Brown Rice Salad With Zucchini, Beans and Dried Cherries

Rita~'s Note:

Different! But so good! This dish is so complete it has the protien, carbs, fiber and bursting with flavor!

• Total Time: 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• ½ cup zucchini , raw and diced
• ½ cup yellow pepper , diced
• ½ cup frozen green pea
• ½ cup red onion , diced
• ½ cup dried tart cherry , coarsely chopped (hydrated in 3 tablespoon hot water, Reserve the water for the dressing)
• 1 cup cannellini beans , rinsed
• 1 garlic clove , minced
• 1 cup cooked brown rice
• 3 leaves fresh sage , chopped (1 inch leaves)
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary , chopped (4-5 inch sprig)
• 1 sprig fresh thyme , chopped (same amount as rosemary)
• salt and pepper

Dressing

• ¼-1⁄3; cup balsamic vinegar
• ¼ cup honey
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon prepared honey mustard

Directions:

1. Mix all of the salad ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Mix dressing ingredients in a blender using only 1/4 cup vinegar; taste to see if you want more, then proceed to add the rest of the vinegar.
3. I myself like the vinegar!
4. Add dressing to salad toss.
5. Chill for 1 hour, toss and serve.

Reviews

[sugarpea]

I expected to enjoy this recipe as I really like all the separate ingredients but I'm afraid I didn't care much for the combination. I used 1T each of fresh sage, rosemary and thyme. The "leaves" and "sprigs" listed weren't very specific so I guessed. I found the sage totally overwhelming so I would recommend using far less than 1T. I would use less than the full recipe of dressing next time. It, too, overwhelmed the other flavors and made the salad a bit runny. The only change I actually made to the recipe is that I didn't rehydrate the dried cherries. I just couldn't make myself turn wonderfully chewy $10/pound dried cherries into juicy cherries.