Sweet Onion and Tomato Salad

Try this very easy salad a few hours before it is served.

Ingredients:

4 large bulbs of sweet onion, sliced
varieties of salad greens
cubed cucumbers
a cupful of cherry tomatoes (sliced or whole)
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
grated parmesan cheese

optional: slices of apples and a bunch of seedless grapes

Prepare the green salad and arrange in a large salad bowl.

Slice the large onions and sliced tomatoes. Spread unto baking sheet with a generous amount of balsamic vinegar, salt and freshly cracked pepper. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Take out the baked onions and tomatoes and let it cool for a little while. Dump all of the baked onions with the remaining balsamic vinegar on top of the green salad. Add in a dash of salt and freshly cracked pepper. You may add in some sliced apples and grapes for color and extra sweetness to the salad.

Chill in the ref. Toss the salad just before serving and a generous amount of parmesan cheese and freshly cracked pepper. Enjoy!

How to chop or slice onions minus the tears:

There's so many ways:

1. Put the unpeeled onion in the freezer and leave it there for about ten minutes. Remove the onion from the freezer and peel it. The onion can now be sliced, chopped, or minced without tears.

2. Refrigerate them before slicing or chopping

3. Run the cold water at the faucet in the kitchen sink. Place a cutting board across the sink, in front of the running water. Slice the onions without tears.

4. Simply keep your onions in the fridge along with other veggies and you will never cry when chopping them - it's that simple!

5. If you use a sharp knife, there shouldn't be any tears. An onion makes you cry because acid is being released from the onion. Using a dull knife crushes the onion rather than cutting it, releasing far more of this acid into the air.

6. Try holding a wooden spoon or a piece of bread between your teeth while cutting. This significantly reduces the irritation to the eyes.

7. Keep your mouth open and breathe through it while cutting onions to reduce the amount of tears.

8. Do the peeling and dicing of the onion in your kitchen sink area. But first turn on the water faucet (the spray works better) and try to peel and dice your onion behind the running water. The sulfur gas from the onion will hit the running water and becomes sulfuric acid and washes away before it hits your eyes.

9. Bring a pot of water to boil until it starts steaming. Then remove from heat and put the pot on the kithen counter and start peeling and dicing your onions in the vicinity. The steam from the pot will trap the sulfur gas emitted from the onions before it hits your eyes.

10. Burn a candle on the counter near where you're cutting the onion. It'll burn off the fumes that cause eye irritation. A scented candle also smells better than raw, chopped onion!

11. You can also avoid tears simply by chewing a piece of gum while you are cutting the onion.

12. Try holding 5-7 wooden matches in your teeth (unlit of course); it will absorb the odor. The matches with red tips work best. Match stick tips have sulfur (S) in them and the sulfur gas (S) emited from onions hits these tips before getting to your eyes and becomes S2 that is neutral.

13. Put a fan behind you and towards the onions to blow the sulfur gases away from you.

14. If you have contacts, wear them.

15. Grandma always held a silver spoon in her mouth while peeling onions. I tried it and it worked!

16. Fill your sink with water and peel and cut the onion under water. Works every time.***
Normal or Prescription swim goggles - exceptionally effective***

Now, if you don't believe me, it won't hurt to try them all. Lol! Have a nice day!