Canning Four Bean Salad

Okay I admit it.  Dilly beans are not our favorite side dish.  We eat them but not in massive quantities.  My son usually wrinkles his little nose up at them and says they stink and they taste bad.  So while my husband and I enjoy them, we only produce usually three to five pints a year.  More or less, one time of canning them.
So, I am always on the look out for a new good canning recipe for green beans as I get nervous keeping so much in my chest freezer.  God forbid, the power goes out for days on end and I'm left with rotting food and wasted money.
Recently we purchased a rather large box of green beans that were at an awesome price from Brad's Produce so this weekend we had our work cut out for us!
This morning, I just so happened to come along a recipe for Three Bean Salad at Doris and Jilly Cook that looked promising so this is how we'll be preserving a bit more of our green beans in a way that does not include dilly beans.  Now just a FYI, we only had green beans and then loads of mixed dried beans so I have used a mixture of green beans, black beans, red beans and pink beans.  It turned out very pretty!

Four Bean Salad (for canning)

6 c. total garden beans (yellow wax, green, Romano, or combination)
1 c. cooked chickpeas (I did not have the chickpeas so I substituted black beans
1 c. cooked kidney beans
1 large onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 t. black mustard seeds
4–6 sprigs fresh thyme
1 t. pickling salt, or 1 1/2 t. kosher salt
1 c. white vinegar (5 %)
1/2 c. fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. olive oil
1 1/2 c. water

1) Blanch your beans in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and cool. Set aside.

2) Combine all the non-vegetable ingredients except for the oil (vinegar, sugar, lemon juice, herbs, spices, etc.) in a large pot and bring to a simmer. Briefly remove from the heat and add the oil. After combined, stir in the vegetables and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat and let cool; refrigerate for at least 12 hours. (This step is necessary to make sure that the vinegar actually penetrates the beans, making them safe for a water-bath canner.)

3) When the beans are almost done marinating, prepare your canning supplies. Clean and sterilize 4 pint jars. Prepare a boiling water bath and  heat the lids.

4) Bring the vegetable mixture to a boil. Fill the jars with the solids, then cover with the hot liquid, leaving a 1/2″ headspace. Cover with two-piece lids (remember, you can reuse the jars and rings, but use fresh lids every time) and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Refrigerate anything that doesn’t seal properly.

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