Spring Panzanella

I think spring is finally here to stay. It's getting warmer, though I would not say it is warm yet. I have been looking for a particularly "springy" dish to make, and this one really fit the bill. Panzanella is essentially a salad (in this case with asparagus, green beans, and cannelini beans) with a lemon dressing and crispy croutons. The recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen, a food blog with amazing pictures and detailed recipes. It is by no means vegan (in fact, once recipe actually adds sausage to an explicitly vegetarian dish!), but it is well worth a look for those interested in the art of food. I pretty much followed the recipe as is, except I cut back on the oil and upped the lemon juice, used thick sliced whole wheat bread for the croutons (nothing fancier to be had in the house today), and used nutritional yeast instead of Parmesan cheese. Oh, I also did not have any leeks, so I used green beans as was recommended. Really, this recipe is modifiable in many way. Go check it out!