Hot summer days mean salads for dinner in our house, and I admit, I'm not the most original in my salads usually (green salad anyone?), so I have been experimenting with new salads over the past month and this is one of my new faves.

This salad is simple, refreshing & tasty. You can change up the flavour by mixing through whatever salad dressing you think will go with it (would be lovely with a creamy dressing) or I have popped a basic recipe for a lemon dressing that I really like.My advice would be to not add the dressing until you are serving, as the chopped salad stays fresh in the fridge for 3 days without the dressing. Just add dressing as you serve.

Make it is easy, and just two steps - quick chopping of the raw ingredients, and roasting up the crunchy stuff in the oven.

Chickpea, Cabbage & Broccoli Salad

Ingredients

For the oven:
1 cup chickpeas
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1 TBS Moroccan seasoning

For the main salad:
1/2 Red cabbage finely chopped
1 x head Broccoli finely chopped
1 x Carrot grated
1/2 avocado
Fresh baby spinach leaves

First, prepare the chickpeas and almonds. If using canned chickpeas, drain and dry with a paper towel. In a bowl, toss in olive oil and mix through the morroccan seasoning.
Place the chickpeas on a lined baking try and add the almonds. Bake for 15-20 mins at 180 degrees.

Next place the salad ingredients in a bowl for serving. You can use any dressing you fancy or have handy, I make the following and it's super yum, simple and quick.
Mix up the following in a bowl; extra virgin olive oil, whole grain mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper

Top your salad with the roasted chickpeas and almonds, and enjoy!