Best Summertime Bean And Pepper Salad

Total Time: 8 hrs Preparation Time: 8 hrs

Ingredients

• 32 ounces black beans, cooked (good quality canned are fine, just rinse & drain)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• healthy dash hot sauce (or more) or red pepper flakes
• 1 cup finely chopped fresh basil
• 1 cup finely diced green bell pepper
• 1 cup finely diced red bell pepper
• 1 cup finely diced yellow bell pepper
• 1 cup finely diced red onion
• 2 large diced tomatoes (may substitute 16oz can of petite diced tomatoes)
• 6 -8 large garlic cloves, minced (or use garlic press)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar or 1/2 cup qood quality red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar

Recipe

• 1 mix together all ingredients, cover, and *refrigerate overnight* (very important). serve cold or at room temperature.
• 2 all ingredient measurements are approximate, as i rarely measure them -- i find that while finely dicing the vegetables may be more time consuming, it's worth it for a more appealing end product.
• 3 you can also substitute dried basil if you don't have access to fresh, about 2-3 tablespoons dried will do. i also use a garlic press instead of actually mincing the garlic, as it's faster, easier, and gets all the good garlic juice in there -- :) enjoy!