Another No-Cook Recipe: Creamy Dill Cucumber Salad

Some people, say from high school, that you didn’t get to know, can come back later into your life in positive ways. Back in that day, it seemed as though that boat had sailed-the friendship boat. If you were like me, you may even have had mutual friends, ran in the same circles but getting together didn’t happen for some reason. As more mature adults, you now connect. I can’t help but wonder if only we had been pals then how our lives might differ today. Maybe there’s a reason, maybe it took that time for a purpose or maybe you get your act together. Who knows?

For the (almost) year that I’ve posted at the dabble, I’ve noticed several people connecting to me through my facebook, twitter and other accounts that were in my past. I’m loving it! Shout out to you, ladies and gents. I think you may know who you are. I’ve also, in a way, reconnected with people that were once great friends and I greatly appreciate them too. Unfortunately, I have a tendency to dwell on the people that aren’t good friends. I’m taking baby steps to fix that.

Sometimes, it’s the complete opposite and you have to rid yourself of toxic relationships that you’ve had for years (maybe 12), as we’ve recently done. We were no longer playing for keeps, as we’ve done in the past. Instead, we had the mindset, from the beginning of the argument, to cut our losses. It’s tiring to remain friends with people that don’t know how to be a good friend. Now, it’s so much easier and I don’t have that doubt lingering in my heart. We’ve found that it has brought some people closer to us and those are the important relationships. With those of you, if our beer tastes decent, we will share a few batches. Oh yeah, we bought our second beer kit, an IPA.

Just a note: if someone talks badly about others to you, they will do the same with others about you. I’m not saying I haven’t been guilty, at any point in my life, but let me put it this way, I would never allow a serious/painful situation to continue between friends if I have the power to help. I would never sit back and use gossip or someone else’s pain for entertainment purposes. (Cough cough.)

I have an announcement: I have not been a fan of raw cucumbers. Grill, roast, simmer and I will eat them up but place them in my salad and I will avoid cukes like the plague. You might be asking why I bought cucumbers to begin with and I’ll share with you why. Pickles-I’m making spicy dills. Now those have been loves in my life before Greg, my husband. He loves them too. We are dill pickle-eating fools. When I was young, my grandpa bought me a giant jar of pickles for Christmas.

I had some leftover baby, seedless cucumbers and thought Greg would enjoy a cuke side (similar to raita with yogurt from Bon Appetit) with our curry chicken. That’s where this great, seriously tasty (surprised me) creamy dill cucumber salad from dlyn blog comes in. Use your choice of cucumber, which will release more water into your dressing, but I didn’t care at all because the flavors had soaked into the gourd after marinating for a few hours. I adjusted the recipe to my taste by thickening the dressing with more mayo.

Creamy Dill Cucumber Salad
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:
½ cup sour cream
3 tbsp mayonnaise
¼ cup cider vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1 clove of garlic, mashed to a paste
1/3 cup onion, chopped
6 sprigs of fresh dill, chopped
salt/freshly ground pepper
3 medium cucumbers or 5 baby cucumbers (I used seedless), thinly sliced or chopped

In a large bowl, combine the sour cream, mayo, vinegar, sugar, garlic and onion. Mix well and toss in the cucumbers, dill and salt/pepper. Don’t be afraid to salt the salad well. The cucumbers will release their water, thinning out the dressing, but it’s still great. Cover or place in an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, if not overnight. This is great chilled or room temperature so it makes for a great picnic or party side.