a big summer salad of leaves, strawberries, olives and crisp vegetables with a yuzu-balsamic dressing

On a hot day, another warm, cooked plate is the last thing that sounds appealing, and this protocol can start to feel like it only offers warm, cooked plates. This bowl argues otherwise. It is big and colorful, there is no stove involved anywhere in it, and it holds enough variety, leaves, strawberries, olives, 5 vegetables and 2 herbs, that it does not read as a diet plate at all.

Vitamin C runs through the strawberries in real amounts too, but the more interesting nutrition in this bowl is the range itself. Carrots are where the beta-carotene comes from, and your body converts that into vitamin A. Eating this many different plants in one sitting is its own kind of work: more plant variety means more different fibers for the microbes along your gut lining to break down, which is part of what keeps that lining steady.

Lay the strawberries and olives where you will see them first, dress it at the very last minute so nothing wilts, and let a bowl this abundant be a full meal in its own right, colorful enough that it never reads as the diet plate at the table.

Ingredients

For the salad:

• 2 large handfuls baby lettuce leaves
• 1 cup ripe strawberries, halved
• 1/2 cup mixed olives (clean-label, no excluded additives)
• 2 tablespoons capers, washed (clean-label, no excluded additives)
• 2 carrots, grated
• 2 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
• 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
• 1/3 long English cucumber, quartered and chopped
• 1/2 small radicchio, thinly shredded
• 1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped dill

For the dressing:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon yuzu juice (or lemon juice)
• 1 tablespoon good quality aged balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• pinch Himalayan pink salt

Method

Wash and dry the baby lettuce and pile it into a large serving bowl. Add the halved strawberries, the mixed olives, the washed capers, the grated carrot, the sliced spring onions, the celery, the chopped cucumber and the shredded radicchio. Scatter the chopped parsley and dill over the top.

Whisk the olive oil, yuzu juice, aged balsamic vinegar, honey and a pinch of pink salt together in a small jar or bowl until the honey dissolves and the dressing comes together. All of these are permitted on elimination, so the dressing needs no swaps.

Pour just enough dressing over the salad to lightly coat, then toss gently with your hands so the leaves and strawberries are not crushed. Taste, add a little more dressing if you like, and serve right away while everything is crisp and cold.

*Adapted from healingfamilyeats.com*