Favorite cucumber recipes

Refrigerator Pickles (Unique Cafe, Boscobel) These pickles are more sweet - I was getting to the end of the gardening season and didn't want to make a trip to the store to try the dill pickle recipes.  Maybe next year :)

When the Unique's regulars bring in mounds of surplus cucumbers to share, these sweet refrigerator pickles are the result.  "These go on the salad bar," says cook Annette Wagner.  "We use both the small pickling cucumbers and the regular ones.  The store-bought ones don't keep too well."

Although these could hardly be easier to make, Annette does specify that canning salt should be used.  Regular table salt typically has anticaking additives that don't dissolve as easily as canning salt and can cloud the brine.  If you like your pickles tangy, use less sugar.  Keep cold, the pickles will keep up to a year.  "But of course they don't last that long!"

7 cups sliced,  unpeeled cucumbers
1 cup thinly sliced onion rings
2 tablespoons canning salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 teaspon celery seed

Mix cucumbers, onion rings, and canning salt well.  Let stand two hours.  Drain well (don't rinse, just drain).  Divide into 2 or 3 pint glass jars, if desired (avoid containers that are metal, as they can react with vinegar - - I actually used plastic containers)  Meanwhile combine sugar, white vinegar, and celery seed in saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and let cool.  Pour this over the pickles.  Refrigerate the pickles.  Makes 2-3 pints.

Cucumber Mix

1 cup sugar
1 cup oil
1 cup vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp celery seed

Cucumber & Tomato Salad
One of my favorites of the summer - and honestly I really don't even love cucumbers

Peeled and cut cucumbers into smaller pieces
Grape tomatoes - cut into half
Italian dressing - I used fat free
Feta cheese - I used tomato and basil flavor
Green olives cut into pieces