Basic Bean Salad (pg 129)

One of the reasons Joy of Cooking is so often given as a wedding or graduation gift is because instead of giving you a just straightforward recipe, it makes sure you understand what makes a recipe work and how to make adjustments to it.  Optional ingredients are denoted by parentheses

I tossed in quite a few

This bean salad recipe breaks down like this:
cooked beans (any kind)
olive oil, lemon juice, salt & pepper
pretty much any other ingredient you feel like tossing in there.

Let it marinate a bit and voila, it's lunch.

We ate it over a couple of days and it just kept getting better.  Did I learn anything?  No, but for someone looking to use up some extra beans (and who doesn't have a can of beans moldering on a shelf somewhere?) it's a keeper.

Julie:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mike:  ⭐⭐⭐ (he said it was boring--this is why I let him do the cooking)