.  If there are fresh radish available, those will be added, as well.  It's fun to kick the salads up a notch with whatever's available.  

Growing up, we had what my mother called the "acre garden."  Daddy insisted that a large portion of the farm crop field be devoted to our vegetable garden.  His mother (my grandmother) taught him to provide for his family wisely.  Grow your own, preserve and eat what Mother Nature provides.  After all, growing one's own food is like printing one's own money.  Even though I watched Daddy's wisdom in action, my lifetime goal was much different.  Fast forward to today, and I totally understand the glory of gardening.  Never was there a time of my life that I didn't value the home-grown vegetables and fruits grown in the private gardens and orchards.  In fact, we had an apple orchard on our farm.  Even today, vegetable salads and fruit reign supreme on my food priority list.  The older I get, the more I'm eliminating foods with sugar.  Oh, I have a feisty sweet tooth, but I don't give in to her whining.  

Food is a critical part of our older years.  We realize what we put into our bodies will react favorably or unfavorably.  Fast foods are filled with fats and calories, designed to entice and then destroy us.  How is it fair that the human population is bombasted with television commercials that not only rouse our appetites, but have us licking on our computer screens.  The ones that get me are the pizza commercials with the ooey, gooey mozzarella cheese.  Who among us doesn't watch and need to swallow our drool over these enticements.  

I always say that the powers that be first entice us to eat, then we take the bait and eat, in time we gain weight, in time our health suffers, and then the powers that be come up with expensive drugs to help us lose weight.  If this doesn't qualify for a "vicious circle," then I'd like to know what does.  Recently I went along with my family to a cardiologist appointment at Mayo.  The cardiologist's words were, "eat what you can recognize."  He explained if you see a banana, you know it's a banana, so eat it.  If you see a bag of salty crunchy snacks, you don't know what ingredients are in that bag of snacks.  To stay healthy, don't eat the bag of snacks.  Opt for a food you recognize.

Summer is the season of freshly picked sweet corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, followed by all varieties of squash.  If we enjoy foods with tomatoes, well, this is the time of year for us to freeze or preserve them for winter consumption.  I lean toward simplicity.  If there's an abundance of tomatoes, I put them in the blender and freeze them for winter chili and hot dishes.  I'm not one to do the traditional canning.  Not only don't I know how, but I don't take the time.  

We've been enjoying the fresh watermelon sold at our local grocery stores.  We usually have evening snacks of watermelon.  It's refreshing, filling, and nutritious.  Just bought sweet pea pods and hummus made with garlic, onion, olive oil and poppy seeds.  It's called 'everything hummus.'  I could make my own with a can of chickpeas, but, again, that's not me.

I've watered the plants already this morning.  It's gonna be a hot day here, so we'll be staying put where it's cool.  Last evening a regal-looking buck walked across the lawn in front of our unit.  What a treat that was.  We see momma does, but rarely bucks.  He had quite a rack of antlers already.

Stay cool and safe.  Ta-ta.