Three Bean Shoepeg Salad - with a New Year's Day alternative addition!!!

My friend, Trudie H., shared this recipe and it is my hands-down favorite 3-bean salad recipe.  My father-in-law loves it...and I always get requests for the recipe whenever I take it to a pot-luck dinner.  It's really simple but the secret is in preparing the dressing just exactly the way Trudie instructed me.  It's tart and sweet at the same time...yum...makes my mouth water when I think about it.  I frequently make it without the shoepeg corn.  However, the original recipe calls for it, so that's the way I'll post it.

Now - here's my New Year's Day trick...Southerners consider it mandatory for good luck in the new year, to eat black-eyed peas on New Year's Day.  There's all sorts of thoughts on how this got started, and you can read all about it on this web site.  I'm not a HUGE fan of having a bowl of hot black-eyed peas.  It's "okay", but not my favorite.  So, what I like to do is make this a 4-bean salad by skipping the shoepeg corn and replacing it with a can of rinsed and drained black-eyed peas...just on New Year's Day.  That meets the standard for "good luck" and makes me happy too :-)

Here's the recipe:

TRUDIE'S THREE BEAN SHOEPEG SALAD

Prepare dressing and set aside:
Mix 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 tsp salt, and 1 tsp pepper until sugar and salt are dissolved.  Whisk in 1/3 cup vegetable oil once sugar and salt dissolved.

Drain and thoroughly rinse (in colander):
1 can french cut green beans
1 can shoepeg corn (OR, black-eyed peas if New Year's Day!)
1 can wax beans
1 can kidney beans

Thinly slice and halve one red onion (use the whole onion, but end up with half-moon slices).

Toss beans, corn, and red onion with dressing.  Refrigerate at least 24 hours before serving.

I put it in a plastic container with a tight lid - I shake everything several times during the 24 hours.

DE-FREAKING-LICIOUS!!!!

Bon Appetit Y'all!!!