An inexpensive crisp salad, which makes a change from soft green leaves, you can dress it up with crumbled feta cheese or add some left-over shreds of chicken.

Serves 4-6

½ medium red cabbage, finely sliced or shredded
500g cooked beetroot (without vinegar)
1 dessert apple, cored and finely chopped
1 small red onion. finely chopped
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp apple cider, sherry or red wine vinegar
3 tbsp chopped dill.

1. Put the red cabbage into a bowl. Scrape the skin off the beetroot
2. Cut the beetroot into fine matchsticks or shred through a food processor.
3. Add to the cabbage with the apple and red onion.
4. Put the oil, vinegar and a splash of water into a bowl, season with black pepper and whisk together, pour over the salad, add the scatter over the pumpkin seeds.

What’s so good about this salad?

Red Cabbage contains almost twice the Vitamin C as green cabbage and is rich in anthocyanins, powerful antioxidants. Cabbage is part of the cruciferous family, known for their indole-3carbinole and sulphorane compounds. These help to activate the antioxidant and detoxifications mechanisms that help to dismantle cancer producing substances. Other beneficial nutrients include bone-building calcium, magnesium, manganese, and heart healthy folic acid, vitamin B6, omega-3 fatty acids, potassium and vitamins A, B1 and B2.

Beetroot are an excellent source of folate, vitamin C, B6, iron, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, zinc, Vitamins B1, B2 and B3. The dark red colour indicates the phytonutrients, betacyanin, which is a powerful cancer-fighting agent. The fibre in beetroot helps in the detoxification pathways in the liver and have favourable effect on bowel function. Beetroot is also known to have a very beneficial effect upon blood pressure. It contains a chemical called nitrate, which is converted by the body into a compound called nitric acid, this is an effective vasodilator.