Everyone needs a “go-to” Easy Bean Salad and this is my take on my mom’s recipe. It’s full of fibre and there’s lots of room for variation depending on the beans you like and what’s in your cupboard.

Green beans from the garden are always a favourite for me so I definitely make this bean salad in the summer. I’m sure my mom used canned beans and made it year round.

My mom’s recipe called for beans in a 14-oz can but that size is now harder to find. The amount of dressing in this recipe is enough to make it using two 19-oz cans of beans so that’s how I wrote it. Unlike baking, you don’t need to be precise with your measurements here. If you have another recipe that needs half a can of beans just use up the rest of the can in this salad.

For this photo I wanted the traditional look with lots of kidney beans. When my son was young he loved kidney beans right out of the can so that’s how I made it. Nowadays the full recipe with two cans of beans is too big for me so I most often make this salad with a single 19-oz can of mixed beans. I also portion it right into the Mason jars like you see here for the grab-and-go convenience.

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The F Word – Fibre

Back in the day my friend was a foods teacher in high school and she loved to talk about fibre calling it the F word. Fibre is important for everyone but especially for people on a gluten free diet.

A good place to start is knowing what foods are high in fibre and incorporating a good variety of them into your diet. Here’s a list I found of the top 10 high fibre foods. Can you think of something you like to eat for every one of these foods?

• Beans
• Broccoli
• Berries
• Avocados
• Popcorn
• Whole Gluten Free Grains
• Apples
• Dried Fruit
• Potatoes
• Nuts and Seeds

Get The Tools – Organize For Success

I love clear Mason jars, also known as jam jars, and I have plenty of sizes. My simple two-lid system makes it easy to store the lids together and always find one that fits. Here are some of the ways I use my jars.

• ½-cup jars are good for spice mixtures or a single portion of salad dressing for lunch.
• 1-cup or 2-cup regular mouth are great for marinades and sauces.
• 1-cup wide mouth jars are best for eating soup, salad or dessert.
• 2-cup wide mouth work for things you would eat by hand like nuts or trail mix.
• 4-cup regular mouth are nice for storing things you will pour out like granola or peanuts.
• 4-cup wide mouth are my favourite for storing dried beans, grains, flour and dried fruit. They can often hold the entire package I open and I can stick my whole hand in them.
• Only two lids for all these jars, regular mouth or wide mouth

That’s seven different sizes of jars that I use with just two lids! When someone gives me a jar that has a different size lid I be sure to return it. If I can’t give it back then I’ll fill the jar with something homemade and pass it on with a note, “don’t return the jar.”

I hope you’ll give this recipe a try and see if your kids like it. Then tweak it to suit your taste and add the recipe to your list of healthy salad choices. Let me know in the comments below how it worked.

More Recipes with High Fibre Foods

• Turkey Tacos – add some beans!
• Southwestern Quinoa Salad
• Apple Quinoa Salad with Feta
• Mom’s Homemade Chili
• Falafel Balls with Tahini Sauce
• Lemony Hummus