Green Salad with Vegetables

It has been so hot where we live on the East Coast that we have not wanted to really eat anything let alone cook anything.   All we have been doing this week is snacking.  The temperatures that we are having now in July are closer to our August temperatures.  Who knows what kind of temperatures we will have for August.  So we finally decided to make something to eat that was fitting for the temperatures.  A salad of all kinds of vegetables.

The salad contained the following ingredients:
Green Leaf lettuce
Cucumber (fresh from the garden)
Avocado
Cherokee Purple Tomato
Salad Beans (Comes in a can and contains, kidney, pinto and garbanzo beans)
Blue Cheese
Dried Cranberries
Pecans
Banana Peppers
Black Olives
Fresh Ground Pepper
Asian Dressing

Asian Dressing
1/3 cup rice vinegar
3 tablespoons tamari
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Put everything in a small jar and shake until mixed.

Also made a drink called a Sonoma Cooler.  Saw Guy Fieri making them on the Food Network one day and thought wow those really look delicious and refreshing so I decided to whip some up.

Sonoma Coolers
8 Sonoma-variety grapes, plus more for garnishing (I used seedless white grapes)
4 fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnishing
3 ounces vodka
2 ounces grapefruit juice (I used pink grapefruit juice - no sugar)
2 ounces Meter lemon juice (It is really hard to find Meyer lemons so I used regular instead and feel that it worked well)
2 ounces Orange Blossom Honey syrup
Ice
California sparkling wine, as needed
Make two cocktails at once using this method: In a cocktail shaker, muddle the grapes and basil.  Then add the vodka, citrus juices, orange blossom honey, ice to fill and shake.  Serve in 2 big wine glasses over fresh ice cubes.  Top off with California sparkling wine and garnish with 3 grapes on a skewer and a fresh basil leaf.
Orange Blossom Honey Syrup
1 ounce orange blossom honey
1 ounce water
Add the honey to hot water together.  Mix well.