Tomato Salad

My absolute favorite part of summer is garden-fresh tomatoes!!  I always swear I'll never buy store-tomatoes again after growing my own, but we always seem to eat them all out of the garden before I have the chance to can/jar any of them to save for the remainder of the year!

I'm always looking for recipes to use all the fresh fruits & veggies we grow in our backyard, and this tomato salad has quickly become our all-time favorite.  If you are a tomato lover, just add these few simple ingredients and you will have a drool-worthy addition to any meal!

Here's some tips before you start:

1) The secret to an amazing tomato salad is of course the right tomatoes!  My go-to variety in the yard is called "Sweet 100" cherry tomatoes, but heirloom varieties provide a great flavor as well.  Try to use a few different types together!

2) Salt your tomatoes before you mix anything together.  After cutting the tomatoes, isolate them in a bowl and sprinkle salt over them to bring out their amazing flavors.  I've seen recipes call for massive amounts of salt for this step, but I always use significantly less.  My recipe size always depends on the amount of tomatoes available on my vine, so I try to just make sure each tomato piece at least gets a couple grains of salt.  I also use sea salt, but that is your preference. 

Ok!  So here's the recipe!  Again, my portions depend on how many tomatoes I happen to have that day so you can adjust the quantities for taste and preference. 

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup tomatoes (If using cherry tomatoes, cut in half.  For larger tomatoes, cut into quarter-size pieces)

1 Avocado, cut into pieces

1/2 Onion, sliced

1 Clove Garlic, diced

1 tsp Fresh Basil

1 tsp Oregano

1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

Salt & Pepper, to taste

METHOD:

-Salt tomatoes in bowl.  Let sit at least 1 minute

-Gently mix in avocado, onion, garlic, basil, and oregano

-Drizzle olive oil & balsamic vinegar evenly over top

-Add salt & pepper to taste

There you have it!  Enjoy!