Cucumber and Pepper Salad with Creamy Garlic Dressing

Happy Summer Solstice! It's the longest day of the year and the offical opening of summer, so here come the veggies!

Here's a gorgeous way to kick off the summer, crunchy cucmbers, peppers and spring onions swirled in a creamy garlic dressing. That's just the basics, add whatever takes you're fancy.

I also love this dressing as a dip with crudite (cut vegetables) and it regularly makes an appearence at summer apertizer plates, especially when the summer grill is going. Grilling is often so meat heavy that a green salad just doesn't give me enough veggies. This dip can be whipped up in 5 minutes from refrigerator pantry items and only gets better as it ages!

Cucumber and Pepper Salad with Creamy Garlic Dressing

1/4 Persian or English cucumber, cut in quarter dice
1 red pepper, diced
1 large carrot, cut in 1/4 inch rounds
1 spring onion/scallion, sliced thinly

Creamy Garlic Dressing

3 tablespoons yogurt, plain
2 teaspoons mayonnaise
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons smooth mustard, like Dijon style
1 lemon juiced (or 1 tablespoon cider vinegar)
salt
pepper

Place cut vegetables in bowl. In separate bowl combine yogurt, garlic and mustard and mix well. Add lemon juice or vinegar and blend. Add mayonnaise one teaspoon at a time until it cuts the yogurt flavor. Add salt and pepper to taste. If possible, allow dressing to chill 1 hour or more to allow flavors to marry and garlic to soften and mellow a bit. Spoon 1/2 of dressing over vegetables and toss well to coat.

Hugs!