• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Sunny Side Up Nutrition
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Work With Us
  • Shop
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • About Us
  • Recipes
  • Resources
  • Work With Us
  • Shop
search icon
Homepage link
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • About Us
  • Recipes
  • Resources
  • Work With Us
  • Shop
×

Home » Recipes » Diet-Free Parenting

Crisp Veggie Salad For Summer

Last Updated: Aug 1, 2019 by Elizabeth Davenport · This post may contain affiliate links

  • Share
  • Email
Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

Summer is just around the corner

Pools open this weekend! And there will certainly be Memorial Day picnics to attend.  Maybe you’re headed to the beach this weekend or the pool or a Memorial Day picnic? If so, this Crisp Veggie Salad is refreshing and easy to make ahead!  

Easy crisp veggie salad for summer

Make a big batch

I sometimes make a big batch of this one. It’s worth making because it keeps all week. I love having fresh, crisp veggies around that I can serve with a number of different meals. Especially, in the summer, when it’s so hot out you don’t want to use the oven or stove.

Crisp Summer Veggie Salad

This salad can work well for kids, because, if you use a dressing they like, they’re more likely to be open to trying the salad. Also, they can eat around the veggies they don’t like. Full disclosure: I’ve made this salad for years and my kids still don’t eat it; even though they love mustard vinaigrette (as our regular readers know, it’s a staple in our house) and they eat carrots and cucumbers regularly. I just keep making the salad. Maybe they'll try it sometime and maybe not.

Make it with any crisp veggies you like

This salad can be made from any combination of veggies you like. Try making it with raw green beans, raw asparagus (cut off the tips and discard them), raw sugar snap peas, sliced radishes and toasted sliced almonds.

No recipe needed

Ingredients for easy crisp veggie salad

You can simply chop up as many raw veggies as you’d like. But if you’d like a recipe, here it is: Cut up ½ a head of cauliflower into small, bite-size florets. Peel and cut up a cucumber (or 2). Peel and cut up 3-4 large carrots. Invite your kids to help peel the carrots and cukes. Then rinse and slice 5 radishes. I often add some arugula or watercress too. Toss with about ½ cup of the mustard vinaigrette and some salt and pepper to taste. You can always add more vinaigrette.

To Make the Mustard Vinaigrette whisk together 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar, ⅔ cup canola oil and salt and pepper to taste.

4 ways to serve crisp veggie salad

Easy crisp veggie salad over farro
  1. As a veggie side
  2. As a main dish summer salad on a bed of cooked farro (one of my personal favorite grains) and topped with toasted, unsalted nuts.  Any kind of nuts you like will work. Sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds will work well, too. If you only have salted nuts, you may want to use a little less salt when making the salad.
  3. Another main dish summer salad: over mixed greens and topped with tuna
  4. Toss with cooked pasta for a yummy pasta salad

Speaking of summer did you read Anna's recent post?

Being just on the verge of summer has me thinking about summer camp and Anna's recent post. Ellie, our 11-year-old is going to sleep away camp for the first time this summer. I think I’m more nervous than she is! One of my concerns is what if she ends up in a cabin with kids and counselors who are focused on diets and diet talk. I know she has a lot of language and beliefs from home that will help her navigate this. But, it’s hard for a kid or teen (and many adults) when everyone around you is talking about the need to lose weight or what foods they're eating and what they're not. So, I sent the camp director the free training resource Anna shared in her last post! Who are you sharing the resource with? It’s important we get diet culture out of summer camp (along with all the other places it pops up).

Print

Crisp Summer Veggie Salad

Salad of raw cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers, raddish, and mustard vinaigrette
Print Recipe

Easy and versatile veggie salad.

  • Author: Elizabeth Davenport
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 30
  • Category: Side

Ingredients

½ head of cauliflower cut into small, bite-size pieces

3 medium carrots peeled and diced (or chopped)

1*seedless cucumber peeled and diced (or chopped)

4-6 radishes washed and thinly sliced

¾ cup watercress leaves washed and removed from stems (or arugula)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup mustard vinaigrette (recipe follows)

Instructions

Cut up ½ head of cauliflower into small, bite-size pieces.

Peel the carrots and then slice each in half lengthwise.  Then dice (or chop) the carrots.

Peel the cucumber and then slice in half lengthwise.  Then dice or chop it.

Wash the radishes and then cut each in half.  Set on the cutting board sliced side down and slice them. The slices will look a bit like half moons.

Rinse the watercress.  Remove the leaves from the stems.  

Place all the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.  Add salt and pepper to taste and ½ cup mustard vinaigrette.  You can always add more if needed. 

Notes

*If you buy cucumbers with seeds in them you can simply scrape out the seeds with a spoon after you peel the cucumber and slice it in half lengthwise.

**I typically make this with a whole head of cauliflower and then double the rest of the ingredients.  

****Recipe adapted from Crisp Vegetable Salad in Simple Pleasures by Alfred Portale

Keywords: Salad

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @sunnysideupnutritionists on Instagram

Print

Mustard Vinaigrette

Print Recipe
  • Author: Elizabeth Davenport

Ingredients

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

⅔ cup canola oil

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Whisk together the mustard, vinegar, canola oil and salt and pepper until emulsified.  

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @sunnysideupnutritionists on Instagram

Anna and Elizabeth making a salad

SIGN UP for our email list and receive our FREE downloadable PDF:

20 Sunny Side Up Snack Ideas and 5 Tips for Snack Time. 

Sunny Side Up Nutrition logo
« Diet-Free Camp Culture
Feeding Teens: Slowly Taking Down The Scaffolding »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Elisabeth and Anna outside smiling

Welcome to Sunny Side Up Nutrition! 

• Are you looking for sound, practical nutrition and cooking information?

• Do you want to opt out of diet culture and the hype around food?

• Do you want to be empowered to foster healthy relationships with food in your home?

If so, then you've come to the right place!

More about us →

Popular Posts

  • An Open Letter to My Daughter's Camp Counselor
  • Please Don't Teach My Kids to Diet: 5 Resources to Give Teachers and Schools
  • A School Nutrition Lesson: The Edible Parts of a Plant
  • Growth Charts & What to Ask of Your Pediatrician
  • Thanksgiving Traditions and Steamed Pumpkin Pudding-Part 2
  • 7 On-The-Go Summertime Snack Ideas

Family Dinner Recipes

  • Easy, Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
  • Pasta with Bacon and Brussels Sprouts
  • Spinach Lasagna: An Easy Meal for a Return to Busy Nights
  • Summer Tomato Basil Pie
  • "Go-to" Summertime Meals
  • 15-Minute Lentil Ragout

Footer

  • terms of service
  • privacy policy
  • subscribe
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook