Fresh summer salads

Summer's here and that means sunny days, weekend picnics, warm balmy evenings, beach, surf, sun... and salads!

salads are the perfect way to eat on hot summer days. Your body benefits from the lighter fresher fare and there's no extra heat from cooking in your kitchen. They're perfect for easy casual entertaining or a quick hot weather stand-by. Lose weight - head for the salads.Salads are ideal if you're trying to lose weight. With their high fibre and water content, you can fill up with a huge plate and yet have eaten only 420 kilojoules (100 calories).

Salads are a great way to ensure you get plenty of antioxidants - natural plant compounds that protect the body and slow the ageing process. For highest antioxidant value, use the "Rainbow Rule" and go for lots of colour, adding red tomatoes, bright carrots or capsicum, purple onion, fresh corn, beetroot and even fruit such as grapefruit or orange segments, melon or apples.

Because most of the ingredients are eaten raw, heat-sensitive vitamins such as vitamin C, vitamin B1 and folate are not affected so it maximises the nutritional value over cooked vegetables.

Start off with a layer of lettuce. You can tear up a whole lettuce, or buy mixed leaves (mesclun) or a bag of washed and pre-packed leaves (check it's fresh with no brown wilted leaves). Add interest with any of these healthy ingredients: tomatoes (vine-ripened, cherry, egg or yellow tear drop) o cucumber o capsicum o grated or thinly-sliced carrot o button mushrooms o snow peas or sugar snap peas o sprouts o steamed green beans, asparagus or cauliflower o chopped shallots or purple onions o char-grilled sweet potato, eggplant, zucchini or other vegetables o diced avocado o fresh herbs like coriander, mint or basil.Make your own dressing, it's quick and economical. Best of all, you get a quality oil and you don't get the extra salt and additives from commercial salad dressings. Here's how: In a screw top jar, measure out: * 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon lemon juice (or use white or red wine vinegar) * ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard * plus a few grinds of black pepper. Shake well until mixed, drizzle over your salad, toss and serve.