Green Bean Salad

Have you ever wondered what a new and innovative way is to have green beans?  Today I am going to share with you a new, fun, and healthier way of having green beans.  There are so many ways that you can take this simple, humble ingredient to the next level in flavor and texture. To make this vegan, switch out the feta cheese for a vegan cheese of your choosing. You can use any style and cut of green beans that you prefer.  I like to experiment with different textures and flavors of food.  A salad can be anything that you want it to be.  I decided to go the healthier way with this salad.  I decided to do a vinaigrette for this particular salad.  I used avocado oil instead of a different oil.  I used whole grain mustard.  You can substitute this recipe to your liking and really and truly make it your own.  I had it for dinner as a meal instead of a side dish.  It filled me up. The original recipe from the book called for 6pkgs frozen French cut style beans boiled for 7 minutes, drained well then sprinkled with 1 tbsp of accent ... then let them cool. Add-in 1-pint sour cream 1c mayonnaise 2 chopped green onions 2 large cans of sliced mushrooms 1 tbsp salt 1 tbsp of wine vinegar (or more) There was also a note that you can add drained garbanzos or toasted slivered almonds and to add those just before serving. As canned goods are so full of salt and sour cream and mayo are both so fattening, it was time to bring this recipe into the here and now with that farm-to-table feel that is so important.

• Difficulty: Easy
• Category: Lunch, Sides, Supper, Vegan, Vegetarian
• Cuisine: American
• Cooking Method: Boil, Mix it up

Ingredients

Mustard Herb Vinaigrette

• 1 tsp whole grain mustard (you can use any kind of mustard you like.)
• 2 lemon zest (you can use lime zest as well.)
• 2 lemon juice (you can substitute it out for 2 tablespoons of lemon juice in bottle.)
• 1 cup avocado oil (you can use any oil that suits you)
• 1 tbsp honey (you can substitute for 1 tablespoon sugar.)
• 1/2 tsp salt (start slowly with the salt and add it to your taste.)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper (start this slowly as to use it to your liking.)

Green Bean Salad

• 1 to 2 lb fresh green beans (you can use frozen and any cut that you prefer to use.)
• 2 ears of fresh corn (you can substitute 1/2 cup of frozen corn for this as well.)
• 1 pt cherry tomatoes (you can use a different size tomato if you wish but just cut it down in to 1 inch cuts or bite size cuts.4)
• 4 baby cucumbers (also can substitute it out for another variety of cucumber, just deseed it and cut into thin strips)
• 2 baby orange peppers (feel free to use any color and size of pepper cut into strips. just remember that the baby peppers are about 1/4 the size of an actual pepper.)
• 2 baby red peppers (feel free to use any size and color of peppers you have. the smaller peppers are about 1/4 the size of a bigger pepper and you should make the adjustments accordingly.)
• 1 bunch green onions (you can use less or more depending on your liking.)
• 4 tbsp papitas (you can use any kind of seeds or any combination of seed you like. It just adds an additional crunch factor.)
• 4 tbsp pistachios (you can use any kind of seed or nut you like. All this does is add an additional level of crunch.)
• 4 tbsp sunflower seeds (you can use any kind of seeds or nuts. this just adds another level of crunch to the salad. )
• 8 oz feta cheese (you can use any kind of cheese you like. )
• 2/3 cup green olives with pimento (you can use any kind of olive you like. )

Instructions

Mustard Herb Vinaigrette

1. Chop up 1 tablespoon each of cilantro and parsley.
2. Place one cup of avocado oil in the bowl.
3. Add the 2 tablespoons of whole grain mustard to the oil.
4. Add the zest of two lemons and their juice to the oil and mustard mixture.

Green Bean Salad

5. Trim and clean the green beans.
6. Cut your cherry tomatoes in half or if you are using other tomatoes, cut down to bite size pieces.
7. Slice the baby red and orange bell peppers into thin strips. Peel and cut the cucumbers into thin strips as well. I used 4 baby style cucumbers. If you use the larger ones, only use one cucumber.
8. Clean and cut the corn off of two ears of corn.
9. Cut the feta cheese into small cubes.
10. Clean and cut your green onions into thing circles. Also cut your green olives in to circles.
11. Get a pot of water and bring it to a boil. Once the water is boiling, put your green beans into the water and cook for 7 minutes.
12. Get a separate bowl and put ice and water into it. Once the green beans are done with the cooking, put them into the water to stop the cooking process. Let them stay in there until they are cool. I let them sit for 5 minutes or so. Then remove the green beans from the water.
13. Once the green beans are cooled and drained, put them into a bowl and combine the green onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, the feta cheese, the corn, and the red and orange peppers. Mix well be careful not to break up the cheese.
14. Add the mustard herb vinaigrette. Toss this well into the salad to combine. Then add the 2 tablespoons of each of the nuts. Stir them into the salad. The place a serving into a bowl and top with more of the 3 different kinds of nuts. Now it's time to eat. Enjoy