Bean Salad
Posted by terrepruitt on July 24, 2010
On the way home from a little Nia class / meeting in Danville I starting craving a salad. All the way home to San Jose (its about an hour) I kept thinking of what ingredients I would need. I didn’t have the recipe with me, but since it is so easy I remembered the few things I needed to get. Recently I went to a little party where the hostess had made a bean salad. It had two things in it I REALLY don’t like, one thing I don’t like, one thing I love in teeny tiny pieces, and one thing I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE (not including the spices). So on my quest to learn how to like bean and get some legumes in my diet I decided to make my friend’s TWO bean salad recipe.
1 can kidney beans
1 can garbanzo beans
1 large red pepper – chopped (big or small, you decide)
½ large sweet onion – cut small square sizes
¼ to ½ bunch cilantro – cut ½ inch size
½ to 1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon fine ground black pepper
1 ½ teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
3 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil
Drain the beans, mix everything together. Like most salads it is better when the flavors have mixed so wait an hour or so, then eat. Yum!
I adjusted the recipe to have MORE bell pepper (can you tell which ingredient I love, love, love?), I used a little more salt because I bought these really low sodium beans. I mean compared to the other two brands I looked at these had about one third of the sodium. I like that idea, but I also know that if it doesn’t have a good enough flavor for me I won’t eat it, so I actually put in 1 teaspoon plus two sprinkles. I didn’t have granulated garlic so I used garlic powder and I probably put in more than 2 teaspoons. I cannot tolerate pepper, but I loved her salad and she said she put in a lot of pepper so I sprinkled pepper in. I also used 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar.
I am sure this is an easy thing for people to make, but I have NEVER, EVER, EVER liked a bean salad before so this recipe just thrilled me. Ya see, I REALLY don’t like cilantro either, but I think the kidney beans and the cilantro work to “cancel” each other out. Ha! I don’t know, but I like this salad. I hope you do too.
Since I am on a quest to learn to eat (and like) beans, do you have a recipe that you would like to share to help me out?
Terre Pruitt's Blog 
suzicate said
I love bean salad, but have never made it…think I’ll try this, but substitute a different bean for the garbanzos, as I don’t like those.
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terrepruitt said
I don’t like kidney beans nor cilantro. I can eat garbanzo beans, but they are not my favorite. BUT . . . . I like this. Maybe try it with the garbanzos? I don’t like beans because of their (well, ONE reason) weird texture. So if that is why you don’t like the garbanzos, I get that . . . . but . . . . you never know . . . .
I have never seen bell peppers in a bean salad and I love bell peppers so I think that helped me like this salad.
Let me know what other bean you use. 🙂
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Dani H said
{I am laughing out loud!} I love beans, cilantro, bell peppers, onions, balsamic vinegar and pepper! I can’t wait to try this ~ I think that the fact you don’t care for most of the ingredients, but like this salad, is about the best recommendation you could give. Thanks for sharing, sweetheart. *Big Squishy Hugs*
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terrepruitt said
AWESOME. This should be called Dani’s Bean Salad. Perfect for you. I really like it. I think the cilantro helps overpower the beans and the beans help make the cilantro less powerful. Could be that my taste are changing too.
I like onions, but not to EAT them, but I put a LOT in this salad and I eat them! I often put onions in things, but I pick them out. I like the flavor, but not to eat them. In this salad I cut them really tiny.
Can’t wait to hear how much you love it!!!! And thank you, thank you, thank you for tweeting it! Big Squishy Hugs back at ‘cha!!
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tobeme said
Thanks for sharing! Looks yum.
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terrepruitt said
🙂
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Mayank said
Hmm…picture is too good…:)
I would love to eat…:P
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Holly said
I love bean salad. Yours looks great so I will try it too. I usually use 5 different beans ( green, yellow, kidney, garbanzo and black– My Mom uses broad beans (lima), but I don’t—her bean salad is great too!! I have never tried cilantro in it, but I may! I also add celery, and my husband loves to have corn niblets in it. I haven’t added garlic before so I will try that too! By the way you found me on Blog Catalog… Thanks for the add.
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terrepruitt said
Hi Holly!
So wonderful to see you here. Thank you so much for stopping by (and commenting!)!
I don’t like legumes, so two is a big HUGE step for me. I do like green beans so I could add them to this, but I don’t think I will ever be at a point in my dietary evolution to eat black beans. Ooooh. Just the thought makes my stomach gurgle. And most people I know, for some reason, even if they LOVE beans, they don’t like lima beans. I don’t know why.
As I said, I don’t like cilantro either–usually, but I think it helps cancel out the beans! Celery is a great thing to add to many dishes, but guess what? I don’t like celery either.
I think that once you get a basic down you can add anything you like. Thank you for the corn idea. Thanks again for stopping by!
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Salad On My Mind « Terre Pruitt's Blog said
[…] Bean Salad […]
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Dried Garbanzo Beans « Terre Pruitt's Blog said
[…] like any other type of bean, but I went to a friend’s house and she had this yummy two bean salad. So I decided that I am ok with red kidney beans and garbanzo beans in this salad. Then I came […]
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Joan Meyer said
Do you like hummus? That’s made from “beans”!! I just made sweet potato hummus! Really good!
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terrepruitt said
Hello!
Ahh, yes, I do actually like hummus. So your sweet potato hummus is it sweet potatoes with garbanzo beans or just sweet potatoes?
🙂
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Joan Meyer said
yes, it’s both! sort of sweet hummus..,,
so you actually do like garbanzo beans…(in hummus)
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terrepruitt said
I do like hummus and garbanzo beans in the Red Beans and Rice and the bean salad.
Maybe you would like to do a guest post? Or I could get your recipe for your sweet potato hummus and post it? I am always looking for recipes to share. And I am always looking for things to post. 🙂
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Joan Meyer said
I’ll try to remember to bring it (recipe) on thur! Ask me for it….But I don’t really follow the recipe!
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terrepruitt said
That would be great. Maybe you can note down your way and I can post it?
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