Black Bean Salsa -Oklahoma Caviar!

Warning! This recipe is highly addictive!

Mr. Wonderful and I made this last night while waiting for baby-back ribs to slow-cook in the oven.  By the time the ribs were done, we weren’t very hungry.

Why, you ask?

Because we ate half a bowl of this stuff.

I love this recipe.  This recipe incorporates many healthy veggies and beans into one magnificent salsa.  My daughter Tori would never eat one of these ingredients alone, but in this dip, she snarfs multiple vegetables down and loves them.

Yes I said “snarfs”, because that’s what you do when you eat Black Bean Salsa.

There are probably many varieties out there of this recipe.  Many southern states that feature Tex-Mex cuisine call it caviar – like Oklahoma Caviar, Texas Caviar, etc.  Each one is a little different.  You can tweak it to whatever you like…substitute pablanos for jalepenos, red onion for green onion, or whatever makes you smile and say Mmmmmm.

This one is my favorite.  Let’s begin.

Start out by chopping one red bell pepper into small cubes.  You really want to dice everything pretty finely for this recipe and kind of uniform in size.

Also finely chop some fresh cilantro.  I use a lot – like at least a cup.  I love cilantro.

Throw them into a large bowl.

Chop up six green onions in fine slices.

Toss them into your bowl as well.

Chop up several roma tomatoes.  Keep in mind that the only thing in the recipe that doesn’t keep well are the tomatoes.  If I make this the night before, I wait to add the tomatoes until an hour before I serve it.  Use about 4 roma tomatoes or 2-3 large beefsteak size tomatoes.

Let the tomatoes join their veggie and herb friends in your mixing bowl.  Also chop up 1-6 jalepenos finely, and by finely, I mean as small as you can get them.  This is the one ingredient it’s okay to have smaller.  I say 1-6 because some people like it really hot.  I used one pretty good size jalepeno, ribs and seeds.  If you like things hotter, spice it up a bit with another one….or four.

Into the bowl with ’em!

I sometimes miss the bowl with a few wayward stragglers do you?  Mr. Wonderful always smiles at my “neatness” when I cook.

Now we need to chop or press in 2 cloves of garlic.

My garlic press has made my life so much easier.  Thanks again Mom.

Spoon in your one small can of chopped olives.

We need to rinse and drain our three cans.  Open up your white shoepeg corn, one can of black beans, and one can of blackeye peas, and put them in your colander.   I always like to rinse off the canning liquid of any canned goods, especially black beans.  That is some nasty canning liquid in there.

Dump them on top of your other chopped veggies.

Pour about one-half to two-thirds bottle of Zesty Italian Dressing over top of all of this , or about one and one-half cups.  You can mix up some dressing yourself, but why?

Now stir everything together really well so that the dressing completely coats all of the vegetables.

Serve with tortilla chips, toast wedges, bagel chips or crackers.

Mmmmm.  I could seriously make this my meal.  This stuff is fabulous.

Oh, if you adore avocado?  Cube some up and throw it in at the last minute.  Delicious!

Wanna eat more than your daily recommended serving of vegetables? Make this recipe, you won’t regret it!

Katie’s Printable Recipe – Black Bean Salsa

Cooking with Love,

~Katie

Grilled Corn with Cilantro-Lime Butter

I love cilantro. I love lime.  I love the combination of the two together.  I try to work them into different things I cook.  Today I decided to try my hand and make them into a butter to spread over grilled corn.  I have to say, it was delicious!  

The best part about this recipe is, you can make a big batch of this butter and freeze it in small portions to use as you need it.  Imagine taking this out throughout the summer and serving it alongside corn muffins.  Yumm!

Here is how I made it.

The Ingredients of Love:  Butter, Cilantro, Lime, Fresh Corn,  and Salt.

Roll up your ears of corn in foil.  We put 2 each in a foil packet and sent it outside with our favorite grill man.

Get out your food processor. This makes it SO quick and easy! If you don’t have a food processor, you could chop the cilantro and use your mixer to do this step I’m sure.

Throw in a stick of room temperature butter.  This makes it blend a whole lot better.  Now add 1/2-3/4 cups of cilantro.  You don’t need to pre-chop the cilantro if you’re using the processor, just rip off a bunch and throw it in.  The processor will do the work.

Now take your grater or zester and zest about 2 teaspoons of lime zest.  I love this Microplane grater that I’ve got.  It’s one of my favorite kitchen gadgets.  I used 2 medium sized limes and zested them almost completely.  Don’t grate too deeply, the white part or pith is bitter!  You can grate right over your processor if you can eyeball teaspoons.  I hardly ever measure when I’m cooking…

Or you can just grate it onto your cutting board or a bowl…

Then toss it into your processor.  Take one of the limes you just zested and cut it in half and squeeze it right into your food processor.  

Now, pulse your food processor several times to cut up your cilantro.  Then you can turn it on and let it whir for a minute.  

Add a pinch of salt.  When it seems like the cilantro is blended up pretty nicely, turn your butter out onto a sheet of waxed paper.

Roll it up in your waxed paper like a burrito.  Begin to shape it into a log with your hands.  

Put it in your refrigerator to chill, or in your freezer for later.  

Our corn was coming in off the grill along with my Dad’s incredible sirloin steak.  We put our butter to good use immediately.

Can you just imagine the herby tartness of the cilantro and lime mixed with the sweetness of the sweet creamy butter? Mmmmmmm…

Try this at your next picnic or BBQ.  Your friends will think you’re amazing!

Cooking with Love,

~Katie