I used to beg for creamy cucumber salad — but this version's even better

I may be a happily cliched rom-com loving, yoga-doing Wine Mom, but I refuse to be typecast as a salad person. 

It's not that I have any strong objections to a big bowl of cold, crisp, frequently green things. I just, a bit like Ron Swanson, frequently find myself skeptical that I'm going to get enough to eat. A good salad to me likely has Fritos in it. Or at least bacon. I knew I was in the right place when, in a restaurant deep in the Midwest, I once ordered a salad and the waitress asked if I'd like a pork chop on it. 

So I can confess that when I first looked at author Sheila Prakash's "Salad Seasons: Vegetable-Forward Dishes All Year," I wasn't entirely sure I'd be on board. But when I saw in her introduction a declaration that "Many of the salads in this book are unconventional," because "to me, a salad isn't strictly lettuce-centric," I felt myself relax. Sure, there are recipes within for "simple summer greens," but there are also dishes featuring plenty of grains, beans, cheese and even a little meat here and there. It's a book that won't let you go hungry. And yet, the recipe that wound up winning me over first turned out to a relatively light one.

I spent the first 15 years of my life living with my grandmother, a woman who dutifully if joylessly prepared all the  meals. This is why, whenever anyone asks me about favorite family dishes, I usually draw a blank and ask if Pepperidge Farm cookies count as a response. A notable exception, however, was what my grandmother referred to with unembellished frankness as her "cucumbers and sour cream." It was a dish I begged for all summer long, the way other kids plead for ice cream. It was just thin rounds of cucumbers,  mixed with sour cream and mayo and so generously salted the crystals would provide their own extra crunch. It was my favorite homemade dish in the world, tangy, comforting and refreshing.

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Prakash zhushes up my grandmother's template by taking out the mayo and adding lots of fresh herbs and quick pickled red onions. For my own version, I stick mostly to the plan but substitute green onions for an extra verdant vibe. I also up the quantity of sour cream a bit because I want to know my cucumbers are going to be extra creamy, and I feel like Nana would have wanted it that way. I had a big portion of this for lunch the other day with some warmed up flatbread, and wondered why I haven't been making this for myself my entire adult life. I won't make that mistake again. As-is, this is a perfect summer classic — but if you want to throw a pork chop on it, I won't stop you.

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Inspired by  "Salad Seasons: Vegetable Forward Dishes All Year" by Sheela Prakash

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