by | Jun 29, 2013 | 2 comments

Good morning!  I’m sorry that I missed yesterday’s Foodie Friday post – I was very busy this week tying things up at work and getting ready to come to my favorite place on earth … my family ranch in Colorado!  It is beautiful, relaxing, and refreshing out here, and Kevin and I are so excited for the vacation.  I feel incredibly lucky to have this place to retreat to and enjoy! mountainsSpeaking of refreshing, I have a great recipe to share with you.  The flavors of this recipe really pop – it is sweet and summery without being too sweet to serve with a meal, and would be a fantastic side dish to bring to a summer barbecue.  So if you’re headed to a July 4th party and are looking for a crowd-pleaser to bring along, this is your dish!  Aside from doing a fair bit of chopping, this requires almost no effort, and comes together within 20 minutes tops.  Enjoy!Refreshing Summer Side Salad thelyonsshare

Refreshing Summer Side Salad

Serves 4

Slightly adapted from Eat Live Run (see note and link below)

Ingredients

  • 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 ear of fresh corn on the cob
  • 1 large red bell pepper
  • 1/4 large or 1/2 regular-sized red onion
  • 1 small or 1/2 large jalapeno
  • 1/2 mango
  • 1 small avocado
  • 1T lime juice
  • 1/2T olive oil
  • 1/2t-1t salt
  • 1t cumin

Instructions

  1. Stand up the husked (raw) corn cob in a large bowl, and use a knife to scrape the kernels off.  Trust me on the raw corn – it’s sweet and delicious!removing corn kernels
  2. Dice the jalapenos and red onion into very small bits (you want just a little taste of each per bite!), and chop the red peppers into your desired size.  Add to the bowl with corn kernels. corn, jalapenos, pepper, onion
  3. Chop the mango into bite-sized pieces.  This is the sole reason I don’t eat mangoes more often – they’re so delicious, but so hard to chop!  I try my best to score the mango into four quarters, then slice off a quarter (avoiding the large, tough pit).  From there, I score the mango quarter into small pieces by cutting down to (but not through) the skin.  Flip the skin “inside out” as shown in the picture, then scrape off the bite-sized pieces into a bowl.  Does anyone have a better way of doing this?mango
  4. Rinse and drain your beans, and add to the bowl.  Chop your avocado into bite-sized pieces (I use a similar scoring method as I do with mangoes), and add that as well.adding avocado
  5. Once you have all your veggies in the bowl, add lime juice, olive oil, salt, and cumin, and give it a good stir. adding beans, mango, avocado
  6. Serve cold or at room temperature.  I ate mine with two turkey lentil “muffins” plus some roasted broccoli slaw, squash, and zucchini.  Enjoy!dinner plate

If you split the whole recipe into four portions, the recipe has 227 calories, 6g fat, 35g carbs, and 9g protein for each serving.  This was a LOT of the salad, so if you’re going for smaller side portions, I think it’s safe to say this could serve up to 8!Refreshing Summer Side Salad (2)Refreshing Summer Side Salad(These beautiful shot-from-above photos were done by Kevin, not me!  Impressive, right?)

I slightly adapted this recipe from Jenna at Eat Live Run.  When I’m reading recipes from other bloggers or magazines, I generally look at the recipe and either make my own plan, or just get “inspired” by looking at the recipe and then see what happens when I get in the kitchen myself.  But this one was so great to start out with, that I made very few changes!

So tell me in the comments … Do you plan to go to a July 4th barbecue?  Any healthy plans for the weekend?

2 Comments

  1. Gary

    Not only am I thrilled to receive an invitation again to your family’s ranch for these next few days but iI will get to enjoy some of your scrumptious recipes made by the chef herself!

    Reply
    • Megan Lyons

      I am happy to have you here! Although my mom has taken over most of the cooking, we’ll be sure to load you up with veggies :).

      Reply

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Megan Lyons Headshot

Hi! I'm Megan Lyons,

the voice behind The Lyons’ Share. I love all things health, wellness, and fitness-related, and I hope to share some of my passion with you. Thanks for stopping by!
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