Black Bean and Corn Salad

Yeah, it doesn't get much better than this.  A big spoonful of this salad over some spinach, or some brown rice or a nice grain, and you've got a whole meal!  I'm planning to eat it over nothing at first, then gradually add it into every meal until it's all gone.  It's that delicious.

I did not take pictures as I made this recipe but now I wish I had!  I pulled it together from various recipes I found online, including the vinaigrette.

Here's how I made it.

Ingredients:

Black beans    230 grams (I used Rancho Gordo, and weighed the beans after I soaked them)
Corn   268 grams (I used Del Monte no sodium added canned corn, and weighed the corn after I drained all the liquid off)
Avocado   200 grams (one whole avocado)
Red onion  125 grams (1/2 a medium red onion)
Red pepper   203 grams (one whole red pepper plus a hunk I had leftover in the fridge)
Jalapeno  18 grams (one jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed, chopped really fine)

For the vinaigrette:

Lime juice   40 grams (2 fresh limes)
Olive oil      51 grams (it looked right)
Kosher salt   1/2 t
Fresh garlic  4 grams (one clove, finely chopped)
cumin  1/2 t
honey 10 grams (one dip in my honey jar with the honey-dipping stick)
black pepper - a couple of grinds from the pepper mill


First I made the vinaigrette.  Then I chopped the avocado, and put it into the vinaigrette and stirred it around.  Next I chopped the onion and added it to the avocado in the vinaigrette.

Technically, first I cooked the beans, but I did that yesterday.  Just beans and water, nothing else.  I wanted them to be plain and soak up some of the vinaigrette.  After the beans were drained and cooled yesterday, they went into the fridge to wait until today.

I put the beans in a great big bowl, then drained the corn and added that.  I chopped the red pepper and jalapeno and threw that in, then dumped in the vinaigrette with avocado and onion, and stirred it all together.  Then I took a picture, and put the salad in the fridge.  After I finish writing this I'm going to eat a big ol' bowl of this for lunch!  I think it's going to taste even better tomorrow.

Check out the awesome stats!!  Even with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, the sodium is really low in this dish.  Cooking your own beans is worth the time it takes.