Three Bean Salad

"When I first made this recipe, my husband and I didn't like it too much. But something told us to try again, and it was a huge success. Here's how we made a recipe that we liked (and so did our family..." See more): 1. Cut the celery into small pieces and use two sticks instead of the one it calls for (this way, every bite has crunch) 2. We usually prefer green onions over red, white, yellow, etc. But in this case, we found that the extra crunch added by these varieties are essential. We used white onions instead of green, and that made a world of difference. Make sure to mince or dice very small; again, to get some onion in every bite. Eliminate the onion powder. 3. It was too vinegar-y for our taste, so we cut the vinegar down to 1/2 cup and that yielded a better balance with the oil. 4. Use olive oil, not veg oil 5. Use real minced garlic instead of garlic powder 6. Add salt 7. store the salad in tupperware that you can flip upside down, without leakage. Rotate it at least twice during the marination process. 8. After the salad has had a chance to marinate over night, drain off the excess dressing; otherwise the beans at the bottom will start to degrade. This sounds like more work than it is, and trust me the result is well worth it!"

"This is the best bean salad recipe I've tried in a very long time. I made a couple of substitutions - I used 2 Tbsp. of red onion for crunch instead of celery and then omitted the onion powder. I al..." See moreso substituted 1 lg. clove of garlic for garlic powder and added 1 tsp. of chopped chives. The dressing is perfect; not too sweet, just the right tang and the cayenne adds just the right amount of heat. This has definitely become my favorite."

"I would rate this 6 stars = "can it get any better?" This recipe is definitely a "keeper" I made this yesterday with a few changes and got rave reviews from my friends. Substituted lima for garbanz..." See moreo, medium sweet onion sliced thin for the green onions, medium green pepper chopped for the celery, olive oil instead of veggie oil and 1 clove garlic pressed for the powder. Didn't use onion powder or cayenne pepper. I would recommend to refrigerate it for at least 4 hours and flipping it over or stirring it several times while marinating, but overnite would be even better."