Green edamame, pea and bean salad

I have been seeing things through the green colored glasses lately. It must be spring, the season of growth and new beginnings. For the first time I appreciate the wisdom of eating the seasonal food. For some reason I have become drawn to food that reminds me of spring. I see green color everywhere and I love it. This preoccupation with green color became an inspiration for today’s recipe. This is green lunch of edamame, green beans, peas and artichokes. I love it with rustic bread or bruschetta. I think that, the taste is more vibrant, when eaten warm, but definitely, it is also great cold. Another good thing about this dish is that, you can do it very fast. Most ingredients can be found in your freezer. You olny need to remember to have marinated artichokes and orange at home. This time I also added shredded zucchini, but I imagine we can modify this basic recipe by adding anything else which is green. For example we can add asparagus or baby spinach. While for this recipe I used fresh orange juice, because my goal was to keep with the greene color theme, I also think that, we can add orange pieces, instead of the juice. So there you go, there are many variations to this recipe and I hope that, I got you inspired and you will join me with celebrating this wonderful season of the year. ENJOY.

By the way, today I decided to change the presentation of my recipe and included nutritional value along with it (Ingredients are for 1 serving and nutritional value does not include bread). I hope that you find it very helpful.

Ingredients      · 1/2 cup edamame · 1/2 cup peas · 1/2 cup green beans · 7 artichoke hearts · Juice from 1/2 orange · 1/2 zucchini · 1 garlic clove · Olive oil · Salt, pepper

Nutritional value       Vitamin E              32% Vitamin A              53% Vitamin B1            34% Vitamin B2            32% Vitamin B3            20% Vitamin B5            10% Vitamin B6            27% Vitamin B12            0% Folate                     92% Vitamin C            100% Calcium                 12% Magnesium            32% Iron                        23% Zinc                       15% Potassium              31% Dietary fiber          75% Protein                   31% Fats                        60%

Directions Cook edamame and green beans in boiling water for 10 minutes  Two minutes before the end add frozen peas and continue boiling.  Drain and set aside. Grate zucchini. In a pan, fry minced garlic clove in olive oil for 1 minute. Add zucchini and beans, stir to combine. Continue frying for another minute. Set aside. Add chopped marinated artichokes and juice from 1/2 orange. Serve with bread or bruschetta. I made brischetta with garlic-basil butter and some parmesan cheese. ENJOY