Headed to my boyfriend’s lake house this weekend and I’m bringing my favorite summer salad–basically a big ole bean salad! My friend Braun introduced it to me a few summers back and I literally beg and pray that she makes it for every function because it’s so freaking good. I snagged the recipe from her two weeks ago so I could make it for MDW and it was a hit…especially for my clean eaters!
It’s fresh, natural, but with a little kick of sweetness. YAS. Also, let me preface this by saying I had never made it in the past because I assumed it required too much work, and I was wrong. It takes 15  minutes if that to prepare and I can promise I wouldn’t attempt it if that wasn’t the case LOL.
Grocery List:

• 15 oz can of garbanzo beans
• 15 oz can of black beans
• 15 oz can of blackeyed peas
• 2-11 oz of white shoepeg corn
• 2-4 oz green chili chopped
• 1-2 oz chopped pimiento
• 1 cup of green pepper
• 1 cup of celery
• 1 cup of onion
• 3/4 cup of vinegar
• 1 tsp of water 
• 1/2 cup of oil (I used olive oil, Steph used canola)
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of pepper 
• 1 cup of sugar (I used 1/2 a cup of all natural Stevia instead)

How To: 

1. Drain all the cans of beans
2. Chop your veggies
3. Add all of the non-bolded items from the list into a big mixing bowl.
4. On the stove, add in the bolded portion of the list into a pot and let it simmer until all of the sugar or stevia has dissolved
5. Once the liquids cool, dump it over top of the beans and veggies.
6. Mix everything together.
7. Let it cool (not for any particular reason other than it tastes better cold!)

That’s it! Scoop up the yumminess with some baked Tostitos or go even lighter and use some cucumber slices–totally up to you!

Here’s to S U M M E R and Y U M M Y food. I hope you enjoy!

Till next time my friends,

-Lauren