Nutritionist’s Top Summer Salad Pick: Discover My Go-To Balanced Meal!

Lately, you might be running out of cooking ideas. With the current heatwave, you find yourself almost exclusively eating green salads and raw vegetables. While this was refreshing at first, you’re beginning to grow tired of it and, more importantly, you’re feeling low on energy. Continuing this way, you risk becoming as frail as a lettuce leaf: that’s hardly a meal by itself! It is entirely feasible to eat salads without suffering from nutritional deficiencies, as long as they are well-rounded and provide all the necessary nutrients, nutrition experts remind us. This is precisely what dietitian-nutritionist Zoé Vrignaud, known as @zoeladiet, offers. “My balanced dinner: a mixed salad, perfect for a complete, quick, and especially easy meal,” she writes under her Instagram video. Let’s dive into her recipe!

Ingredients for the Mixed Salad

Here are the amounts needed for 2 servings.

• 2 ripe tomatoes
• 1 cucumber
• 1 small red onion
• 1 bunch of parsley, or your choice of herbs
• 1 block of feta cheese
• 150 g of chickpeas
• Salt, pepper
• Smoked paprika
• Herbes de Provence

For the dressing:

• 1 tbsp of plain yogurt
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tsp of balsamic cream

How to Prepare the Mixed Salad

Zoé suggests roasting the chickpeas in the oven or an Airfryer to add a crunchy texture. However, if you want to avoid using heat, you can skip this step!

1. Start by making the dressing: in a large bowl, combine the olive oil and balsamic cream, season to taste, then add the plain yogurt. Whisk until smooth.
2. Toss the chickpeas with a drizzle of olive oil, a tsp of smoked paprika, and a pinch of Herbes de Provence. Season with salt and pepper, then spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 30 minutes at 350°F (180°C).
3. Chop the feta, cucumber, tomatoes, and onion into small, evenly sized cubes, about half an inch, and finely chop the parsley.

4. Combine everything in the bowl with the dressing and mix well. Add the roasted chickpeas at the end to keep them crunchy.

That’s it! You can enjoy this salad as is or serve it in wraps to include some carbs.