Recipe: Cannellini Crazy Greek Salad

Nothing says spring like a great big fresh salad! This one makes a great healthy spring or summer lunch, with cannellini beans, cheese, and olives for lots of flavor and nutrition, and you can put it together in a matter of minutes, which makes it perfect for when you're pinched for time, but still want a healthy meal.

Cannellini Crazy Greek Salad
(Serves 2-4.)

Ingredients:

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp dried oregano flakes
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1 can (15 oz) cannellini, drained then rinsed
1 Roma tomato, diced
1/4 cup diced sweet onion
1/4 cup diced green pepper
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped kalamata olives
Mixed greens for serving

Directions:

• In a large salad bowl, whisk the first 5 ingredients together until frothy.
• Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and toss gently until all ingredients are coated well with the dressing.
• Serve immediately by itself or over a bed of mixed greens.

Recipe: Basil Lemon Linguine With Cannellini

This simple and fresh-tasting dish lets the flavor of the pasta shine through, so it's a great recipe to use if you want to try out that home-made pasta you just made. Basil, olive oil, lemon, and Parmesan cheese give this a classic Italian flavor, while the beans add protein and texture. You can stretch this a bit more, and make it even healthier, by adding another can of beans.

Basil Lemon Linguine With Cannellini
(Serves 4-6.)

Ingredients:

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1 (1 lb) box uncooked linguine (or 1 lb fresh pasta)
1 can (15 oz) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained well (or 1-2 cups of cooked & drained dry white beans)
1 lemon
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup fresh basil leaves (packed tight in cup)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
reserved pasta cooking water
fresh grated Parmesan for serving

Directions:

• Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water, until just tender, not over cooked.
• Add beans to pot just before draining, stir, then drain pasta and beans into a colander over a pot to reserve cooking liquid.
• When linguine is totally drained, dump it with the beans into the cooking pot, cover and keep warm.
• While you're cooking the pasta, put a small skillet on the stove over medium heat and pour in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil.
• Over the skillet, zest the whole lemon, cooking and stirring in the olive oil, about 1 minute, until fragrant and just turning golden in color; remove from heat.
• Into a food processor or blender, scrape the cooked lemon zest, oil and all, and the basil.
• Then juice all the lemon and pour the juice into the food processor, plus the salt and pepper.
• Now turn the food processor on and process until smooth.
• Start adding the reserved pasta liquid into the food processor, 1 tablespoon at a time, processing, adding, processing, until you have your desired consistency. (You may use around 1/2 cup of reserved liquid for this process, more or less.)
• When you have your basil sauce ready, pour into the hot linguine/bean mixture and toss until coated well.
• Serve hot, sprinkled with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.