Easy, Healthy, Tasty

They say it happens after years of marriage -- you begin to turn into your spouse. As I've posted before, Avo is often compelled to cook entire meals because he has one ingredient he wants to use. Now I'm starting to do the same thing.

Yesterday, I noticed we had a pint of grape tomatoes and some garlic that was nearly over-the-hill. Hating to see these still somewhat fresh ingredients go to waste, I searched online and found a delicious recipe for:

Edamame and Black Bean Summer Salad
(adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

5 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 limes, juiced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 lb. shelled edamame, frozen
3 c. corn kernels, frozen
1 pint grape tomatoes, quartered
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1 (15oz.) can black beans, rinsed & drained

1. In large bowl, whisk red wine vinegar, olive oil, lime juice, garlic, cilantro, sugar, and salt together. Set aside.

2. Bring large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add frozen edamame, boiling for 3 mins. Add frozen corn to water and cook for 2 more mins.

3. Drain edamame and corn and pour into bowl with dressing.

4. Add grape tomatoes, scallions, and black beans, and gently stir to mix.

5. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hrs., then stir and serve.

I should note that this is an incredibly easy and very forgiving recipe.

As always, I should have read the recipe in its entirety before proceeding. Rushing to get dinner on the table, I noticed that the last direction says to "refrigerate for 2 hrs" before serving.

Oops. Luckily, it really didn't matter at all. I tossed it on some leftover quinoa and served it warm.

Another tiny mistake -- I added the scallions to the dressing too early and nearly forgot to add cilantro at all. Oh well. No biggie.

It was fun to put Avo to work as my sous chef -- he got a kick out of using his electric juicer to juice the limes. And Ruby had fun tossing in the corn and edamame.

When dinner was served, she proudly announced, "I made this!"

Avo loved the fact that I was able to use so much food from the refrigerator and freezer and he was thrilled by the finished product.

"Definitely save this recipe! That lime cilantro combination is amazing."

And the highest praise of all? This morning, he brought some leftovers to work in his prized Simpsons thermos (though I can't see Homer approving of such a healthy meal!).