Summer Salads

When it's hot outside, there's nothing I love more than a pimped-up salad. Here are three favourites that we've been eating recently....

Grilled Halloumi and Courgette salad by Simply Food By Mandy

If you haven't discovered Simply Food by Mandy, you're missing out. Her Instagram feed is a treasure trove of incredible, easy recipes like this one.

Ingredients: 4 medium courgettes, 1 block of halloumi (sliced), 3 tablespoons pomegranate seeds, dill or mint to serve.

Dressing: 1 clove crushed garlic, juice of 1/2 lemon, 4 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon honey, 1-2 chillies sliced, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint, salt and pepper.

Method: pan fry or bbq the courgettes and halloumi until golden. Drizzle with dressing and pomegranate seeds.

Chicken and red cabbage salad

This Asian-inspired salad is sooo delicious. As with all salads go free-range and add what you like. We add red pepper to this recipe from Good Food magazine and don't tend to add peanuts (but only because we never have them to hand!)

Ingredients: 1 small roast chicken (shredded) or cooked chicken slices chopped, 1/2 red cabbage sliced, 3 carrots (grated or sliced), 5 spring onions, 1 red pepper, 2 red chillies, halved and thinly sliced, small bunch coriander, roughly chopped, including stalks, 2 heaped tbsp roasted salted peanuts, roughly crushed.

Dressing: 3 ½ tbsp hoisin sauce, 1 ½ tbsp toasted sesame oil

Butternut Squash and Feta Salad with pomegranate

Another favourite and so easy, even I can make it. You don't really need a recipe, just roast 1/3 butternut squash and throw it in with lettuce, avocado, tomato, feta and pomegranate seeds. Mix together olive oil and balsamic as a dressing and you have a very easy, delicious salad. Even chuck in roasted sweet potato if you want to bulk it up a bit. Yum!