3 bean salad*

I have great news! I finished my new menus today! WAHOO! I do a 5 week cycle menu for Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, so I just finished the Spring menu. I hope to launch it as soon as next week and I am so excited (even though Spring doesn't technically start for a few weeks).There are dozens of new recipes and I am so excited to share them all with you!

I had never in my life heard of a "3 bean salad" until Sarah had suggested we have it as a side dish one day. It is so refreshing, light and a great source of protein! It's so easy to make, too! I made a slightly different recipe than what we have used in the past the other day, and I like it even more. It's actually technically a 5 bean salad, but they still call it a 3 bean salad, so we'll just go with it :). I didn't use all of the ingredients in the original recipe, and switched up some of the ingredients it called for (fresh cilantro instead of dry, EVOO instead of vegetable oil). Very tasty!

3 Bean Salad
adapted from Allrecipes.com

Yield:  10 servings

Ingredients
1 can green beans, drained
1 can wax beans, drained
1 can red kidney beans, drained
1 can garbonzo beans, drained
1 can black beans, drained
1 red onion, chopped
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 tsp. ground dry mustard
1 1/2 tsp. fresh cilantro

Directions
In a large bowl put in all of the beans and onion. In a small bowl combine the vinegar, olive oil, and dry mustard. Mix until well combined. Add liquid mixture to the beans. Finally add the fresh cilantro and toss until well combined. It tastes especially yummy when it has a few hours to chill in the fridge!!

This would be a great picnic side dish in the summer! There's no mayo or anything that needs to be kept cold and it is so refreshing!

-alyssa*