Summer Vegetable Salad

Officially less than two weeks until I fly to Ghana! The excitement is almost outweighed by the anxiety of all that I have to do to prepare for that trip BUT that won’t stop me from spending as much time as I can with my DC friends and cooking delicious food.

I think I could subsist on summer salads. Two of my favorite things: summer and salads. If you think about it, when asked to pick one food to eat for the rest of your life, you should say salad. What can’t be a salad? Chopped up vegetables mixed together with lemon juice? Check. Chopped up fruit mixed with honey and yogurt? Check. Boiled potatoes mixed with mayonnaise and hard boiled eggs? Check. Pasta mixed with herbs and cheese? Just chill it and Check! It becomes a salad. You get my point…

The beauty of this salad is that the ingredients speak for themselves. There’s no need for a dressing besides a little lemon juice, salt and pepper. And the vegetables are substitutable. Don’t have cucumber? Use red pepper. No beans? No sweat. (I should be a cheerleader for summer salads)

Summer Vegetable Salad

1/2 avocado, diced
1 vine ripe tomato, diced
1 ear sweet corn, cut off cob
1/2 English cucumber, diced
1/2 cup black beans, rinsed
1-2 teaspoons lemon juice
salt and pepper

Bring a pot of water and the ear of corn to a boil for about 5 minutes. Remove from pot and pat dry before cutting kernels off cob into a large bowl. Add remaining diced vegetables to the bowl and toss with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Chill until ready to serve. Though great on its own, fresh basil would be a good addition to this recipe.