This appetizer recipe, “Texas Caviar” (and traditional black bean corn salsa recipe), came from my brother, Doug. It's also sometimes called “corn salsa”. The original recipe called for a cup of sugar, but he cut it in half – I love that he's eating healthier these days too. It's a good thing he did because it's still plenty sweet, and so tasty! I use as many organic ingredients as I can. This is a good way to get more veggies during our long Michigan winters.  Note, see further down for a variation on this easy black bean corn salsa recipe, that is more like the one you may have had before.

Texas Caviar  (Further down:  Easy Black Bean Corn Salsa)

Ingredients:

• 1 can black eyed peas, drained
• 1 can pinto beans, drained
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can Great Northern beans, drained
• 1 can whole kernel corn, drained (I'll use our locally frozen organic corn that I know isn't from a genetically modified crop.  Even better is if you grill it first then cut it off the cob, yum!)
• 1/2 of 4 ounce jar pimento, chopped & drained (I've never used pimentos and will probably substitute fresh red peppers for these.)
• 1 cup celery, chopped small
• 1 cup green pepper, chopped small
• Jalapeno peppers – however many to your taste, chopped (or recipe says you can use 12 oz. jar of sliced jalapenos.)
• 1/4-1 cup onion, chopped

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients. Prepare dressing below. Marinate in refrigerator for 6-8 hours. It says to drain before serving, but Doug didn't drain it and it was good with the juice still in there. Serve as a dip with tortilla chips – find some with no trans fats or other nasty ingredients – the shorter the ingredient list is and the more words you can pronounce, the better! I found some chips today with only 3 ingredients! Unfortunately it was made with Canola oil, (I wish I could find some with coconut oil), but at least there were no trans fats or preservatives.

Dressing:

• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 Tablespoon water
• 3/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil (If you use the darker/extra virgin olive oil, it can have a strong taste, so sometimes I'll use half expeller pressed sesame oil.)
• 1/2 cup sugar (the more natural the sugar, the better: organic cane sugar, sucanat, Rapadura)

Bring to a boil and pour over ingredients.  (Or try it without boiling?)

VARIATION:  Easy Black Bean Corn Salsa Recipe

If you like the more popular and more traditional and easy black bean corn salsa recipe, you can use the same dressing as above (or see below for a lighter and delicious dressing with no sweetener), but use any of these ingredients (chopped of course) that sound good to you — I use all organic if possible:

• onion (green onion or regular)
  
• tomatoes
  
• fresh cilantro
• black beans
• jalepeno
• celery
  
• corn, as mentioned above, this is even better if you grill it first, then cut it of the cob!
• garlic
• red pepper
• bell peppers (multi-color is nice)
  
• Avocado, my favorite!

For a light dressing that tastes so good with this that you can eat it with a spoon (no chips means low-carb!), try this:  squeeze the juice of one or two limes all over the above, and add a few dashes of sea salt.  YUM!

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• Where is the Truth on Health & Nutrition?
• Easy Crock-Pot Meal

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