Quick Radish & White Bean Salad ♥ Recipe

How to fall in love with radishes: Toss together a quick medley of chopped radishes and tomatoes brightened with olives, capers, parsley and lemon juice. Add canned beans for protein. Skip the oil. Swoon.

Turns out, every year I fall in love with a new vegetable. In 2009, the unlikely addiction is the radish.

For the last few months, radishes are such a staple that like lettuce and milk, they need no mention on the grocery list. Texture-wise, I've fallen in love with their crunch, taste-wise with that slight bite of radish pepperiness, visually with those clean white interiors framed by clear red skins. All winter long, one salad after another, radishes add a special oomph.

Forgive me, but am I truly writing an ode to the radish? What crazy person creates room for radishes in her brain? Aren't they always an afterthought, never the star?

In this quick 'n' easy lunch salad, the radishes do take center stage, they're what turn a bean 'n' stuff salad into something just a tad touch different. For anyone willing to open their minds to the idea of falling in love with radishes, this is your recipe.

QUICK RADISH & WHITE BEAN SALAD

Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Time to table: 15 minutes
Makes about 5 cups

SALAD
2 15-ounce cans of white beans, rinsed and drained
1 pound of radishes, trimmed and sliced thin
1 - 2 tomatoes (see NOTES), chopped
8 kalamata olives, pitted
1 tablespoon capers
2 tablespoon chopped parsley
Zest and juice of a lemon
Salt & pepper to taste

Mix all the salad ingredients.

Serving Suggetion: Serve over salad greens with homemade hummus on Wasa crackers.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Cup: 164Cal; 1g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 612mg Sodium; 30g Carb; 11g Fiber; 4g Sugar; 10g Protein; Weight Watchers 3 points

TODAY'S VEGETABLE RECIPE INSPIRATION
Adapted from A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop

KITCHEN NOTES
The inspiring recipe called for 3 tablespoons of olive oil. I did a taste test before adding: none needed!
Call me surprised. I bought a few Roma tomatoes last week, needing them for garnish. After a day of ripening on the counter, they were really quite good! Not summer tomatoes, not by a long shot, but still, for the cusp of winter and spring, a definite pleasure. How many more days until the first tomatoes ripen? I can get by, for now, with a Roma or two.

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MORE RADISH RECIPES
~ Spring & Summer Sliced Salad ~
~ Easy Easy Radish Spread ~
~ Girlie Radish Salad ~

~ more radish recipes ~
~ more recipes with beans, lentils, other legumes ~
~ more Weight Watchers recipes ~
~ more low-carb recipes ~

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