Beans Beans

The musical fruit!

I have always liked a good marinated bean salad but have never actually tried making it myself. I've had the best bean salad in the world up in Tehachapi at The Apple Shed, alongside the best chicken salad sandwich in the world. The Apple Shed is a long drive just to have some bean salad, though, so I've tried the canned versions from the grocery store and found them way too vinegary and sour. So, bi-annual trips to Tehachapi have always included bean salad at The Apple Shed.

I recently went through old cookbooks and magazines and ripped out any recipes that sounded good and low carb and found a bean salad recipe that I put aside to try.

It came out good, very mild flavor and not overpoweringly vinegary. It uses a very small amount of oil so the calories stay down and beans are way good for you.

I doubled the recipe because my Winco doesn't carry small cans of vegetables and I don't think kidney beans even come in small cans, so...

Here is the original recipe if you can find the small cans, and I added a can of garbanzo beans to this because a bean salad really has to have garbanzos in it as far as I'm concerned. This made a huge bowl of salad that seems like it will last forever even though we've had it with dinner and I've had some with my lunches so far this week.



Marinated Three Bean Salad (or however many different kinds of beans you want)

1 8 1/2 oz can red kidney beans, drained
1 8 oz can cut wax beans or lima beans, drained
1 8 oz can cut green beans, drained
1/2 cup chopped onion (I used sweet onion, red onion would be good, too)
1/2 cup chopped green pepper (or red or whatever color you want)
1/2 cup vinegar ( I used some white wine vinegar because I had two bottles of it in the cupboard for some reason- I think it may be responsible for the milder not so vinegary flavor)
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp salad oil
1 tsp celery seed
1 clove garlic, minced (I left this out because garlic does not agree with me anymore)

In a medium mixing bowl (or large if you are using the big cans of beans) combine beans, onion, and green pepper.

For dressing, in a screw top jar (or a tupperware container like I did because I don't have a screw top jar) combine vinegar, sugar, water, salad oil, celery seed, and garlic. Cover and shake well. Add to vegetables, stir lightly. Cover and refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours, stirring often. Serve with a slotted spoon. Makes 6 servings (or 12 if you are doubling)

This has only 87 calories a serving with 16 grams of carbs, but they are good bean carbs. It also has 3 grams of protein.