Italian Dressing

My main use for this dressing is That Bean Stuff - the Tennessee Caviar. But it's great for all kinds of stuff - use it on a big hoagie filled with lots of Italian Deli meats, any kind of sandwich roll ups - salads of course - yummy stuff.

Dressing:

•              3/4 teaspoon garlic salt

•              3/4 teaspoon onion powder

•              3/4 teaspoon white sugar

•              1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

•              1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

•              1/8 teaspoon dried thyme

•              1/4 teaspoon dried basil

•              3/4 teaspoon dried parsley

•              1/8 teaspoon celery seed

•              1-1/2 teaspoons salt

Whisk all ingredients with 2/3 cup olive oil, and ¼ cup white vinegar.

Tennessee Caviar - That Bean Stuff

That Bean Stuff

This stuff is fabulous. There are tons of recipes out there for "Texas Caviar" using black eyed peas or black beans. I adapted this one years ago and everyone just loves it. 

We use it as a simple dip with chips, over fresh spinach as a salad, rolled into tortilla shells with chicken for lunch, or over English muffins with a poached egg for breakfast.  Or we stand at the fridge and just eat it with a fork! I got asked for the recipe often, but no one knew what to call it.  Everyone simply said “can you tell me how to make that bean stuff?” so often, that’s what we call it now.  It is my 9 year old daughter's favorite food - so she just calls it 'my sauce'.

1 can black beans

1 can black eye peas

1 can golden hominy

3 Roma tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

1 medium bell pepper

6 green onions, including the green tops

½ small white onion

1-3 jalapeño peppers

½ cup fresh parsley

½ cup fresh cilantro

1 Tbls salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 cup Italian Dressing *see blog entry

1. drain and rinse the beans in a colander, and set aside.

2. Dice the tomatoes, bell pepper, onions, and green onions, and add to a large bowl.

3. Mince the parsley, cilantro, and garlic, add to vegetable mixture, and add salt and pepper.

4. Finely mince the jalapeño peppers - using however much you like. Toss into the vegetable mixture, add drained beans and toss to combine. Cover with about a cup or so of the dressing, more or less to taste. That’s it!

This is a very relaxed and forgiving dish. The jalapenos can be easily increased, or omitted depending on sensitivity to heat. The mixture improves as it marinates, so it's great for leftovers, and adaptable as well for multiple dishes. You can use bottled Italian dressing - but frankly the processed bottled taste is icky, and the homemade dressing just too good.