salad

It’s about that time! Time for football! Which usually means… fried chicken wings, pizza, beer, high calorie dips, etc… Just because it’s football season doesn’t mean you have to blow your diet! Or stop eating healthy for that matter. Here is one of my favorite party foods! My vegetarian tri-bean salad!

INGREDIENTS:

4-6 Roma tomatoes
1 green bell pepper, seeded
1 poblano pepper, seeded
1 banana pepper, seeded
1 jalapeno pepper
3/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 cans of tri-bean mix (pintos, black beans, red kidney beans)
1 lime
1/2 cup green onions, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

Chop tomatoes, peppers, cilantro and onions. I left my jalapeno seeds in my jalapeno for an extra little kick.

Also this Vidalia Chop Wizard is one of my favorite kitchen gadgets! It chops so evenly and makes chopping go by so much quicker. I always use this when fresh produce needs to be diced!

I have an amazing contraption that chops for me so all pieces are the same size. Once you’ve done all of your chopping, place your mixture into a bowl and set aside.

Open both cans of beans and strain out the juice and rinse under water.

Once you’ve added your beans to the mix, stir with a spoon and squeeze plenty of lime juice over you salad.

And viola! You’re ready to be the health nut tailgating!

This is a low calorie, high protein, high fiber way to snack at a football party.

If you’d like to share this tailgating tri-bean salad, please use the social media icons below!

Enjoy!!

Some of you may be wondering what tabouli is… So let me give you some background.

It is a Middle Eastern vegetarian salad that can be spelled tabouli or tabbouleh. Most tabouli recipes will include bulgur (wheat) or quinoa. I decided to leave both of those out so this can be a lower carbohydrate salad.

Tabouli has many benefits… It is low calorie, high in fiber, and loaded in vitamins and minerals! For this reason, it is considered a superfood in many countries. By adding quinoa over bulgur, or leaving out both as I have done, it can be considered gluten-free.

This nutrient rich dish makes a great snack on romaine lettuce leaves, eaten alone as a salad, or even on top of protein sources such as meats, eggs, or beans.

So lets get started making some tabouli!

First you will need:

2 cups curly parsley, chopped
1/4 cup mint, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cucumber, chopped
2-3 green onions, chopped
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
2-3 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Chop your parsley, mint, tomato, cucumber and green onions. Put them in your mixing bowl.

Then add your salt, lemon juice, and olive oil.

And finally, toss all ingredients to make sure everything is mixed well.

And your finished product will look like this!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! And a BIG thank you to Cheryl who introduced me to this superfood!

Tailgating Vegetarian Tri-Bean Salad!

It’s Truly Tabouli!