3 Bean Salad

I made this last week for something to take to work. I've been thinking about it for a long time, but just never got around to it. It's 3 Bean Salad and it's pretty yummy. It's a different take from the vinegar and oil based salads I've been making most of my life. When I was working in a family-style steakhouse, we bought this stuff pre-made in cans. It's so simple to make and costs a whole lot less. It also tastes better than the canned stuff.

3 Bean Salad

As you can see, the three beans are green, waxed and kidney. The green and waxed beans are the staple of the salad. If you like, you can replace the kidney beans with cannelli beans or limas or whatever you'd like. Black beans or black-eyed peas would be pretty and probably taste really good in here.

Here's the recipe:

3 BEAN SALAD

1 can cut green beans, drained and rinsed
1 can cut waxed beans, drained and rinsed
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed - I used dark kidney beans for the color contrast
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped

Dressing
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup vegetable oil - if you use olive oil, it will coagulate until the salad warms up
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
Salt and pepper, to taste

Mix the dressing ingredients together. Add to the beans. Stir and put into the fridge to chill for a couple of hours.

*You may need to double the dressing ingredients as this is just enough for my taste.*

This is pretty good to serve with just about any type of meal. It's nice on a hot day when you don't want to heat beans on the stove. It also is good to whip up if you know company is coming soon and you don't have much to serve. As long as the sugar dissolves, you can serve it lukewarm. In my opinion, it just tastes better if it's chilled.

Enjoy!

Take care and happy cooking.