Corn and Black Bean Salad

Tis’ the season for BBQing and salads!

I’m not just talking about boring iceberg lettuce salad with tomatoes and cucumber. I’m talking about a mix of delicious healthy ingredients like quinoa, roasted sweet potato or zucchini, black beans, avocado, and adding different textures with nuts or seeds like pumpkin seeds or toasted coconut, and my friends, it’s all about the dressing. Of course you’re going to get bored of eating salad if you always make the same dressing. Experiment with ingredients like tahini, coconut milk, curry paste, miso or yogurt to make a healthy, flavourful dressing.

This is my favourite way to eat for a couple reasons: 1. The salad and dressing can be made in advance on your meal prep day, and enjoyed all week with different proteins. 2. I don’t BBQ, so that means my hubby is cooking dinner! Having dinner mostly done, makes 5:30pm on a busy weeknight a lot less stressful.

My Corn and Black Bean Salad is a staple in our house. I always have a bag of frozen organic corn in my freezer, and cans of organic black beans in my pantry. This means, I just have to buy a couple fresh ingredients to make this salad happen. We usually have it with a Pre-Roasted PC Free From chicken if we’re short on time, or we BBQ PC Free From chicken or sausages, or rainbow trout.

We love having it with plantain chips (look for a brand that has a few ingredients, and aren’t made with vegetable oil) and guacamole, and ladies and gentlemen, I’ve discovered the EASIEST way to make guac. All you need is one package of organic Wholly Guacamole, one fresh avocado and some sea salt. Mix it all together, and voila!

Corn and Black Bean Salad

Makes: 4-6 servings

Ingredients 2 cobs sweet corn, boiled and cut off the cob or 1 ½ cups organic frozen corn 1 can organic black beans, drain and rinse (Eden Organics or Yves are good brands) 1 bell pepper diced ½ cup chopped cilantro or fresh herb of choice 1 clove garlic minced Half red onion, diced 1 avocado, cubed, or made into guacamole

Dressing: ⅛ tsp.cayenne ¼ tsp. cumin 1 tsp. sea salt ½ tbsp. coconut palm sugar 3 tbsp. fresh lime juice or juice from 1 lime 5 tbsp. organic extra virgin olive oil

Method

Defrost corn or boil corn cobs (bring water to a boil, once boiling, add corn, turn off the heat, cover and cook for 5-8 minutes or until you can smell it). Remove from pot, and set aside to cool. Once cooled, slice fresh corn off the cob.

Whisk dressing ingredients together in a glass jar with a lid. Set aside.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl (except for the avocado and cilantro), and let marinate in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.

Stir in chopped avocado (or make an easy guac) and cilantro right before serving – enjoy!