It is a new week and a new month! Welcome to July! This week I’m using black beans. I used canned in all my recipes, but you can always use an equal amount of cooked dry beans. For the first recipe of the week, I made a black bean salad. It is similar to the one from yum and yummer (link here), but simpler. I made up this recipe and you can find all the details below.

This is a delicious bean salad for lunch or dinner. It takes about 15 minutes to prepare which is great for a busy weeknight too. It’s so easy to have a side dish that is full of colour, flavour and texture.

Ingredients:

• 1 19oz can black beans, drained & rinsed
• 3/4 cup corn (canned or fresh)
• 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1/4 tsp each: chili powder and cumin
• 1/8 tsp each: salt and pepper (or to taste)

Directions:

1. Combine beans, corn, pepper and parsley in large bowl
2. Mix remaining ingredients, in separate bowl, to make dressing
3. Pour dressing over salad and toss
4. Can serve immediately or cover and chill until ready to eat

You can always change up the ingredients if you want to make this salad more complex too. For example, you could add some minced jalapeno pepper for a little heat or you can add some chopped red or green onion for more bite. You can also change up the bean by using chickpeas. Let me know what things you like to put in your bean salad 🙂