A patron at our library gave me the idea to mix watermelon and tomatoes in a salad. Sounds odd, but tastes fantastic. I added a few other ingredients, and we loved how it turned out, so I thought I’d share. And if your garden has tomatoes, basil, and watermelon, this will be a very inexpensive salad. It only takes a few minutes to come together. Just mix everything together and enjoy:
- equal parts tomatoes and watermelon, chopped
- fresh basil, chopped (I used 7 leaves for a salad to feed two people – use as much as you like)
- a small amount of goat cheese, feta, or soft mozzarella
- a few drops of balsamic vinegarette
If you’re eating vegan, just leave out the cheese – the other flavors will still be great together. I used basil from our hydroponic garden, and tomatoes from our outdoor garden. This salad is perfect for those end of summer days when the weather is still warm, and the garden is producing all sorts of wonderful things.
Sense says
Yum!! that sounds delish, i can’t wait for the New Zealand summer to try it!
neimanmarxist says
delicious! we’ll have to try it.
Stefanie says
It does sound strange to me to mix tomatoes and watermelon… but could be interesting!
I know I LOVE tomato, basil, mozzarella salad, and this is pretty much the same, minus onions and plus watermelon.
Mrs. Accountability says
I can’t quite imagine the taste in my mind – which I’m usually good at doing. What type of tomato did you try? I got my cool weather garden started, I can’t wait for fresh Swiss Chard!
FrugalBabe says
Mrs. A – I had a hard time picturing it too, but I had to give it a try and I’m glad I did. I’ve made it twice now, and used both roma tomatoes and regular round tomatoes. Both turned out great.
Mrs. Accountability says
Thanks, FB! I will have to see about trying this recipe, now you’ve got me curious. I got one of my garden beds seeded on Saturday and my radishes have begun germinating! Have you been able to harvest your Swiss Chard yet? I’m sure you know you can harvest only the leaves and allow the plant to continue growing? One of my neighbors didn’t know that years ago, and he harvested the plant like one would harvest a head of lettuce. He had an awesome garden, he was from Thailand and we shared seeds.
FrugalBabe says
Mrs. A – We’ve been harvesting our hydroponic swiss chard for about two weeks now. And we’ve been harvesting our outdoor swiss chard all summer (we eat it every day in green smoothies, so we go through a lot of it). And yes, I always just cut off leaves – I go through the whole garden and take random leaves, that way all of the plants keep producing for months.
FruGal says
Yum, that sounds amazing! I will have to try it out :)