Three Bean Salad

This three bean salad made with green lentils, adzuki beans, and mung beans is a fresh and flavorful salad perfect for outdoor picnics and potlucks! Tasty as a main dish or as a side with grilled chicken, fish, or steak.

With just three magic beans and a handful of simple ingredients, we can make something amazing.

Potlucks and picnics are on the horizon so we need food that is easy, uber-healthy, filling, portable, and BIG on taste. Who's ready?!

I am.

There's a bright blue sky in the PNW and the temperatures are starting to rise! And it's AAAWE-SOME! Every year during this spring-but-not-quite-summer time of year I feel myself beginning to get a little giddy. Ready to spend more time outside and to shed the BAJILLION of layers of clothing I wear every time I venture out. I'm ready to explore the great outdoors, to hit up the parks with family and a picnic basket in hand, and to schedule some outdoor potlucks with friends.

If it's not sunny and warm where you are, get on a plane and come here. Like right now. And HURRY, because I feel like me telling you to come here right now to enjoy the sunniness might jinx it. The weather here can be so sneaky like that.

The Three Beans

As the name suggests, this salad includes three beans that you may or may not be familiar with but are readily available at most grocery stores or online.

• adzuki (reddish purple bean) --> An East Asian bean that is naturally sweet in flavor and help manage insulin receptors in our bodies keeping blood sugar at a normal level. They are packed with essential nutrients such as folic acid and provide high levels of manganese and calcium.
• mung (round, bright green bean) --> A staple in Iran, India and China. Mung beans contain a wealth of vitamins (A,B,C and E) and minerals (iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium).
• green lentil (flat, light green bean) --> A bean we are more familiar with here in the United States. Boasting the second-highest ratio of protein per calorie of any legume (after soybeans) and they are rich in both soluble and insoluble dietary fibers, iron, folate and magnesium.

Round of applause for these awesome and nutritious legumes!

Now let's amp up the flavor!

Diced cucumber, fresh Italian parsley, green onions, and feta cheese (omit for a vegan dish) are tossed in with the beans. Then finish off this salad magic with a healthy dose of lemon, cumin, and olive oil.

What we are left with is an extremely flavorful, fresh, and filling salad that you can devour as either a main dish or a side to be served with grilled chicken or steak.

Your friends and family will love it. They'll beg you for the recipe. You'll become the star of the potluck party. And people everywhere will know your name as the Three Bean Salad Queen.

Or something like that.

While the most time consuming part of this recipe is waiting for the beans to cook, it gives ample time and a perfect excuse to research a beautiful local park, to call up your friends, plan that impromptu potluck, and to dust off your crown.

Because the best part about making tasty healthy food (besides eating it) is sharing it with those nearest and dearest.

Happy picnicking friends! ♡

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