Black Bean Corn Salsa with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

I love, love this versatile black bean and corn salsa. I use it as an appetizer, side salad with chicken, and I even used it to make stuffed peppers. (Stuffed Peppers recipe to come next!)

But there is a link to print this salsa recipe HERE or below.

My cherry tomatoes were abundant and beautiful this year and oh-so-sweet eaten raw and even sweeter when I roasted them.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

There is more here in the picture than needed but I roasted extra for another dish. All you need is about a dozen. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over them.

Place them in a single layer on a foil lined baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray.

After 30 minutes, turn them over with a spatula and let them bake another 25-30 minutes.

Yum! You want them a little bit charred.

Drain and rinse the black beans.

Add a can of drained whole corn.

Squeeze juice from a lime.

Add a can of Rotel tomatoes.

Add cilantro, pepper, parsley, chives, garlic, salt, and red wine vinegar.

Once the cherry tomatoes are cooled, add them to the mixture.

Cover and place the salsa in the refrigerator to let them flavors mix. Mmm mmm...

Serve with tortilla chips!

Link to Print Recipe

Description

A versatile salsa that can be used alone as an appetizer with chips or as a side salad.

Ingredients

• 12  Cherry Tomatoes
• 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 15 ounces, weight Low Sodium Black Beans, Drained And Rinsed
• 15-¼ ounces, weight Whole Kernel Corn, Drained
• 10 ounces, weight Rotel Chopped Tomatoes
• 1  Juice Of One Whole Lime
• ⅓ cups Fresh Cilantro, Chopped Fine
• 1 clove Garlic, Minced
• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Parsley Chopped Fine
• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Chives, Finely Chopped
• 1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Hungarian Or Jalapeno Pepper, Chopped Fine
• 1 teaspoon Salt

Preparation

Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
Wash and dry cherry tomatoes. Prepare a baking pan with foil. Spray with non-stick spray. In a medium size bowl, toss the cherry tomatoes with one tablespoon extra virgin olive oil. Spread the tomatoes in an even layer on prepared foil. Place in oven. After 30 minutes flip tomatoes over with a spatula. Bake another 25-30 minutes until cherry tomatoes are slightly charred.
While tomatoes are roasting, place drained and rinsed black beans in a medium sized bowl. Add drained corn. Add Rotel tomatoes. Mix well. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Set aside.
When tomatoes are ready, take them out of the oven and let them cool. Mix them with the salsa mixture and refrigerate. Serve with tortilla chips.

Homemade Cole Slaw

Now that the Fourth of July holiday is over (sniff), maybe you indulged in wonderful flavorful salads during you're cookouts with family and friends, but now you are ready to try something new. Homemade Cole Slaw is quick, easy, and oh, so versatile! Use it as a side dish to fish or pork, in your turkey reuben sandwiches, or as a hamburger topping.

And all credit to this recipe (except the orange Bell pepper) goes to my mother-in-law. She introduced me to her cole slaw (the cabbage came out of my father-in-laws awesome garden) when I was sixteen years old and I've loved it (and her son) ever since!

As always, the printable recipe will be at the bottom of this post.

Start with a medium size head of green cabbage. Shred it to make (give or take) around 8 cups. I like to mince mine. I'm not fond of big pieces of shredded cabbage.

So after I cut it all up, I use this handy tool to mince it into smaller pieces.

Perfect!

I then mince the onion and orange Bell pepper and toss them into the cabbage.

You can use any color Bell pepper you wish. I use the orange for color. Or instead of pepper, you could throw in a couple of minced or shredded carrots. I think the cabbage and the sauce are the main characters.

Mix it all up.

Now for the dressing. In a small bowl, combine the salad dressing,

sugar,

vinegar,

celery seed,

mustard, (I used dry but you can use soft if you want),

salt and pepper to taste, then mix it all up.

Ohhhh, so creamy.

Pour the dressing over the cabbage mixture, and stir or toss to coat. Whatever tickles your fancy.

Yum!

Grab a spoon and dig in!

Happy summer salad!

Homemade Cole Slaw

Print Recipe or Print Recipe from Tasty Kitchen By Debi | Cabin Cleaver in Sandwich Toppings, Salads, Side Dish Prep: 20 minutes + Refrigeration       Level: Easy Cook: 0                                                    Serves: 10 Ingredients: 8 cups  shredded green cabbage 1 onion, minced 1/2 orange Bell pepper, minced Dressing: 1 cup salad dressing 2 1/2 Tbsp. sugar 2 Tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar 1 tsp. Celery seed 1/2 tsp. mustard (I use dry) salt & pepper to taste In a large bowl, combine the shredded cabbage, minced onions, and minced orange Bell peppers. In a small bowl, combine the dressing ingredients. Mix well. Pour over the cabbage mixture, toss to coat. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. ********************************************************************************

Layered Veggie Casserole With Crushed Pork Rinds

I love my veggies and I love this side dish! 

I also love bread. And breadcrumbs would be perfect on top of this casserole. But I felt that breadcrumbs would take away from the healthiness of this dish by adding carbs.

So I eyed that bag of pork rinds in the cupboard, bit my bottom lip, and went hmmmm...

And you, smart readers, can figure out the rest of the story!

Psst! The leftovers are just as yummy.

As always, the printable recipe will be at the bottom.

I crushed up enough pork rinds to make one cup by using a zip lock bag and my rolling pin.

I sprinkled half of them into a greased 2.75 quart casserole dish.

Then I arranged a layer of zucchini,

onion, 

(I used a red onion this time, but you can use whatever onion you want.)

tomatoes,

fresh spinach leaves to end this section,

and I meant to sprinkle the spinach with salt and pepper, but I forgot.

So now we repeat the layers, starting with the zucchini again, and I added the forgotten salt and pepper here as you can see.

Still with me?

Another layer of onions...

I'm doing a switch-a-roo here on purpose. A layer of spinach,

ending with the tomatoes because I think it looks prettier.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Dust the top with grated parmesan cheese.

Shake the rest of those crushed pork rinds over the top.

Sprinkle the basil and oregano over all.

Bake in a 350 degree F. oven for 1 hour, uncovered.

Aren't those tomatoes purty?

Enjoy!

• Print Recipe
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Ingredients

• 1 cup Pork Rinds, Crushed And Divided
• 1  Medium Zucchini, Sliced
• 1  Large Onion, Thinly Sliced
• 2  Medium Tomatoes, Sliced
• 2 cups Fresh Spinach Leaves
• 2 Tablespoons Parmesan Cheese, Grated
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• ½ teaspoons Pepper
• ½ teaspoons Basil
• ½ teaspoons Oregano

Preparation

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Put half of the crushed Pork Rinds into the bottom of a well greased 2.75 quart casserole dish. Arrange your layers accordingly: zucchini, onions, tomatoes, spinach. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Now repeat the process accordingly: zucchini, onions, spinach, tomatoes. Sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper. I switched the second layer around a bit ending with the tomatoes. Sprinkle top with the Parmesan Cheese, the rest of the crushed pork rinds, basil and oregano.
Baked, uncovered, for one hour.