Problem this time of year is that, after being spoiled with ripe local tomatoes until a couple weeks ago, they really suck bad. We ate at a restaurant Sunday and the tomater in the salad was pink. Why bother? Anyone with any sense is going to eat around it. It's basically a garnish now, an inedible mealy blob.
Pears are good right now, and ripe ones are great in salad with some crumbled blue cheese.
Orange slices can replace tomatoes. It'd be real good if you could mash up some raspberries and drizzle that over an orange-cuke-lettuce salad.
Roast some red peppers in the broiler, put in a paper bag to cool (and steam the skin, so it's easy to peel off). Saute some mushrooms and garlic in olive oil and add to lettuce and cukes with some grated parmesan, balsamic vinegar.
Grilled or fried zucchini and onions, roasted red peppers, lettuce, cukes, crumbled bacon, some kind of crumbly cheese (goat, blue, feta), oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, lots of oregano (fresh if you can get it).
Fresh herbs really add some zing to a salad. Oregano is my favorite, but basil, mint, tarragon, even rosemary.
If you can get melon -- watermelon, honeydew, cantelope -- they taste good with greens and vinegar-oil.
I'm not big on raw apples in salads, but roasted apples are pretty good with some grated sharp cheddar, greens and cukes, vinegar and oil, maybe some cinnamon.
I use fruit a lot when the tomatoes aren't in season locally.
