Bean Salad and the Little Applegate River
Yesterday morning Bruce and I took a drive to the Little Applegate River here in Southern Oregon. Bruce wanted to go on a 5 mile run along the Sterling Ditch Mine Trail. As for me? Oh heck to the no! I had no interest in running. All I wanted to do was spend my morning in a leisurely fashion and exercising my camera…
While Bruce was out running along the trails, I made my way down to the Little Applegate River. The water was ice cold and crystal clear. The trees and plants growing along the banks were green and lush.
What a lovely place to spend part of my morning. The sound of the water and the wind through the trees was so relaxing…
Across the river from where I was standing was the remnants of a gold mining operation that took place over a hundred years ago.
Bruce on his way down the trail and towards the finish line. Once he cooled down, we hopped back into the truck and headed back home. I needed to get back in order to make my bean salad to share at a barbecue later on that day with family and friends.
My bean salad is a riff on a bean salad recipe that my mother had jotted down in the back of an old cookbook decades ago. I made my salad a bit simpler and left out the green beans and Worcestershire sauce. The reason for leaving out the green beans? The recipe called for canned green beans… Nope. That was not happening. I don’t buy canned green beans. I won’t eat them. I can’t stand them… And as for the Worcestershire sauce. I was out. No big deal.
My bean salad is a simple mixture of three kinds of beans, kidney, black and chick pea. It’s tossed with red onion, red bell pepper, parsley and a sweet red wine vinaigrette. It’s easy, delicious and a perfect side dish for a Memorial Day barbecue. Enjoy! Tessa
Ingredients:
- 1 15 ounce can kidney beans
- 1 15 ounce can black beans
- 1 15 ounce can chick peas (garbanzo beans)
- 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped red onion
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/8 cup olive oil
- seasoning salt and black pepper to taste
Begin by rinsing and draining the beans. Add to a medium sized bowl. Add red bell pepper, red onion and parsley. In a separate bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients to make the sweet red wine vinaigrette. Taste and correct your seasonings. Add vinaigrette mixture to bean mixture and toss to coat. Refrigerate covered for at least 4 hours before serving. Makes about 6 servings.
