Bean Salad With Spunk

 

SPUNKY: Creamy, crunchy, sharp, assertive.

What makes it spunky? It's the clean and interesting flavors. Not hot or spicy. Spunky! It's the assertiveness of the vinegar, the crunch of the fennel against the creamy texture of the beans and the saltiness of the cheese. And let's not forget nutrition. Beyond the protein and fiber of the beans and the prebiotic fiber (a type of fiber that feeds friendly gut bacteria) in the onions, we have the fennel, which gives us fiber, vitamin C and potassium. How's that for a bowl of good gut nutrition!. For a printable recipe, click here. 

This salad is a great team player. It pairs well with grilled fish and meats, it's an excellent buffet or picnic item alongside potato salad, chicken salad and burgers. I use cannellini beans, which are also called white kidney beans, and light brown kidney beans whose skin is not as tough as red kidney beans. It's nice color contrast, but if you want to use all of one type of bean, that's fine by me. Do as you wish. I'll never know! Here's a link to the recipe.

Ready to toss and dress! Sounds like a party to me!

Leftovers are so good for lunch the next day, assuming that there are leftovers. Fo people who live alone, this is a treat to make at the beginning of the week to use as a side for whatever protein you prepare for dinner. Do that a couple of times, take it to lunch once and take some to a neighbor who is home from the hospital or feeling under the weather.

And it's so easy to prepare, that anyone in a hurry can whip it up at the last minute. You slice the fennel, chop the onion, chop the parsley and fennel fronds....mix it all together and, boom, you're done. Wow! I just made myself hungry!