Rich always come home from work hungry. His first move is usually to go straight to the freezer and take out ice cream (sorry Rich – your secret is out). In an effort to try to give him a healthier alternative (in addition to using some of our beautiful goodies from our [and our neighbor’s] garden) I decided to whip up some of these Cucumber Boats for when he got home.

This is the season of carefree entertaining and although I love me some roasted veggies (the house smells awesome from roasted veggies right now – look forward to those posts in the coming days & weeks) we don’t always want/need to heat up the house! This recipe easily serves 1 or 2 as an appetizer, but is obviously very easy to adapt for more. Just count (about) a whole cucumber per person as you adapt this for your next gathering.

Enjoy these the next time you get a few extra veggies laying around – super fast and easy and tasty (and good for you too)

Stuffed Cucumber Boat Appetizers

(adapted from Jenn’s Cuisine)

• 2 cucumbers
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 1/2 medium [red] onion, finely chopped
• 1 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese (or shredded from the bag) AND add in some fresh grated parmesan if you have it
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 T good Olive Oil
• 2 T balsamic vinegar

Slice cucumbers in half vertically, and core out the seeds.  Three of these halves of these will be the “boats” to serve the salad in. Take one of the halves and peel the outside, then dice. Dice the tomatoes with the same small size dice you used on the cucumbers. Mix in a bowl diced cucumber, tomato, onion, mozzarella, and the dressing ingredients.  Let sit about 10 minutes. Drain the liquid & carefully scoop into the 3 cucumber boats and serve.

And I leave you with this Question of the Day… What is your favorite “after work snack” and how do you fix your unhealthy cravings and turn them into healthy ones?