Bean Salad with Cumin Dressing

We all like to feed our families things they like.  The trouble is, sometimes what they like, isn’t always the best thing for them.

As I am sure you have gathered thus far, we have gone to great lengths to eliminate a lot of the things that aren’t so good for us, or altered the recipe to make them “better”, nutritionally speaking.  This has been really successful almost without exception.

One of the side effects of this has been the addition of certain foods that we had not eaten much of before–turns out they are some of our family favourites!  Who knew the kid would CHOOSE bean salad over chicken nuggets or stir fry over pizza?

When you let your families try things (sometimes MULTIPLE times!), you may just be surprised when they finally give the two thumbs up on something you never thought they would eat!

Bean Salad with Cumin Dressing adapted from Food.com 
(…Madeleine gave this an enthusiastic “20” thumbs up tonight!!)

• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
•  3 tsp olive oil
• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained 
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained 
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1/2 red  peppers,chopped
• 1/3 english cucumber, chopped 
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme
•  1 tbsp fresh cilantro 
•  salt and pepper

• 1/4-1/2 cup feta cheese                                                                                                                                          Whisk vinegar, lemon juice, oil, garlic, cumin, paprika, chilies together.  Mix beans and vegetables together.  Crumble feta over beans, add thyme and cilantro, toss and add dressing.  Toss again until well mixed.  Let sit for at least 1/2 hour before serving.