Edamame Salad

Looking for a salad that is delightfully different?  This crunchy, fresh, protein-rich offering combines a cruciferous vegetable, onion (so good for you!), the dense nutrition of edamame, and a few nuts for a slightly salty surprise.

Ingredients:

• 1 10 oz. package shelled edamame, thawed
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 3 cups chopped cauliflower
• 1/2 cup red onion
• PLUS the dressing (recipe below) AND 1 cup cashews (for garnish)

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise or sour cream
• 1 cup ranch dressing (I actually used Jalapeno Ranch dressing)

Garnish:

• 1 cup cashews (or you could substitute salted peanuts, walnuts or pecans)

Directions:

Put the edamame in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain.

Chop your cauliflower (or use the slicer dicer, as I did). Same with your onion. You want it finely diced.

Gently mix the ingredients together.

Mix the dressing together. Toss the salad with the dressing. Top with the cashews.

I love edamame and it’s good for you. (In case you don’t know — they’re soybeans!) I normally eat them in the pods with just a little kosher salt, scraping out the seeds with my teeth (sounds primitive, huh?), discarding the pods. They also sell it shelled, however, and I was really curious about whether I could devise a recipe to use it that way. Success!