If you do, let me know and we’ll form a support group that has regular meetings – around bowls of 3 Bean Salad

Before I hop into the recipe with you, I wanted to share my heart a little bit on this precious Monday Morning. And lest you should be thinking “Mondays aren’t precious”, imagine if this was the last Monday you’d ever have and you just might change your tune. 😉 I posted this on Facebook this morning but wanted to share it here, as well.

Last night Katy said she wanted to spend some special Mama/Daughter time with me so I remembered a treat my Grandmama used to make for me as a girl.

I made myself a cup of coffee and made her “grandmama coffee”, which is mostly warm milk, some sugar, and just enough coffee to tint it.

We snuggled up in my bed and I told her stories of my childhood, of the nights I used to spend with my grandparents when I was just a girl.

I recall my Grandaddy’s laugh so clearly, it is as real to me now as if he were still here. And Grandmama’s voice still speaks in my ear every now and then, as if my heart is convinced she isn’t gone and chooses to bring her back from time to time.

The smell of their house, coffee and cornbread and rose lotion….The lighting in their den, the sound of that lone cricket in the utility room that they said it was bad luck to kill or shoo outside. Hugs, jokes, meals, and grandmama coffee.

I have such a wealth of memories to pass down to my children, in addition to filling their lives with memories that they will someday tell their own kids about.

This week, do what you have to do: work, pay the bills, fulfill the obligations.

But on that to-do list, make a note at the very tip top of it to make deposits of time into the accounts that matter most.

Remember that saying: No one ever said on their death bed “I wish I had of spent more time at the office.”

Resign yourself today to take full advantage of the blessings that will be offered to you in the course of this week.

Now, let’s make us a bean salad.

You’ll need: Cider Vinegar*, Chick Peas, Green Beans, Kidney Beans, Onions, Oil*, Minced Garlic, Pimentos, Salt, and Pepper.

*Cider Vinegar – you can certainly use white vinegar if you prefer or if that is what you have. Cinder Vinegar has a wonderfully unique flavor but white vinegar would be good as well.

*Oil – I am using Olive Oil but you do not have to. Vegetable oil, Canola oil, Safflower oil, etc would work just as well. I am using Olive Oil because this bottle has started collecting dust and I’d like to be done with it. I literally had to wipe dust off of the top with a damp towel before I put it in this picture.

To start with, dump all of your beans in a colander and rinse them really well.

We want to get all of their little can juices gone so we can replace them with the flavors of our 3 bean salad dressing

Note: You are only draining the beans, not the pimentos. We want to keep that pimento juice in the salad for more flavor.

Place sugar, cider vinegar, oil, minced garlic, salt, and pepper in a mason jar.

Screw the lid on tight and shake the mess out of that.

It helps if you sing and dance while doing this. I shake it over each of my shoulders while singing “La Cucaracha”, which really isn’t a very appropriate song to sing while in the kitchen, but we can’t always be appropriate now, can we?

Throw in a little hip action while you’re at it and do a mambo like circle around your kitchen and it should be mixed really well.

Or you can just give it a good shaking for about ten seconds.

But where is the fun in that?

Place your rinsed beans, chopped onion, and pimentos along with their jar juices in a big old bowl.

Pour the dressing over.

Give it a big old stir.

NOW, don’t go eating this now because it isn’t bean salad yet. Put this in the fridge for several hours, I prefer overnight. After that, give it another really good stir and return it to the fridge for several more hours.

I let mine refrigerate overnight and then stir it up real good again in the morning.

It will be ready by lunch.

If you eat it before letting it marinate, stirring it real good, and then letting it marinate again, you’re going to be missing out on that punch of flavor in every bite that you really want. So trust me on this and make it the night before.

Then, if you really want to do it how I do, get a big old bowl of this for your lunch.

AWWWW YEAH!

As a matter of fact, I’m typing this in between bites!

~Submitted by Carol. Click here to submit your own.

On a sidenote to parents, grandparents, and anyone who would like to give a kid a little boost of confidence and love: I found these wonderful little books and ordered them last week, one for each of my children. Each book has fifty, fill in the blank pages that you can just fill in with a single word or more if you like.

I got my son “Why You’re So Awesome” and my daughter “What I Love About You“.

It took me maybe 15-20 minutes to fill in each one and then I gave them to my kids one at a time, taking time to go through each page with them. I knew they would like it but I wasn’t prepared for how much. My teenage son seemed to appreciate it the most, unable to suppress the grin that spread across his face as he read through his book. He immediately went and told his daddy “You’ve got to sit down and read this!”

I’m so glad I bought those and I wanted to share the links with you in case you’d like to check them out for someone special in your life. I bought them as a gesture, knowing they’d mean a great deal to me. I didn’t realize how much such a simple thing would mean to my kids

You can click on any of the photos below and you’ll be taken to a page on Amazon to learn more about them and to order if you like.

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