Pink Summer Salad

Growing up this pink salad was one of my favorites. I forgot all about it until a few weeks ago when I came home from Red Dog Farm with tomatoes, cucumber and onions and saw Mom, who triggered the memory. I promptly asked if she would show me how to make it for dinner. Her response was to ask if I was sure since it involved Sweet 'n' Low and mayonnaise.

It's true that I don't use artificial sweeteners and only in recent years started using mayo sparingly, but I couldn't resist the delicious memory. Thank goodness as, Sweet and Low be damned, this still is a great salad. It is comes together in a snap, especially if you don't get all OCD about dicing the veggies, and is so satisfying with its crispness, sweetness and tang. I'm salivating as write about it. In fact, I suspect by the time you see this post I'll have made it again for lunch.

Moving on now. In the picture below, I used equal amounts of tomato, cucumber and onion but I have decreased the onion in the recipe by half. If it would make you more comfortable, you probably can swap sugar or another sweetener for the Sweet and Low, but I'm not going to break with tradition. Mom got this loose recipe before I was born from a church picnic (nearly 30 years ago!) and I see no reason to change it now.

Pink Summer Salad
2 cups chopped Tomatoes (no need to seed them, you want the juice)
2 cups seeded, chopped Cucumber
1 cup chopped Onion
3 tablespoons Mayonnaise
2 tablespoons White Vinegar
1/2 to 1 packet of Sweet and Low
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Combine the chopped vegetables in a large bowl. Sprinkle with Sweet and Low. Stir.
2. Add the mayo, white vinegar and salt and pepper. Stir until the liquid turns pink and the taste meets your approval.
3. Consume a generous portion and look forward to finishing it the next day.