Easy dinner recipes: Three fresh vegetable salads for Meatless Monday

Make the most of all the great produce in season right now with these quick, fresh vegetable salad recipes, perfect for Meatless Monday:

Vegetable salad with l’Arpege’s aigre-doux: It’s a simple assortment of seasonal vegetables served with a sweet-sour sauce known as aigre-doux. Colorful blanched carrots and peas are tossed with thinly sliced fennel, radish and endive and tossed with a creamy dressing that comes together in minutes, the flavors of the sauce amplifying the notes of each of the ingredients.

BLD’s fresh vegetable salad: BLD tosses its homemade dressing -- fresh, lightly herbal, sweetened with a touch of honey and with just the right amount of tang -- with a wonderfully bright and colorful salad of crunchy fresh corn, edamame, roasted bell peppers and green beans, along with diced avocado and toasted cashews. It tops the salad with fresh sprouts and a drizzle of nutty hemp seeds.

Garbanzo and fresh vegetable salad: When you’re looking to add heft to a dish, beans are always a great choice. They add depth and substance, a richness you might find with the addition of meat, but they’re perfect for vegetarian diets. Garbanzos are great for adding nutty notes, here tossed with fresh vegetables and a bright lemon vinaigrette. You can find the recipe below.

GARBANZO AND FRESH VEGETABLE SALAD

Total time: 25 minutes plus 1 hour standing | Serves 8

2 (15-ounce) cans garbanzo beans, drained
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cucumber, peeled and diced
1 cup diced carrots
2 cups diced yellow squash
1 zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 bunches watercress

Toss together garbanzo beans, celery, cucumber, carrots, yellow squash, zucchini, green onions and parsley in bowl. Combine vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil. Pour over vegetables. Add salt and pepper and toss to coat. Let salad stand about 1 hour to marinate. To serve, arrange watercress on plate or platter and spoon salad on top.

Each serving: 172 calories; 790 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 3 grams fat; 31 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams protein; 2.48 grams fiber.