Honey-Orange Bean Vegetable Slaw

One of my favorite recipe websites is Meals For You. What I like about it is that I can search for recipes by ingredients, nutritional level (including low-carb) and prep time. Then I can adjust the size of the recipe with a click of a button or two. Once I've chosen several recipes, I can print out a prepared shopping list along with my recipes. Very useful. Now the recipes are not as varied as I would like, and often they use ingredients I wouldn't choose, but still, it's a useful tool, especially if you're needing some 'what do I have in my hand' recipes.

Honey-Orange Bean and Vegetable Slaw
Prep: 15 min.

For 4 servings:

1/2 lb. red kidney beans, or large lima beans, rinsed, drained
1/2 lb. canned navy beans, or garbanzo beans, rinsed, drained
1/2 lb. canned pinto beans, or red beans, rinsed, drained

(Naturally, I personally would use dried beans here, cooked and drained, for four servings only about 1 1/2 cups of beans, total. I wouldn't fuss too much over making sure I had the right variety, either).

1 cup thinly sliced red cabbage
1/2 cup small broccoli florets
2 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. raisins
2 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. sliced dried apricots
2 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. walnut pieces

(I think this 2 T. plus 2 tsp business is silly. 2 teaspoons is only 1 teaspoon shy of a full Tablespoon, so I'd just do about 3 Tablespoons each of the raisins, apricots and walnuts. I often have dried apricots on hand because my children love their fruit, and I can get dried apricots for a fairly good price through my co-op, or a less healthy version at the local Walgreens, but if I couldn't, I'd just use whatever dried fruit I had available, or maybe diced apples, or a bit of grated orange peel).

The above ingredients are for the salad proper. Toss them well in your salad bowl.

MIx the next five ingredients (below) for your dressing. The proportions for the dressings are a little more important than those for the salad, so I might stick to the 2 T plus 2 t. amounts, but I probably wouldn't. Make it an even 3 Tablespoons of vinegar and honey, and an even 2 tablespoons of frozen orange juice.

2 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. cider vinegar
2 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. honey
1-1/2 Tbs. frozen orange juice concentrate
1 Tbs. canola oil (I think sunflower oil would work just as well. Olive might have a bit too strong of a taste)
1 tsp. poppy seeds

Once the dressing is mixed well, trickle it all over your salad, toss lightly, and serve.

This recipe is also available from The American Bean Board, and as you can see, they agree with me that the ingredients here a bit too fiddly.