Corn and Black Bean Salsa

My doctor required that I eliminate a great deal of food from my diet in an attempt to isolate some food allergies.  After not eating grains, dairy, added sugar, legumes, night shades, or any preservatives for a month, I realize that I don’t want to return to my old eating habits. I find myself carefully reading the ingredients label to make sure that I am eating as few chemicals and as much actual food as possible. You would be surprised how difficult it is to find products without added sugar, nitrates, and other non-food.

I created this Corn and Black Bean Salsa because I couldn’t find any salsa without xanthum gum.  I carefully read the cans of beans until I found one that contained only black beans, water, and salt. I bought frozen corn because often frozen is better than fresh, but again, much reading was required to find corn that only contained corn.  Everything else is fresh.

I tossed shrimp in salt and a little cayenne pepper and roasted them.  I filled whole wheat tortillas with the salsa, shredded cabbage, and the roasted shrimp.  YUM!  The salsa was even better the next day.  I just ate it right out of the bowl with a spoon.

Servings:  2 ½ cups
Time:  10 minutes
Hardware:  Measuring cups and spoons, knives and a cutting board, a can opener, a strainer, a zester, and an airtight container

Ingredients:

• 1-15 ounce cans of black beans
• 1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
• ½ pint cherry tomatoes  
• 3 green onions
• Three baby bells in various colors (or ½ a green bell pepper)
• 2 cloves garlic
• Zest and juice from 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• Fresh cilantro to taste
• Salt

1. Open and drain the beans.  Place them in the strainer and rinse them thoroughly with cold water.
2. Roughly chop the tomatoes.  Slice the green onions as thin as possible. Seed the peppers, remove the white ribs and chop them. Smash the garlic.  Tear and add as much or as little cilantro as you want. Toss everything together. 
3. Zest the lime over the salsa.  Then squeeze the juice from the lime, making sure to catch all the seeds.  Add the cumin and a little salt.  Gently stir.  Taste and adjust the salt.
4. Eat right away or put in the fridge until needed. This tastes even better the next day.