After a couple of weeks of visiting family, busy schedules, and meat heavy meals, my brother and I decided to call it. Together we're going mostly vegetarian this week with just one chicken meal planned and one 'wild card' night in the mix. While I generally have kept most of my vegetarian recipes rather hearty, sometimes... less is more.

This light and simple zucchini noodle salad is completely bursting with bright flavors, and with such few ingredients and low effort too! It makes for a perfect little lunch or even a decently sized side dish for a dinner. I'm thinking along side some baked Italian chicken breast. Yum!

To make this salad, I started off with some fresh zucchini and yellow summer squash that I spiralized with my handy-dandy spiralizer. If you don't have a spiralizer, don't fret! This salad could be made just as well with thinly sliced zucchini, or I've also heard that you can use some vegetable peelers to spiralize too. With that, I added in some fresh mozzarella and cherry tomatoes. Super simple, right?

The dressing here is the most amazing part though. The bright citrus of the lemon juice and the basil are the perfect way to keep this dish light and super fresh. It's a pretty zippy dressing, so I'm not sure I would put it on much else other than these zucchini noodles noddles here. The zucchini absorbs a lot of the flavor while the mozzarella buffers against the tang.

While I used one of each, a zucchini and a yellow summer squash, you could also just use one or the other with two zucchini or two yellow squash. It's all about what you prefer! I'm a huge fan of both and loved the contrast of color between the two kinds of squash though.

One of the things that I love most about this salad is that it's easy to make ahead and have on hand for a quick bite through the week. It was a great lunch for me to grab-and-go. Just be sure to keep the dressing separate from the rest until you're ready to enjoy it.

Zucchini Noodle & Mozzarella Salad with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette
TheSkinnyFork.com

The Skinny:
Servings: 4 • Size: 1 Salad • Calories: 169.9 • Fat: 13.2 g • Carb: 6.8 g • Fiber: 1.2 g • Protein: 6.3 g • Sugar: 3.2 g • Sodium: 96.6 mg

Ingredients:
1 Zucchini, Spiralized
1 Yellow Summer Squash, Spiralized
20 Cherry/Grape Tomatoes, Halved
4 Oz. Fresh 'Bocconcini' Mozzarella

Lemon Basil Vinaigrette:
2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tbsp. White Wine Vinegar
10 Fresh Basil Leaves
Salt & Pepper to Taste

Directions:

Combine the 2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice, 2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 2 Tbsp. White Wine Vinegar, 10 Fresh Basil Leaves and Salt & Pepper to Taste in a blender or food processor until smooth.

An immersion blender will work too!

Divide the squash evenly among bowls with 5 halved cherry tomatoes and 1 Oz. fresh mozzarella.

Serve each salad with about 2 Tbsp. of the lemon basil dressing.

Enjoy right away!