Spring Beans Salad

Beans Galore!

As a child, I notoriously hated eating beans. Once my mom forced me to eat beans and I threw it up. This incident meant that I was not fed beans again in my childhood by force. In my adulthood though, it has become one of those foods that I find myself reaching for when I want something healthy and filling. My affection for beans has gotten stronger as I have discovered different types of beans, both fresh and dried. This week's lunch celebrated my love of beans by highlighting different kinds of both dried and fresh beans.

A trio of beans

You should know that I cook my beans from dry at home. I am just one of those people that gets freaked out by canned food. This does not mean I don't eat canned food. I just prefer where possible to make food from scratch. I prefer this because it means I don't have worry about sodium levels or additives. For something like beans, it is so easy to make it at home that I don't think twice about it. I make a lot at once and I pop it into the freezer for other days. To cook the beans for this recipe, I mixed all my dried beans together because they have the same cooking time.

The green team

Spring Beans Salad

Ingredients
1 cup of Cooked Pinto Beans
1 Cup of Cooked Black Beans
1 Cup of Cooked Red Kidney Beans
1 Cup of Shelled Fresh Fava beans
2/3 lb of Green Beans Trimmed
3 Corns on Cobs/ 11/2 cups of corn kernel
2 Jalapeno Peppers
1/4 cup of Cilantro
1/4 of Parsley
Olive Oil
Salt

Instructions
1. Put on a big pot of water to boil. While the water is heating up, put together a bowl of cold water and leave in an accessible location.When the water starts to boil, put in a lot of salt. You want the water to be on the edge of saltiness. Then add in the corn on cobs. Three minutes later, add in the fava beans and green beans. After two minutes, put in the fava beans, corn and green beans in a bowl of cold water to stop them from over-cooking.

2. Drain the fava beans, green beans and corn on cobs. If you are using the corn on cobs, slice off the corn kernels. Also chop the jalapeno, cilantro and parsley finely.

3. Add all the ingredients, except olive oil, into a big bowl and mix. When the beans are well distributed with herbs and corn, add in a good dash of good olive oil. Taste it to check that salt level is balanced. The salad is ready to be served.