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Summer is here, and the weekly markets are awash with fresh and tasty seasonal vegetables. As the weather gets hotter, salads become a more attractive option – an easy and cheap to prepare and no cooking needed! Instead of making the typical boring salads, spice things up with these creative salad recipes. Subscribe to Type-A Mom articles

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Salads can get a little boring, so liven things up at lunchtimes with these different and very tasty options. These are so delicious that even my “no salad” husband enjoys them.

Spicy Cucumber salad

Serves 2

Ingredients

• One cucumber
• ½ of a large onion, or 3 or 4 spring onions, if you can find them
• ½ red chili or a generous sprinkle of chili flakes
• juice of a lime
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon water
• ½ teaspoon of sugar or a few drops of liquid sweetener if you prefer

Preparation

• Slice the cucumber and cut into small chunks. Peel and de-seed first if you prefer.
• Finely dice the onion, or cut spring onion into small slivers.
• De-seed and thinly slice the chilli
• Combine all these ingredients in a bowl and add the lime, soy sauce and sugar or sweetener. Mix well.
• Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Obviously, this is a vegetarian recipe, but if you are not vegetarian, you can add 1 tbsp of Thai Fish Sauce for a different flavour. If you can´t find fresh chilis, buy the dried chili flakes, which are readily available in shops in a sachet, or look for the “mill” type grinders which do keep the chili fresh for longer.

I confess I like a whole fresh chili on my salad, but don´t try it unless you have the fire brigade on stand by! It's HOT!

Mango & Strawberry salad

Serves 2

This salad has an unusual mix of tastes. Make sure the mango and the strawberries are very ripe.

Ingredients

• 3.5 ounces (100g) strawberries
• ½ cucumber, peeled and de-seeded
• ½ ripe mango peeled and cut into small chunks
• 1 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
• juice of ½ lime
• 1 head of chicory or cos lettuce

Preparation

• Place the chicory leaves or cos lettuce on a plate.
• Combine all other ingredients in a bowl. Add a sprinkle of black pepper if you like.
• Spoon over the salad leaves and serve. It's as easy as that!