BEAN SALAD

If I was to compare the variety of salads I eat during winter and summer, I would say that the variety and quantity of salads consumed during summer was much greater.  I have been harvesting green and yellow wax beans from the garden.  Having a big bag of beans in the fridge and more to pick from the garden prompted me to process a pot of beans for freezing.  The beans are boiled in a large pot for about 90 seconds and then the pot is removed from the stove and cold water is poured over the beans.  After they are cooled off, I bag 1.5 to 2 cups of beans per freezer bag.  I will use these frozen beans during the winter as a side vegetable and to add to soups.

I decided to make bean salad for lunch so I kept about 1.5 cups of beans in the pot to cook longer.  A bean salad is simple to make and different vegetables can be added to the salad depending on what you have in the fridge and preferences.

I opened up a 19 ounce can of mixed beans.  I drained the liquid from the can and washed the beans to get rid of excess salt. I put the beans and green beans in a medium size bowl.

I chopped 1/2 pepper (yellow and red), one stalk of celery and two slices of red onion. I added this to the beans.

I took a handful of parsley from the garden, chopped it and added it to the bean salad. 

The finished salad.  It is quite colourful.  For the dressing, I mixed together one tbsp olive oil, two tbsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp of cumin and some ground pepper.  I added this to the bean salad and tossed everything together.