Q It's my first meatless dinner party, but first, I have got to tell you how I found out how vegetables rock! In May I made a bet with myself that I couldn't pull back to eating meat only a couple of times a week instead of a couple of times a day. Ribs and burgers stuck around, yet by July I had this revelation. Vegetables rock! You have so many ways to cook them; I never guessed.

Now to my problem: For my first meatless dinner party (a hard sell to carnivore friends) the main dish is black beans with yellow rice and spicy vegetables, which is fine. Dessert's no problem. I need your help with a starter salad that won't taste like every other salad out there.

A With this enthusiasm, you could sell soybean loaf to a cattleman.

Wait until you get into winter vegetables. If you get a chance, check out a book by Darra Goldstein, "The Vegetarian Hearth: Recipes and Reflections for the Cold Season" (HarperCollins). While most of us think vegetables and turn south for inspiration, Goldstein looks to the former Soviet Union, a place where she's done several authoritative cookbooks. Just reading her introduction will make you long for snow.

Now to the party: Your salad dilemma is easily solved. Green beans are coming in hot and heavy around the country, and by cooking them ahead along with making the dressing ahead you can pull off this salad with only a last-minute drizzling of dressing.

By the way, the dressing is great over beets, yams, broccoli, cooked cabbage and roasted onions. On a second go-round after the party, add different beans to the salad, like pintos, chickpeas or any leftover black beans.

Star Tribune, Star Tribune

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