Corn and Black Bean Salad

Every Wednesday (almost, that is), someone in the school district IT Building where I currently work provides lunch for everyone else.  This is kind of my fault, because when we moved into this building I was so excited about the nice kitchen/break room that I told the IT Director that if he would get a CrockPot, I would make lunch once a week or so.  TechBoss immediately purchased a nice CrockPot, toaster oven, and a number of other kitchen accouterments.  I panicked slightly, but then an email went 'round for everyone to sign up to provide an occasional lunch. I took the first Wednesday of each month, which meant that I ended up with Cinco de Mayo as one of my days - awesome!

Yesterday I hauled in a whole bunch of yuuuuuuuummy shredded Southwestern beef for tacos, 50 corn tortillas, my electric griddle for cooking the tortillas, salsa, sour cream, cheese, and the Corn and Black Bean Salad that is the title of the post, and a huge White Texas Sheet Cake. My good friend and colleague KP (aka "Best Person" from our wedding!) provided the lettuce and tomatoes, though she ended up missing out on lunch. :(  Overall, I'd say this festive lunch was a hit!

Here's the recipe for Corn and Black Bean Salad (my mom has a yummy corn salad recipe - no beans - which I'll share soon as well). This recipe can straight off the back of a can of Bush's black beans.  I used Westbrae organic black beans and organic peppers (peppers are on the "Dirty Dozen" list of produce that ought to be purchased organically).  Sorry, I failed to take a photo of this! I'm trying to have a "printable recipe" link, but am having a problem with Google docs... check back, hopefully I'll get this solved!

Black Bean Salad

•    1 red bell pepper, diced
•    1 green bell pepper, diced
•    1 yellow or orange bell pepper, diced
•    ½ cup diced red onion
•    1 can (15.25 ounce) corn, drained
•    1 garlic clove, minced
•    1 teaspoon cilantro
•    ¼ cup olive oil
•    4 – 5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
•    1 teaspoon lime juice
•    1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained
•     lettuce leaves (optional)
•    tortilla chips (optional)


1.    In a salad bowl, combine diced peppers and onion, corn kernels, garlic, and cilantro Toss to mix.

2.    Add olive oil, vinegar, lime juice and salt and pepper to taste and toss again.

3.    Add black beans and mix well.

4.    Can be served over a bed of lettuce with tortilla chips on the side.