3 Bean Taco Salad

I love chickpeas and black beans.  They are my two favorite types of beans; however I love all beans, their tasty and a great source of protein and fiber.  I eat them a lot, usually mixed with veggies and/or rice.  Sometimes I add marinara sauce to make it more of like a "pasta" dish, sometimes I add salsa for a spicier mexican dish, sometimes I add tamari sauce for more of stir-fry dish, and sometimes I just sprinkle on some nutritional yeast.  Beans are so versatile :)

The other night for dinner I felt like I needed some protein.  Whenever I feel the need for protein I turn to my trusted beans.  As I made dinner, I kept adding ingredients to make this 3 beans taco salad.

I couldn't decide which type of beans I wanted though so I thought why not combine a little bit of three different kinds - chickpeas, black beans, and red kidney beans.  I decided to take the mexican route and add salsa.  I also had leftover daiya cheese from my Cauliflower Crust Pizza so I decided to sprinkle some of that in as well.  Then, I saw some lettuce in the fridge and had a great thought - why not make this into a taco salad, like a taco but without the taco and in a bowl like a salad.

Here's my recipe:

Ingredients:

• a spoonful of chickpeas
• a spoonful of black beans
• a spoonful of red kidney beans
• salsa (I used medium spicy)
• daiya cheese (I used leftover mozzarella but cheddar would be delicious)
• lettuce

Directions:

1. In a bowl combine beans and daiya cheese.  Heat in microwave for 30 seconds to melt the cheese.
2. Add salsa and lettuce and mix to combine.

Or just toss all ingredients together and eat cold.  This meal tastes great both ways!

Since I used a small portion of 3 different types of beans, I now have plenty of leftover beans to make other various meals with.  I stored the beans separately in case I wanted to use just one type of bean later in the week, but be on the lookout for another 3 bean meal in a few days ;)