I made this last week when we had some friends over for dinner. I liked it enough that I decided to make it again for you.
White and Green Bean Salad
- 3/4 pound green beans
- 3 1/2 cups cooked cannellini beans
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- freshly cracked pepper
- sea salt
- Blanch and shock the green beans. (For reference: Bring a small pot of water to boil. Salt well. Have a large bowl with ice cubes and water nearby. Once water is boiling, add the green beans. Cook just long enough to take the raw edge off, 1-1.5 minutes. The green beans should be bright green. Drain, then plunge the beans into the ice bath to stop the cooking. Drain again once they are cooled.)
- Trim and chop the green beans into half-inch segments.
- In a large bowl mix the green beans, cannellini beans, and parsley. Zest and juice the lemon over the top. Add a large pinch of salt and lots of freshly cracked pepper. Mix well. Chill for an hour before serving.
Serves 6
You can serve the salad immediately, but I felt the flavor was better after the salad was chilled a bit.
I found your website while searching for gluten free meat alternatives. I am starting a 21 day cleanse which eliminates any animal products, gluten, sugar, and alcohol. I am having trouble finding meat alternatives that are gluten free. Most, like many of the veggie patties, contain wheat gluten. Something I have found while looking for information on the Internet, most people seem to be under the impression that meat alternatives are gluten free. I was on a website for individual with celiac disease and they advised that any meat alternative is “naturally gluten free”. Am I just very confused? Do you know of any meat alternatives that are truly gluten free? I would appreciate any advice you can offer!
Hi Kiley,
It sounds like the problem you might be having is that people vary in their definition of “meat alternative.” It sounds to me like you might be looking for a meat substitute, like a veggie burger. And you are correct in noting that most do contain gluten. A quick search I did shows that Amy’s makes a gluten-free veggie burger. I also found this post from Book of Yum that reviews many gluten-free veggie burgers. Mike and I don’t ever really eat meat substitutes so I don’t have any personal suggestions to give you.
As to the person saying that any meat alternative is naturally gluten-free, well that’s just irresponsible. I believe what they’re trying to say is that alternative proteins such as beans, tofu, eggs, etc. are naturally gluten-free. However, making blanket statements like that seems like a bad idea. While those foods are themselves gluten-free, they still might be processed somewhere that also processes wheat. I know I’ve seen bags of dried beans that were processed in a plant that processed wheat.
Now, while food processed in the same plant as wheat would be a problem for someone with Celiac disease, I don’t know how much of an issue it would be for someone trying to do a cleanse. So it might not matter for you anyway.
Hope this helps, good luck with your clease!