This quick and easy salad can turn into your “go to” salad pretty quickly. For variety or to find what you really like, you can easily switch out the chickpeas with beans and also any of the vegetables. Make plenty and you can have it as leftovers for lunch or a healthy snack
Ingredients
- 1 large cucumber, sliced
- 15 mL (1 tbsp) chopped fresh dill or 2 mL (½ tsp) dried dill weed
- 2 carrots, peeled and grated
- 1 can (540 mL/19 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 500 mL (1 pint) grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
- 60 mL (¼ cup) chopped fresh basil
- 45 mL (3 tbsp) balsamic vinegar
- 15 mL (1 tbsp) basil pesto
- 10 mL (2 tsp) extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 mL (¼ tsp) ground pepper
Directions
- In a deep 1.5 L (6 cup) bowl, toss cucumber with dill and spread out over bottom of the bowl. Layer with carrots, chickpeas and tomatoes. Sprinkle basil over top. Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day.
- In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, pesto, oil, garlic and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve salad.
- Just before serving, drizzle dressing over salad and toss to combine and coat.
Tips
- Little chefs can help assemble the layers of vegetables for this salad. Why not mix salad dressing ingredients too?
- Switch up the legumes. Replace chickpeas with kidney or black beans.
- Mix it up. Experiment with different vegetables. Ask your family to choose their favourite ones.
- Make this salad ahead of time, and you’ll have a satisfying lunch filled with protein and fibre.
