Dressing and Bean Salad

If you have been gluten-free for a while, you have probably already learned a trick. Take food with you everywhere.

I truly do this. Meeting someone for lunch, yeah, I bring something. No I don't bother asking, oh can I bring something? I just show up with food in hand -- and enough to share. I have had people say, "Oh you didn't have to do that!" But the truth is, they eat it anyway.

This is absolutely a necessity if the event is a potluck. There is absolutely no guarantee that there will be anything that is safe for you to eat at a potluck unless you bring it. Also, with most potlucks it is extremely difficult to find out the contents of most of the dishes. So you know what you bring yourself is safe.

I had two potlucks this weekend. The first was for work on Friday.

What this meant for me this week was that I was shopping for food on Thursday night at 9:30 pm. When I got home I tossed the pasta in the pot for Heather's pasta salad. Because I was shopping so late, I didn't feel like reading all of the salad dressing labels to find a gluten-free, sugar-free italian salad dressing that frankly would cost too much no matter how it fell out.

At home, with the pasta boiling away, I tossed together this dressing and whisked vigorously.

Dressing
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tbs tamari
1 Tbs oregano
1 Tbs basil
1 Tbs parsley
(all dried herbs)

The pasta salad got rave reviews from my coworkers.

For the second potluck I made bean salad. I told a friend this and she wrinkled her nose and said, "Um, ew. No one is going to eat that." To which I naturally responded, "I don't care if anyone else eats it. I am making it for me."

My mom makes a good bean salad with an oil and vinegar dressing that I have made several times as well. This time though, I decided to kick it up a notch. I found a different bean salad with a salsa dressing. In my world, everything is better with salsa.

Spicy Bean Salad

1 can black beans

1 can red beans

1 can garbanzo beans

1 can pinto beans

1 pkg (10 oz) frozen corn

1 tbs vegetable oil

1 tsp cumin

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp lime juice

1 jar chunky salsa

1 pinch parsley

Drain and rinse all beans. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Serve cold.