Pesto Bean Salad

Do you have those days where you just don’t know what to make? Well, I do. Yes, I love to talk about food, cook food, eat food and grow food but I still have those moments. Maybe it’s the winter blahs or I’m just drawing a blank. It was a bunco night and Ali was having a Healthy Bunco theme so that none of us would spoil our healthy new year’s resolutions. I opened my freezer and looked to see what I had from my summer bounty. Hmmm….  let’s see what I have…    hmmm…   Pesto! Pesto is always a great “go too” ingredient for lots of flavor. After some more digging I found some oven dried tomatoes and some roasted red peppers. The creative juices started flowing so I grabbed a couple cans of Great Northern Beans and created a quick Pesto Bean Salad. I thought was going to be lame dish, I didn’t even cook it and it took just a few minutes to prepare. The ladies thought it was a great idea and Michelle was putting it on the spaghetti squash she brought. Again, I’m glad I had my freezer stash to put together a dish in just a few minutes. So…,  here it is.

Pesto Bean Salad

1 or 2 cans of Great Northern or Cannelli beans

Italian or Lemon Pesto

Oven-dried tomatoes

Roasted red bell pepper

Drizzle olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Splash of white wine vinegar

Canned beans can contain a lot of sodium, drain and rinse the beans. Rinsing the beans will cut down on some of the sodium. Place beans in a medium mixing bowl, add enough pesto (under pesto) to coat the beans. Chop oven dried tomatoes (under Tomatoes) and add as many as you like. I also added some thinly sliced roasted red bell pepper. I made a small bowl without the peppers, one of the bunco ladies, Michelle,  is allergic to them, and it was just as good without them.  Hmmm…the colors of the Italian flag, red, white and green. Add a drizzle of olive oil, some ground black pepper and if you like a splash of white wine vinegar. Toss gently. Taste and adjust seasonings. I didn’t add salt; the beans were plenty salty by themselves. You can serve this over pasta for a quick vegetarian dinner, you may have to add a bit more pesto and some of the pasta water to make more of a sauce. Enjoy.

Posted in Oven-Dried Tomatoes, Peppers, Pesto | 2 Comments »

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