I can remember this three bean salad from my childhood. My mother always enjoyed it. I didn't eat it then, but I certainly enjoy it now! We like to make this salad to accompany our frequent summer BBQ's as our friends and family love it. This is an especially special recipe as it's my mother's. It has a simple and classic sweet and sour vinaigrette. While I think it's perfect as it is it's also fun to experiment by adding other ingredients. You'll find my suggestions under "Cook's Tips" following the recipe.

Jane's Classic Three Bean Salad

1 can (14.5 - 16 oz) cut green beans
1 can (14.5 - 16 oz) cut wax (yellow) beans
1 can ( 15-16 oz) red kidney beans
1 cup purple onion, sliced into thin rings
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)

Drain and rinse the beans. Combine the beans with the sliced onions.

Mix together the cider vinegar, vegetable oil and sugar until the sugar is well dissolved. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over beans and onions and toss well.

Refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Serves 10


Cook's Tips: We suggest you use a flavorless oil (as called for in the recipe) in order to have the best flavor result. We suggest that you add salt to taste because the canned beans contain sodium. Of course draining and washing will remove most of this. It's easy to change-up the ingredients in this recipe. You may want to add celery or green or red pepper finely chopped. Substitute green onion for the purple onion for a milder flavor. You can substitute cannellini beans or garbanzo beans for the kidney beans or yellow beans. Sometimes canned cut wax beans (yellow beans) aren't easy to find. Del Monte makes them.


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