Cucumber Black Bean and Feta Salad

For my 26th week of the Pregnancy Foodie Project, Baby is the length of an English hothouse cucumber. I've seen these things in the store several times but just didn't know what they were called. I actually think I've even bought them before, again not realizing that they had a super cool name. One great thing about these cucumbers verses the "regular" ones is that their seeds are much smaller and there is no need to remove them before adding them to a salad. The green skin is also a lot thinner meaning you don't have to peel them before chopping and adding to a dish. Oh, and I never realized just how many variations of cucumbers or "cukes" there were until I found this page in the cooks thesaurus. Kind of interesting.

Cucumber Black Bean and Feta Salad

So, while deciding what to add to this salad, I think my original idea was to make sort of a Greek style salad with salty black olives and feta cheese. However, when I looked down in my basket and noticed the black beans and cilantro that I just had to have, I realized it also seemed a little Mexican or Latin. Oh well; it's a small world, after all! 

I really like the light lemon dressing with all these fresh ingredients. Mix it up and add to taste. 

Cucumber Black Bean and Feta Salad

2 English hothouse cucumbers, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 14oz can artichoke hearts*, drained
1 5oz can sliced black olives*, drained
5-6 oz fat free feta cheese, crumbled
Fresh cilantro leaves, washed and torn
For the dressing
Freshly squeezed lemon juice (approximately 2 lemons)
Olive oil (a few tablespoons)
Salt and pepper to taste

Add the cucumber, red bell pepper, onion, black beans, artichoke hearts and black olives in a large bowl and gently toss to mix together. One important thing is to drain everything really well. I normally just use the top of the can that I have removed to drain the liquid out of canned goods before adding them to dishes, but for this salad I went ahead and strained everything in a mesh colander. I wanted this salad to stay fresh for a few days and not have liquid pooling in the bottom of the bowl. The second thing to note is the feta cheese, cilantro and dressing should be added right before serving.

*The other thing I make sure to do is buy the canned artichokes and sliced olives in "water" not oil. Yes, there is oil in the dressing, but you can control how much of that you add. I am not a huge fan of adding oil soaked veggies to a salad that I want to stay crisp. It also cuts back on calories. 

This is great to serve with fish or meat dishes or to eat by itself. And if you like the Greek idea of this salad, try this Greek Dip or My Big Fat Greek Nachos!