Ethleen's Eat of the Week: Southwest Salad

 

The talk of the town this week is Southwest Salad!! Whew!! This salad is divine, and of very feminine persuasion... when I eat it I feel like I should  be in a cafe selling antiques - like our beloved Ruthie B's used to be (may she rest in peace). The corn adds a hint of sweetness while the lime/olive oil dressing gives it a little kick, and don't even get me started on the cilantro! 

You know the drill - Ethleen sends me the recipe (these are all recipes using -mainly- ingredients which can, or should, be found in your food storage. I make the recipe, add my notes as if anyone cares, take pictures of the process, and pass the information along to you fine ladies (and gents lurking in the wings)... 

On that note, let's take a look at our cast of characters this week...

 

You will need:

2 cups corn (frozen, canned, blanched fresh, or dehydrated - re-hydrated of course)

4 cups cooked black beans (you can use canned, but they mere pennies if you use home storage beans)

2 cups shredded red and/or green cabbage (the only thing on the list we don't usually have in storage, however it grows near year round here so it's almost always available!)

1/2 a red onion, minced (re-hydrated dried onion works great here)

1/3 cup pine nuts, walnuts, or sliced almonds

1/4 cup lime juice (some of you may have lime juice powder on hand - I didn't so I used lemon juice and it tastes great)

1/2 tsp salt

2 T olive oil

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (or dried cilantro)

pepper to taste

First things first, chop your cabbage and mince your onion.

Mix together corn, black beans, cabbage, and onion.

Toast your almonds (or pine nuts/walnuts) and toss them in!

It should look about like this right now...

Last, but certainly not least, you'll mix together the dressing. Chop your cilantro, and mix it with your olive oil, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Then add that to the base salad, and voila!!

Refrigerate this dish til you're ready to serve it. It's even better if you make it ahead of time and give the flavors ample hours to get to know one another. Holy yum.

Goes great as a side dish and is even better with a warm piece of bread!! Enjoy gals!