Many diet plans such as Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig let you have virtually unlimited amounts of “free” vegetables – vegetables free from fat or carbohydrates. The rules are, that you can have these “free” veges but any extra delicious stuff like cheese, creamy or oily dressings, nuts, meats or croutons are just not allowed unless you sacrifice “points” or whatever from your other meals.

Surprisingly, even though these diet plans encourage dieters to eat huge amounts of these “free” vegetables, they provide hardly any recipes for meals made entirely of these “free” foods (with the exception of Weight Watchers’ “free soup”).

I’ve never been a fan of salads. I dislike lettuce, and am discontent with munching on other leaves such as rocket, mesculin and baby spinach. I’m alright with them combined with more delicious things, but on their own they’re just not right.

So my Mum helped me come up with a “free” salad that still manages to taste alright, without drowning it in vinegar-based dressing. The herbs add flavour and the finely chopped vegetables help to combine different flavours so you’re not just eating one vegetable at a time. Dieters, enjoy.

Makes 1 large single serve.

• 6 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1/2 red capsicum, seeds and stalk removed, chopped into small pieces (about 2cm x 2cm)
• 1 handful cos lettuce leaves, sliced
• 1tbs finely chopped dill
• 2tbs finely chopped mint leaves
• 1/2 cup finely chopped snow pea sprouts
• 2tbs crunchy bean sprouts (such as mung beans)
• 1 shallot, white part only, finely chopped

Once everything’s chopped, put it in a bowl and squeeze over 1/4 of a fresh lime, and grind over plenty of salt and cracked pepper. Toss to combine and serve.