Sesame Green Bean Salad

This simple, easy to prepare, green bean salad has been my new craving lately! I still have an abundance of green beans growing in my garden, so when I found this recipe in the June/July 2006 edition of Light & Tasty magazine I thought it was a great, fresh way to prepare green beans. I love green beans, but I've got to mix it up a bit sometimes. I have since made 3 batches of this tasty salad! Not only has it accompanied our dinners as a side dish this week, at only 65 calories per serving, it has become my favorite healthy, yet flavorful late night snack.

I began this recipe by cleaning and snapping a pound of green beans.

Then I dropped them into salted water, brought it to a boil, and cooked them to a crisp-tender state. The recipe recommends boiling them for 8-10 minutes. I cooked mine for closer to 12 minutes. I didn't want them mushy, but at the same time, I preferred them a little more on the tender side.

Then I rinsed them under cold water to stop the cooking process and cool the beans down.

While the beans cooked, I gathered the dressing ingredients: canola oil, soy sauce, cider vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, and a little salt.

I poured all of the ingredients into a container with a lid and shook them up until combined.

After transferring the green beans to a serving dish, I poured the dressing over the top and tossed them lightly to coat.

To top it all off, I toasted some sesame seeds in a skillet on the stovetop until fragrant and golden brown.

Then I sprinkled them over the top of the salad. The recipe instructs to serve this salad at room temperature, but it's good cold too. In my opinion, it was even better on the second day- straight outta the fridge!

Last night, I served the salad alongside some pork loin chops that I had marinated in teriyaki all day. Mmmmm. My husband forgot to light the coals in our grill before he began cutting the grass, so I fired up my Pampered Chef grill pan. The chops, which soaked up the dressing from the green beans served beside them, were perfection! It was a lovely pairing.

If you're in the market for a grill pan and press, The Pampered Chef has them on special for just one more day! Click HERE to see the deal.

Here's the recipe:

Sesame Green Bean Salad from Light & Tasty Magazine
5 Servings Prep/Total Time: 20 min.

Ingredients
1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sesame seeds, toasted
Directions
•Place beans in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a
boil. Cook, uncovered, for 8-10 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain
and rinse in cold water; pat dry. Place in a serving bowl.

•In a small bowl, whisk the soy sauce, canola oil, sugar, vinegar,
sesame oil and salt. Pour over beans and toss to coat. Sprinkle with
sesame seeds; toss again. Serve at room temperature. Yield: 5
servings.

Nutrition Facts: 3/4 cup equals 65 calories, 3 g fat (trace saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 238 mg sodium, 7 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 1 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 1 vegetable, 1/2 fat.