Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Make Room For Beans

Hello,
"Mixed bean salad"
"Beans, Beans, the more we eat the more we      ?    "  Okay I am sure some are wondering, "The more we what?" I am not telling.   Beans are a great source of fiber and protein.  There are many types of beans that you can buy, fresh, canned, or dried.  Whenever I want to buff up a dish or make an inexpensive side dish I always go for beans.  The hardest part is picking which beans to buy: cannelloni, black beans, black-eye pea, kidney, navy, pinto, pink, red, re-fried beans, and many more.  Depending on what I am making usually decides what kind of bean I am using.  For chili using beef or ground turkey I like to use a black bean.  For a chicken soup or pulled chicken chili I like to use a navy bean.  For a salad I like mixing two different canned beans. 
INGREDIENTS:
CANNED BLACK AND NAVY BEANS
PEPPERS (YOUR CHOICE RED, YELLOW, GREEN, ORANGE)
RED ONION
JALAPENOS (FRESH OR CANNED)
CILANTRO
FRESH GARLIC
OLIVE OIL
RICE WINE VINEGAR (SEASONED)
SALT AND PEPPER

"Mixed bean salad"
You can make a bean salad with many types of ingredients.  With this recipe you can add corn or diced fresh tomatoes to make it a great spring or summer dish.  I think the more color the better.

First drain and rinse your beans.  Rinsing them will remove any extra salt that is added to canned beans and make the beans look clean.  If you do not like canned beans, dry beans are great for this recipe as well. Cut your peppers and onion into bean size pieces and add to the beans.  Depending on how spicy you like your food is how much jalapenos you will chop.  If you are using a fresh jalapeno pepper I would use food safe gloves to keep the oils off of your hands and remove the seeds and membranes from the inside.  The seeds and membrane(white part inside) is where the heat of the pepper is.  Chop cilantro, using the stem along with the leaves, the stem has all of the flavor.  Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl, garlic, oil,  vinegar, s & p.  Try not to over stir or you will smash your beans and it will not look fresh.

I think this salad would make a great addition to any meal.  I would like to eat it with a well piece of seasoned chicken, blackened salmon steak,  or sliced marinated flank steak.  Even adding to a burrito with ground meat, lettuce, cheese, etc.  Yummy!!! I'm getting hungry now!!!  I hope you enjoy this recipe and find many ways to change it up for your taste buds.
Mo

1 comment:

  1. Has anyone changed this recipe to make it totally different please share?

    ReplyDelete