Mint is supposed to be invasive. I can remember as a kid having one whole corner of our backyard covered in mint, and we'd make mint tea by putting some sprigs of mint and tea bags in a gallon jar and leaving it out in the sun for the day. However, as a grown up I have tried and failed to grow mint many times. I love mojitos, and so I have planted mint in the yard with the hopes of cocktails to come, but to no avail. I have had some luck with growing mint in a container, however. It does tend to return every year, which is nice. Right now, I have about 5 healthy looking sprigs growing in my patio garden container, along with lots of parsley, so I decided to make a bean salad. I really like making bean salads on the weekend for lunch during the work week. A couple weeks ago, I cooked up a big pot of dried Michigan Great Northern beans and froze them in sandwich sized bags. Put up this way, they have much less sodium than canned beans, and a pound of dried beans cost $1.69, which is 4-5 cups cooked beans. It's a great recipe - cheap, good for you and filling!
Minted Bean Salad
For the salad
2 cups cooked white beans, such as Great Northern
1/2 chopped red pepper
For the dressing
Juice of one lemon
1/4 c olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 sprigs mint, minced
1/2 c parsley, minced
1/4 c. snipped chives
2 t. kosher salt
Stir together beans and pepper, set aside. In a jar with a lid, add dressing ingredients and shake. Pour over top salad. Tastes better the next day!
2 comments:
Beautiful salad... and great idea about freezing your beans in small portions. I usually end up with lots of leftovers when I make 'homemade' beans.
I use up extra beans in salads all the time but haven't tried mint in them. It sounds wonderful!
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