Spring Picnic Panzanella Salad

HomeClinics & ProgramsELLICSR KitchenSpring Picnic Panzanella Salad

Skill Level	Easy

Preparation Time	10 minutes	Total Time	15 minutes
Servings	4 (2 mason jars)	Cost Per Serving	$1.75

Panzanella Salad

2 cups	Crusty Bread, cut into small cubes
1/2	Small Red Onion, thinly sliced
2 cups	Cherry Tomatoes
1	Yellow Bell Pepper, roughly diced
1/2	Radicchio Head (or any lettuce), shredded
1 cup	White Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup	Basil Leaves
2 tbsp	Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tbsp	Red Wine Vinegar
To taste	Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Sweet Pea Pesto

1 cup	Freshly Shelled Peas
1/2 clove	Garlic
1/4 cup	Basil
1/4 cup	Mint
1/4 cup	Olive Oil
1/2	Lemon, juiced
To taste	Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Add all ingredients for the sweet pea pesto to a food processor and blend until smooth.
As this recipe makes enough to fill two mason jars, split the ingredients evenly between the jars. Add red wine vinegar and olive oil to the mason jars. Add your onion slices, followed by your peppers, the crusty bread cubes, the tomatoes, the white kidney beans and a couple tablespoons of the pesto. Top it off with your radicchio and basil leaves.
Store in the refrigerator or chilled picnic basket/cooler until ready to serve.

PDF link to nutrition facts table for Spring Picnic Panzanella Salad

We often think of green peas as a vegetable, but they are actually a member of the legume family. Two cups of raw sugar snap peas has almost as much protein as an egg!
Legumes contain a plant chemical called coumestrol that may help prevent stomach cancer. Research suggests that eating about a cup of legumes every day – enough to provide at least 2 mg of coumestrol – reduces stomach cancer risk. Green peas are particularly high in coumestrol, with 1 cup providing 10 mg of this plant chemical.
Peas, beans and other legumes are great for the soil. They are known as “nitrogen-fixing” crops because they deposit nitrogen into the soil. Nitrogen is an important mineral for the growth of other types of crops. Rotating other crops with legumes means that farmers don’t have to rely on fertilizers.