Strange Little Girl

Every month in our Elementary school I waited for that glorious day when we would get our Book-it Pizza Hut certificate. Of course you had to have read your monthly set goal worth of books, but I always did. It involved food folks, my very own personal pizza. Oh, and I was a complete nerd about books.

I lived in a very small town that didn't have a Pizza Hut and that meant driving about 45 minutes to the next not as small town that did have one. So you get the point here that this was about the best pizza in my little planet. Don't get me wrong I liked the pizza, but I think I enjoyed the salad bar almost as much. Some very cold ice berg lettuce, maybe grated carrots, but always a mound of pickled beets and a sprinkle of garbanzo beans. Yes, I was a strange little girl.

Beets were one of the highlights of my summers. Fresh from the garden, steamed and jewel toned with butter oozing down and a small feathering of salt. My love for beets sort of reminds me of this very good childrens book, A Bad Case of the Stripes.



The little girl loves Lima beans but doesn't want to admit it. A wonderful book with a great message of staying true to who you really are and not becoming what others want you to be.

In staying true to myself I like to mix some beets with my garbanzo beans that are left. I got some very nice orange beets in my organic co-op basket and roasted them for a good hour. Then I tossed them with my garbanzo beans, some sliced red onion and because I now can - goat cheese. A simple vinaigrette and you've got dinner. I like to keep little salads like this in the fridge for nibbling, or to put on top of greens for a more substantial salad.



Of course a 70's salad of iceberg, and pickled beets would be just as worthy of your remaining garbanzo beans. Or perhaps another 70's dish, three bean salad. I'm not sure why I enjoy this salad so much because it's not frilly, or even fresh. I even prefer the green beans to be from a can, and don't bother with trying to swap the white sugar for honey or agave nectar.

It's like a horribly colored 70's kitchen in a bowl, that tastes really good with fried chicken.



I don't even have much of a recipe for this either. I use 1 can green beans (by all means use fresh, but I like canned here), 1 can red kidney beans drained and rinsed, 1 cup cooked garbanzo beans, about 1/2 cup sliced red onion. The dressing is an approximate: 1 part cider vinegar (about 3-4 tablespoons), 2 parts light oil, 2 teaspoons sugar, salt and pepper. If I have it I add some sort of fresh herb, but honestly it doesn't bother me to not gussy this one up. It only get's gets better with a little fridge time so it's a great make ahead dish.

So now I'm out of garbanzo beans and strange little girl stories for the day. But I must say that I wish I had some more because I just saw this salad on Smitten Kitchen and can't wait until my next garbanzo week.