Black Bean Salad Tweaked! And A Dessert to Placate the Carnivore

Black Bean  Quinoa Salad with Tomato Salsa

                                                                  THE MAIN EVENT

  I had a delicious Black Bean Salad recently, made by The Teacher (AKA the Third Daughter.).  It had corn in it, a vegetable I love, but which does not return my affection.  I decided to tweak the recipe and turn it into a main course, to eat on  a hot August evening.  I wanted  to use some of the wildly juicy and delicious tomatoes, some sweet onion and green peppers I am getting in my CSA box every week. We  also have a bumper crop of jalapeno peppers in the  herb garden this year and there was even  handful of cilantro ready to be picked.   Perfect!

Here's my recipe, adapted from the Teacher's recipe.  (Quinoa, an ancient nut-like grain, added to  black beans becomes a complete protein.)

*Cook  3/4 cup of quinoa, letting it cool completely.

*Mix 2 cans of drained black beans with 2 tbs of red wine vinegar, some chopped onion, chopped jalapenos (I used 2)  and 3 chopped green peppers.

* Add cooled quinoa.  Mix in the following dressing:  1/3 c olive oil and the juice of 2 limes, 1 tsp. of ground cumin,  salt and  pepper to taste. Chill.

*  Make this  salsa just before serving:  Chop fresh red and yellow tomatoes, garlic, some onion, a jalapeno pepper, cilantro and salt and pepper to taste.  Squeeze on lots of lime juice and mix well.  Serve black bean salad topped with salsa.



                                                            AND FOR DESSERT

Peach Cobbler

               What do you do with 3 pounds of peaches all ripening on the same day?   Make Peach Cobbler, of course!

**Melt 1 stick of butter in a 9x13 oven pan.

** Combine 1 cup of flour(I use 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat flour) with 1 tablespoon of baking powder, 1 cup of brown sugar  and a pinch of salt. Add 1 cup of milk (I use soy milk) and stir until moistened. Add to the melted butter in the 9x13 pan but do not stir.

** Slice 4-6 large peaches and place in a sauce pan with 1/2 to 3/4 cup of  agave and a squeeze or two of lemon juice.  Bring to a boil and cook for a few minutes.

** Pour peach mixture onto batter, without stirring.  Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and bake in a 375 oven for 40 -50 minutes. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

  I am experimenting with using agave as a substitute for some of the sugar in recipes.  It is purported to be lower glycemic than sugar and since it is sweeter, you can use less.  If you don't have it you can use 1 cup of sugar instead.


THOUGHT FOR TODAY:  AUGUST BRINGS A BOUNTY OF FRESH FOODS TO ENJOY