Black bean, corn and tomato salad

For our recent health fair, I wanted to show that I could make a simple refreshing bean and veggie salad by just opening a few cans from Costco, but of course I can never leave well enough alone. I’m fine using their canned tomatoes in chili, but when you get the full taste in a cold salad, they retain the taste of the citric acid despite rinsing them. So I decided to use fresh tomatoes.

Then I decided the dried basil and cilantro really needed to be replaced with fresh herbs for a brighter taste. Start chopping those herbs.

So it’s still relatively simple, but not exactly what I intended. If you have canned tomatoes that you like, and you don’t happen to have fresh herbs on hand, all of this can be prepared simply with cans and spice shakers.

This particular recipe is a blend of several that I found with these ingredients. It is a good mix of protein and carbs and is quite filling. It can be used as an appetizer or a BBQ side dish.

Since Trader Joes is my other favorite place to shop, I must tell you that serving this salsa / side dish on TJ’s Veggie and Flaxseed Tortilla Chips is excellent! The chips are nice and large and can hold a lot of the corn & bean mix.

Ingredients:

15 oz can black beans
15 oz can sweet corn
2 tomatoes
1 yellow pepper
1 red pepper
3 scallions
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 heaping Tbsp fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp fresh basil (or 1 tsp dried)
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Rinse the black beans and corn. Chop the tomatoes, peppers, scallions and combine all in a large bowl.
2. Chop the herbs. In a small bowl, mix the dried herbs and salt and pepper. Sprinkle over the mix and let it sit for a few hours or overnight before serving to let the flavors blend. Good for a few days.