Sprouted Bean Salad

Photo from: truroots.com

Costco is not one of my favorite places. However, they do occasionally come through for me - 3-packs of organic soy milk, 3-pounds of organic sugar ... and now an organic, sprouted 3-bean trio. These are fabulous - you can cook them VERY quickly, or you can soak them and make raw dishes (I've tried a variety of raw spreads).  We've had these for some time, but tonight I made something different. My hands were tied - we didn't have any greens in the fridge and while our kale, spinach and chard are starting to grow nicely I didn't have time to cut and wash enough for salad as dinner was about done. So I turned to a different kind of salad - bean salad.  This is probably one of the easiest dishes and could easily be a main dish if doubled or tripled.  I would have added more to it but I was short on time.  As a side dish, it actually was preferred over the main dish by several family members. 

Easy Sprouted Bean Salad

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup dry beans (Tru Roots Organic 3-Bean Mix)
• 1 cucumber
• 1/2 an onion, diced OR several green onions (tops and all) diced
• 1/2 cup chopped herbs (I used parsley as that's what I had)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• juice of one lemon
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• 1 - 2 tsp sugar or agave nectar

Directions:

1. Cook beans - ratio is 3:1; combine in a pot, bring to a boil; cover and simmer on low-medium heat for about 5 minutes; remove from heat and let sit for at least 10 minutes; drain
2. Rinse beans under cold water until they are cool or at least room temperature
3. Place diced cucumber and onion, herbs and beans in a bowl and mix well
4. Add the cumin and lemon juice
5. Drizzle in olive oil and stir - add salt, pepper (both to taste) and sugar
6. Mix well - serve immediately or refrigerate and serve when ready
7. Enjoy!

Notes:

1. You could make this raw by soaking the beans ahead of time - when they are tender prepare as above.   Just be sure to rinse thoroughly after soaking.
2. Add or subtract anything from this dish - I was going to add celery but ours had turned very soft and wasn't crunchy enough for salad. I also think chickpeas would be excellent in this dish. 
3. This served my family of 6 as a side dish with about 1.5 cups leftover for lunch tomorrow. I would estimate serves 6 as a side dish or 3-4 as a main dish, although so much depends on the size of the veggies one uses... If I were eating this for my one-and-only dish I would then say serves 2-3. 

Real Review - 6/6
Self:  "Hey, this is good. Good!"
The Spouse: "Mhmm. This would be even better on a hot day."
The Sous-Chef: "I think this is spicy, but I really like it." (She thinks it's spicy because the onion was pretty strong.)
The D.Q.: "I like this (pointing to the main dish), but THIS (pointing to the bean salad) is my favorite!"
Miss U.N.: "Mommy. I really like this - can we have this for lunch?"
Wild Thing: "I think this is spicy, too. Can I have more?"