Tomato and green bean salad: a recipe

I am clearly not the master of my white balance yet...

I've been hitting the cold salads hard this week, trying to pretend that it's spring.

"Pretend" because it's been absurdly chilly here, even for Vermont. Trust me, one should not have to see, at the same time, snow flurries and daffodils trying to bloom. It's just disheartening.

Hence what seems like salad week here on the blog.

This one was inspired by another back issue of Sunset that I pulled out of my hoarder-esque magazine piles. It was supposed to be just a side salad but I added some chicken to make it a meal. It was also supposed to include asparagus rather than green beans but anyone who knows Mr. Ninj knows that asparagus isn't even welcome in the driveway, let alone in the house or in a salad.

I think you could make a lot of modifications to this one to suit your own tastes. The critical parts are the avocado, the blue cheese and the vinaigrette -- together they create a creamy, tangy base that makes the other ingredients shine.

As always, let me know what you think. Really. Bloggers live for comments. Really.

Tomato and Green Bean Salad (adapted from a recipe by Barb Mansinne in Sunset magazine)

Ingredients
1/2 lb. green beans, trimmed
3 cups halved grape tomatoes
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 avocado, cubed
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded or cubed
1/2 cup sliced basil
1/8 cup olive oil
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. each kosher salt and pepper

Directions
Steam the green beans for a few minutes until crisp-tender. Drain and rinse in cold water. Combine the cooled beans, tomatoes, cheese, avocado, chicken and basil in a large bowl.

In a separate small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper. Drizzle over the bean mixture and toss well to coat.

Note: Recipe may be doubled easily.