Rainbow Salad

I made up this recipe for a Whole Health picnic at our church and when I posted the picture on Instagram and Facebook, 

I got a lot of messages for the recipe. But as many of you know, I don't measure, I just "eyeball it" as some cooks say, so I will do my best to walk you through the recipe for this dish. 

Rainbow Salad

1-15 ounce can of black beans

2 ears of corn

1 tbsp of butter

2-3 mini peppers (orange)

1 large mango

1 avocado

1/4 of a red onion

2 c. grape tomatoes

Dressing

Large handful of cilantro

1 large lemon

1 lime

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

The first two things that need to be done are the beans and the corn. 

Take out a saucepan, drain and rinse the beans. Add them to the saucepan (you can add salt if you like) 

and cover with water, cook on a low setting for 10-15 minutes. 

While the beans are cooking, you will get your ears of corn ready as well. 

Line a pan with aluminum foil, place the corn in the pan. Melt the butter and brush it on the corn. 

Place your corn in the oven on broil for about 5-10 minutes or until it is browned. 

Check it often or you will end up with burnt corn. 

You can chop the following ingredients while you are waiting for the others to cook: 

peppers, mango, avocado, and red onion. 

Set aside in a large bowl. 

The grape tomatoes need to be halved not chopped, then add to the mix. 

After your beans and corn are done and have sufficiently cooled, cut the corn off the cob,
drain the beans and add to the mix in the bowl.

Then, the dressing was basically done like this:

Chop a huge handful of cilantro and add it to the bowl. 

(Save a little to sprinkle over the top when you are done)

Zest the lime and lemon over the bowl, then slice them in half and add the juices to the mix.

Drizzle olive oil over the top, do 5-6 turns of a pepper mill and add a teaspoon of salt to the mix.

Fold the mixture to coat everything and you are ready to serve. 

Enjoy!!

Pasta Crab Salad

Here's one of my many recipes that I just throw together
at the last minute and hope for the best!

Now that I have this blog, I have my camera sitting in the kitchen all the time
and I snap away while I'm cooking just in case the ingredients
I randomly throw together turn out to be, well...spectacular.

Lucky for you guys, this one did!

:: Ingredients ::

a handful of cherry tomatoes

fresh spinach leaves

1/4 cup of chopped celery

(1) 8 oz. pkg of frozen edamame

(1) 6 oz. can of lump crab meat

2 cups of cooked penne pasta (or whatever pasta you like)

2 tbsp. pesto

2 tbsp. bleu cheese dressing

:: Directions ::

Start your pasta first, while your pasta is cooking you can do everything else. 

Penne pasta is generally 10 minutes at a medium boil.

Chop your tomatoes lengthwise in half and put them in a large bowl.

Chop celery and put it in the bowl with the tomatoes. 

I usually slice the stalk down the middle and chop into pieces.

Microwave edamame for time instructed, my package was 3 minutes. 

Let it cool and then remove it from the shells into your bowl with tomatoes and celery. (I get my edamame in bulk at Sam's Club, so I always have packages handy for salads or snacks.)

Chop up a big pile of spinach leaves and add it to the bowl with the ingredients above.

Now it's time to add some flavor! Two tablespoons each of pesto and bleu cheese dressing go into the bowl, then mix, coating all your ingredients. I had these packets of salad dressing left over from a vegetable party tray, so I used one of them. (I figured it was roughly 2 tbsp.)

Now drain your crabmeat and add it to the bowl. Add your pasta and fold those two ingredients into the salad. Let it sit about 5 minutes allowing your ingredients to soak in all the pesto and bleu cheese yumminess...then serve.

Enjoy!!