Guest Blog Written By: Ashley from The Mutts Kitchen
Salads, Salads, and more Salads! Last week we focused on…salads, yes you guessed it. When we think of salads, many come to mind. The first salad that might come to your mind may be a garden salad, or a Caesar salad. For me, I love me some green bean salads!
After gaining a bunch of weight with each pregnancy, I couldn’t get over the dreading look of my body, naked. A little tug here, and little tug there, here a tug, there a tug, everywhere a tug, tug! You could only imagine how I felt when my boys asked me to take them to the local pool (my youngest must be accompanied in the pool). Ahh!
As a mother of three boys, I find myself running around like a lunatic almost everyday. So, there was nothing more fitting than taking up the fitness challenge of RUNNING, yup I’m so serious right now. I am half way through running 5 km, I know it’s nothing big…but baby steps my dear! In just 4 weeks I will be a C25K graduate, woohoo. Thereafter I am looking forward to the big 10 km run.
Alongside a healthy fitness lifestyle, follows healthy food choices. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not going on a carb/starch diet, or salad diet. I find that preparing meals you love with fresh and healthy alternatives can do you some justice. What I like to do is pick a fresh veggie my family enjoys and build a side or meal around it. I too like to trick my monkey butts into eating something they don’t always like. Green beans yum, kidney beans not so much…put it together and hey, they will pick at it! It’s like it camouflages and they didn’t even taste it.
GREEN BEAN TOSS SALAD
By: Ashley Machado
Serving: 6 to 8
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Salads do not always have to consist of leafy greens. Try tossing up a green bean salad instead and you will love its freshness, crunchiness and colour. Did you know that green beans and other legumes are high in protein and fibre,but low in fat?
Ingredients:
4 cups green beans; trimmed, blanched and cut into bite size pieces
1 can red kidney beans; drained
1 pint grape tomatoes; washed and halved
1 can chick peas; drained
2 cups corn kernels; cooked, steamed or canned
1 small red onion; chopped finely
1/3 cup olive oil
1-2 tbsp vinegar
1 garlic clove
3 tbsp parsley leaves; stemmed
1 pinch sugar, course sea salt, and black pepper (adjust to taste)
Direction:
1. Add olive oil, vinegar, garlic, parsley, sugar, salt and pepper into a blender or food processor. Blend well on high.
2. In a large bowl, add green beans, red kidney beans, tomatoes, chick peas, corn, and onion. Mix to combine.
3. Pour dressing over top the bean salad, mix again to combine.
4. Serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to 8 hours.
Try giving this salad a toss and enjoy!
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