My mother brought me leftovers from her annual quilting party. FOUR BEAN SALAD. She said it was bright in color and I should give it a try. She thought I might want to blog about it. Well she was right, and typically I am not a multi-bean salad doer. Thanks for sharing your recipe Maureen!  I ate four bean salad for four days. No joke!

I decided to adapt the recipe every so slightly. Decided it was the perfect recipe for all my fresh garden beans. I used 1 lb. 12 oz. of beans but any weight close to that would work just fine. The recipe shows this salad serving 6 to 8 people, true when eaten for a light lunch or dinner. But if served as a side salad, it is plenty for a picnic or BBQ gathering. And speaking of picnic and BBQs. This salad is ideal for entertaining or the outdoors. Best made ahead of time and tastes better with each marinating day. Like I said, I ate it for four days and equally pleased on the last day!

Head to the Farmer’s Market this weekend and buy a bag of beans!

FOUR BEAN SALAD // Serves 6 to 8
Adapted from Maureen Nordahl

1 lb. 12 oz. fresh beans (I used a mix of green and yellow wax beans)
1 ½ c. sweet onion, about 1 large onion
1 bell pepper, I used orange
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can kidney beans

VINAIGRETTE

½ c. distilled white vinegar
½ c. grape seed oil or any other neutral salad oil
½ c. sugar
1 tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. dry mustard
½ tsp. tarragon
½ tsp. basil leaves
2 Tbsp. parsley leaves

Wash fresh beans and snap off ends. Blanch fresh beans in a large stock pot of well salted boiling water until bright green and yellow in color and tender crisp, roughly 3 to 5 minutes. Drain and shock in a bowl of ice water to halt further cooking. Drain beans from ice water and cut beans in thirds.

Dice onion and bell pepper. Drain and rinse canned beans. Add all ingredients to a large serving bowl.

Whisk together all ingredients for the vinaigrette and pour over salad. Toss so everything is well coated. Refrigerate for a couple hours before serving. The longer it marinates the better!

We finished harvesting the wheat yesterday. What a relief since the weather has started to turn. The mornings and evenings are chilled and the afternoon air feels like Autumn. We have yet to finish the second cutting of hay. Typically we are finished with this mid August. But unusual weather patterns has extended the haying season. Fingers crossed for some warm afternoons. For the hay and for me!