Your New Favorite Summer Side

There are dozes of variations of this recipe floating around on Pinterest, so I feel kind of silly bringing you this. But not silly enough not to bring it and deny you my secret ingredient: cheese. Why has no one thought of this yet? Inconceivable. Cheese makes everything better.

To be fair, it's not the spicy southwestern cheese variety you'd assume. I was munching on mozzarella while I was prepping this, and after eating approximately half of the sliced tomato paired with the mozz, I had the flash of brilliance to throw it in. If you want to be more in line with the flavor profile, sub in cotija or feta. Anyway you slice it, it's a win (slice it, get it?? b/c you slice cheese??)

A lot of the recipes I peeked before throwing caution to the wind and relying on my own taste buds listed a litany of seasonings, which I excluded, save for salt and pepper. A generous shake of fresh pepper and a hefty amount of salt is all you need. Paired with the fresh, tangy lime juice, you won't be missing any flavor. If you want more heat, slice up a jalapeno or two. 

This is a hot take, but I also left out the cilantro. GASP. It might seem crazy to omit the herb most commonly used with these flavors, but what can I say, the last few months have made me a little crazy. I'm not spearheading the We Love Cilantro club, I'll tell you that. I use it so sparingly in guac, since it's my least favorite ingredient, that I end up with a wilting smelly mass of knotted stems and smelly cilantro carcass until trash day. I didn't have time for that, so I skipped it entirely. 

Tasted even better without it, there, I said it! 

Summer Corn and Black Bean Salad

Ingredients:

Black beans, 1 can

Corn, 3 ears fresh; you don't have to cook it first (or 1 can)  

Tomato, 1 large, chopped (or half a pint cherry tomatoes, sliced in half) 

Red Onion, 1 small, diced

Garlic, 3 cloves, minced

Lime, 1 for zest and juice, divided

Mozzarella, 4-6 ounces, cut in cubes, divided  

Avocado, 1, chopped, divided 

Salt, season to taste, around 1 teaspoon

Fresh Pepper, season to taste, around 1/4 teaspoon

Instructions: 

-If using canned corn and beans, open and drain. If using fresh corn, shuck and slice off the cob.

-Cut tomatoes, red onion and garlic and add to beans and corn. Season with salt and pepper and toss to combine. 

-Zest half of lime over salad (more or less depending on how tangy you like). Juice lime into salad and stir. Cover and refrigerate. 

-Cut avocado and mozzarella and store separately. I like to chill the salad for a few hours to develop flavor and add the avocado and cheese before serving so they don't get mushy.

-Season with salt and pepper and add avo and cheese before serving.