The Gluten-Free Homemaker

I’m not a natural gardener. I don’t know why; it’s in my genes. I just don’t have much natural talent for gardening. That doesn’t mean, of course, that I can’t learn and improve, so it is something I’m working on. Last year we did a little bit of container gardening. This year we branched out and planted a small garden with 7 cucumber plants, two tomato plants, one zucchini, and one bell pepper plant.  It turns out that this was a good year to plant a garden because we’ve had LOTS of rain. As you can see in the picture above, my cucumber plants are doing quite well.

We are now harvesting large burpless cucumbers daily. This picture shows a small sample of what we’ve gotten so far.  They look a bit yellow in the picture, but really those parts are white. I’m not sure if it’s this variety or if there is another reason they are pale. They have all tasted good. If you have any tips for me, please leave a comment.

We’ve given away a few, and today I’m sending some to work with my husband for him to give away.  We just can’t eat them all. We enjoy cucumber on salads, but my favorite way to eat them (and I’ve passed this on to at least one of my kids) is on a cucumber and peanut butter sandwich.  My parents introduced me to this sandwich and it was always one of my favorite lunches to take to school. It may sound strange to some of you, but it’s not too different than eating celery and peanut butter.

Making the sandwich is quite simple. First you spread peanut butter on both slices of bread. Then you slice a cucumber and layer the slices on one piece of bread. Put the other piece of bread on top and you’re done.

In case you’re wondering about the bread, I made this from Pamela’s gluten free bread mix. It’s my favorite sandwich bread.

Yesterday, I ran out of bread and was looking for ways to use the cucumbers. I came across this cucumber recipe file, and saw a recipe for cucumber lemonade. That sounded strange but appealing!  I tried it and really liked it. Here is my version of the recipe.

Cucumber Lemonade

Ingredients

• 1 large cucumber, peeled seeded, and cut in chunks (about 2 cups)
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 2 lemons, juiced
• water

Instructions

Put the cucumber and about 1 1/2 cups of water in a blender. Blend until pureed well. Strain the liquid into a pitcher and discard the pulp. Add the sugar and about 1 cup water to the blender. Blend thoroughly to dissolve the sugar. Add to the pitcher. Juice the lemons and add the juice to the pitcher. Add enough water to make 8 cups of liquid. Stir and serve over ice.

The theme of today’s Friday Foodie Fix is…..cucumbers! That worked out perfectly for me. Visit The W.H.O.L.E. Gang for more cucumber ideas.

Labels: other recipes

# posted by Linda @ 7/10/2009