Green Bean Salad

Okay- this Green Bean Salad is really good. I've made it several times. My little family loves it (except Grace who is going through a "I don't like green beans" phase. So her vote doesn't count) I even brought it somewhere as a side dish, and people said they liked it. (It was my parents- so hopefully they would be honest and tell me if they didn't?)  I've eaten it for lunch, dinner, and even breakfast one day (It's that good- and I'm weird.) So now I get excited when I see green beans on sale somewhere. I'm easy to please.

We ate this along with black beans and rice for dinner.

Green Bean Salad

Adapted from Deliciously Organic*. Serves 8

For the dressing:
1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons whole grain mustard
1/4 cup red onion, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 pounds green beans, trimmed
3 oranges, segmented
1 cup chopped dates
3/4 cup chopped almonds, toasted 

Directions:
Stir vinegar, thyme, honey, mustard, onion, and salt together in a small bowl. Pour in olive oil and whisk until combined.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add beans to boiling water and cook for 3-5 minutes, until bright green. Drain, run cool water over to halt cooking, and pat dry. Place cooked beans, oranges, dates and almonds in a large bowl. Pour dressing over beans, toss and serve. Best served at room temperature.

* I used less oil- because the first time I made it, there was a lot of "sauce" left in the bottom. It was still good, but it made me cringe to let all that good oil go to waste. I like the sauce-to-bean ratio better with less oil. I used almonds instead of hazelnuts because I don't have hazelnuts on hand. And I renamed it because Alan's pet-peeve is when the name of the dish is the ingredient list- and I don't think you'd believe me that it was good if I named it "Green Bean Surprise" .