I’ll be getting up at 5:30 am tomorrow to spend approximately 18 hours on a bus headed to Belgium. In an effort to avoid eating rest stop food (although Autogrill deserves some credit for being shockingly good), I made a salad that I thought could withstand the travel. It’s filling, cheap, and healthy to boot. You could easily make one big batch at the beginning of the week and bring the leftovers to work everyday for lunch as the beans will just get more flavorful with time.

3 Bean Salad

Ingredients:

4 limes

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

1 can black beans or ½ cup dried black beans

1 can chickpeas

1 can gidandes a.k.a. butter beans (or cannellini, or kidney, whatever you like best)

15 cherry tomatoes cut in half

2 stalks celery diced

3 tbs minced Parsley (some cilantro would be awesome but it’s quite difficult to find here)

½ cup chopped roasted red and/or yellow peppers (jarred or homemade)

½ cup chopped scallions (white and light green parts)

½ of a large can of sweet corn (this would be even better with fresh corn when it’s in season)

Tabasco sauce to taste (I used 25 dashes) or 1 finely minced jalapeno with the ribs and seeds removed (they don’t exist here so I had to resort to hot sauce)

3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)

Steps

Cut the cherry tomatoes in half, dice the 2 stalks of celery, finely mince the parsley (and/or cilantro), chop the 1/2 cup of scallions and the 1/2 cup roasted peppers. Drain the can of corn and rinse with water. Mix half in with the salad in a large bowl and save the other half for another use.
Gently stir in the beans and vinaigrette and toss until everything is coated. Add the chopped jalapeno or dashes of Tabasco sauce to give it a kick. Squeeze the juice of 1 lime on top to freshen up the citrus flavor. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Stir in the feta crumbles. Pack in a tupperware and head out to your bus ride/picnic/office/potluck.