OK, let’s check the list:
- School’s ending — check.
- The pool’s opening — check.
- We’ve reserved our vacation days to get outta town — check.
But wait — what are we gonna eat all summer? Our routines are disrupted, there’s no school lunches, the people you go to lunch with at work are on vacation, you need some new routines. Special routines. Summer routines.
And you don’t want them to be, well, routine.
How about something fun to cook on your grill? Nah, you can do that all year around here. And who wants to stand over a hot fire when the heat index is 110?
How about something cool? Better yet, something cool and healthy? We found some of those over at the American Institute for Cancer Research’s site. Here’s one:
Mediterranean Bean Salad
Ingredients
Salad:
1 can (15-oz.) garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15-oz.) butter beans, rinsed and drained (cooked fresh beans may be substituted)
1 can (15-oz.) dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
2-4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2-1 cup fresh parsley, chopped fine
1/4 cup basil, chopped fine
1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped fine
2 tomatoes, diced
(1 Tbsp. dried basil may be substituted for the basil.)
Dressing:
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. vinegar (either white wine or apple cider work well)
Juice of one lemon
dried Italian seasoning
1/2 Tbsp. Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Makes 8 servings. Per serving: 210 calories, 6 g total fat (1 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 31 g carbohydrates, 9 g protein, 7 g dietary fiber, 100 mg sodium, 4 g sugar, 0 g added sugar.
Directions
In large bowl, add beans. Mix in onion, celery, garlic, parsley, basil and rosemary, adding tomatoes last to keep them from unnecessarily breaking apart.
In separate mixing bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients. Add dressing to beans and toss gently to coat.
Chill for at least an hour to allow beans to absorb flavor. Re-toss gently and serve.
That’s it. You can do that. Even we can do that.
You can find the rest of the recipes right here, under “cancer prevention.” And we all want to prevent that, don’t we?
Have a happy, cool, safe and healthy summer…
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