“What can I bring?” “I don’t know, what would you like to bring?…” goes the conversation of summer entertaining. We all want to be thoughtful guests and contribute to the party, but crowd worthy cold side dish recipes aren’t so easy to come by. Sure you can always bring a tried-and-true pasta or potato salad, tossed green salad or coleslaw, but those all seem so expected and that’s not really how I roll. I prefer to bring a dish that I’m pretty sure no one else will. I am after all a girl who enjoys a challenge!

A few years ago a girlfriend of mine was slowly cooking her way through the latest Weight Watchers cookbook. As a side dish at one of her barbecues she served the most delicious corn and bean salad. It was full of fresh seasonal veggies, raw onion and black beans and was dressed with a spicy/zesty vinaigrette. I was in salad love! I talked about this corn and bean salad so much that the next time she came over not only did she bring the salad, but also a copy of the cookbook.

As you are aware by now I can not leave a perfectly good recipe alone, and this one was no exception. I swapped ingredients here, tweaked amounts there and created what I consider one of my all time favorite summer salads. It’s simple to prepare, colorful, flavorful, and loaded with lots of wonderful seasonal vegetables. Give it a try and it may become a favorite of yours too! And yes, I do realize that means that I’m upping the chances of someone else showing up at the next barbecue with my “special” side dish, but I guess that’s just one of the pitfalls of writing a food blog…

Spicy Corn & Black Bean Salad
I truly love everything about this salad. The fresh corn, tender black beans, crisp red peppers, cilantro and sweet onion in a spicy lime dressing—yum!

1 tbsp. apple-cider vinegar
1 tbsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2-1 tbsp. chipotle powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
4 ears fresh corn, shucked
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
3/4 cup red pepper, diced
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
3/4 cup sweet onion, diced

1. Whisk together the vinegar, lime juice, olive oil, chipotle powder, salt and pepper, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, stand each ear of corn on end and cut the kernels off the cob. Add the beans, red pepper, cilantro, and onion, stir to combine.
3. Drizzle with dressing and gentle toss until all the ingredients are coated. Cover and chill for 30 minutes before serving.