Poplar Hill Happenings

Black Bean Salsa-a cool (in temp.) and cool (very yummy) way to get beans in your diet.

I found this in one of the Light and Tasty Feb/March 2005 . It was sent in by Maria Chiarino of Concord, North Carolina. It is a year round favorite of Clark and I. It is a great way to get beans into our diet and we all know the great benefits of tomatoes!

1 can (15 oz) back beans rinsed and drained.

2 plum tomatoes, diced

1 can (11 ounces) Mexicorn....I made my own last year the peppers and corn were ready at the same time and I just froze them together...or just skip the Mexicorn and add more jalapeno pepper to the whole thing.

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro--or more if you like

1 table spoon lime juice (o.k. this one won't come from our garden)

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Combine all your veggies and beans. Whisk together the oil, cilantro, lime juice, cumin, salt and pepper. Drizzle over the veggies and beans, toss to coat.

Clark and I often make this a whole meal. Great with chips!

I've decided that growing my own black beans is the only way to save money on this (really black beans are not all that expensive... a bag cost as much as a can and you still have the can and the bag to throw away. So to see if I can for a time reduce the cost and the waste of the can and the bag I'm trying a couple of rows of black beans this summer. You need 90 days and we have about 120 growing days, so we will see. From what I've read the beans dry right in the pod. You pick, shell and store. I'll report on my beans as the summer progresses.