Black Bean, Corn & Tomato Salad

Such a simple side dish comes of these simple ingredients.



1 Can of Black Beans
1 Can of Corn (or equivilant frozen)
Diced Fresh Tomato (not sure how much I used, just all of what I could pull off the plants today)
We have yellow grape, cherry, and yellow/green stripped tomatoes in our garden

1 TBS Lime Juice
1 tsp Emeril's Soutwest Seasoning

Taco Salad

So the other night I made some chicken tenderloins on the grill with the intention of making nachos. But taco salad sounded way better tonight.

These are the ingredients. No real recipe.

Chopped Romaine Lettuce
Diced orange bell peppers

Black Beans

Corn

Diced Chicken pieces (this was marinated with fajitas seasoning and grilled)

Diced Tomato (tossed with a bit of southwest seasoning)

Mexican shredded cheese blend

Sour Cream

Tortilla Chips

Dressing

1/4 Cup Ranch dressing

1 Tbs Southwest Seasoning

Dash of lemon juice
(this was just done to taste)

My First Basil of the Summer!!

So I picked my first batch of basil from my garden. What better than a simple tomato salad with basil and mozzarella?

My Dad and Step-Mom traveled to Europe a while back. They brought us a bottle of French Wine and Fancy Olive Oil from Italy. I was impressed with the wine but Dad quickly alerted me to the fact that "actually the olive oil was a lot more money than the wine". So this is probably some pretty fancy stuff. Why not celebrate the fresh basil? I took part of my huge tomato I got at the road side place and chunked it with some basil, mozzarella cheese (yes I cheated, it is actually some string cheese cut up), drizzled with olive oil and a dash of salt.

Friday Night Dinner

I was inspired today by the box of spices I received. I pulled out some burgers from the freezer a little late. I wasn't interested in microwaving them. So I thought a wet marinade may work well. So I pulled out my box of spices and chose the Mesquite Spice Packet Marinade. I wouldn't typically use a wet marinade on burgers because it could make it too messy. But since they were still frozen I thought it would be okay. The burgers were 1/2 Ground Beef an 1/2 Ground Turkey. I mixed up the marinade and poured it over the top.

Black Bean Salad

1 Can of Black Beans (rinsed and drained)
1 Can diced tomatoes (drained) Fresh would have been better here
1 Orange Pepper, diced
1 Small red onion, diced
1/2 TBS of Southwest Seasoning
Serve Cold

WC Platinum Chef Challenge

This was my first Challenge. The ingredients were *Grapes*Basil*Rice*Avocado*Black Beans.
I was excited for these ingredients. I had two dishes that are in my regular rotation that include these.
#1 Avocado Tomato Side Salad (I guess I should get a clever name for this). I have made this a few times and needed to tweak it a bit to include the grapes.
Makes 2 servings
1 avocado sliced
1 medium tomato sliced (I have used yellow tomato in the past)
dried basil sprinkled on top (We dry our own)
splash of balsamic (so how do I incorporate the grapes you ask?) So I just used the food processor to make a grape balsamic dressing. It was really tasty!












#2
Black Bean Burritos (Again this is something in the regular rotation)
1 can of black beans drained and rinsed
1 can of corn
1 packaged of frozen Trader Joe's Brown Rice
2 TBS of Shredded Cheddar Cheese
World Harbors Fajitas Seasoning
Put all ingredients into a sauce pan and heat until the cheese melts and the rice is rehydrated.
Scoop ingredients into Whole Wheat tortilla shells. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.