CTTVCC: Black Bean and Corn Salad (Extended Dance Mix)

This recipe is located on page 112 of TVCC. This version of the black bean and corn salad is really flavorful and tangy. I mean like, exploding with flavor, which is great for a recipe that is so easy to make. (No actual cooking required.) I liked it a lot, even though I'm not a big fan of vinegar. I would definitely recommend this for parties, since one batch makes a whole lot. (My mother actually asked me to make this for her next office party. Win!) This is also a great recipe to make and keep the leftovers in the fridge for a day when you're too lazy to make dinner. This salad is very versatile because you can eat it by itself, with corn chips, or in a taco shell. It makes a great side dish, snack, or entree. You can eat it cold, or hot. You could really do anything with it. I mean, this would even be good mixed in with mashed potatoes, for crying out loud.

The recipe calls for:

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (8.75 ounce) can corn, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes with chiles
• 1 teaspoon chives
• hot sauce, to taste

I used Newman's Own Balsamic Vinegar, and everything else was Earth Fare brand.

I actually used olive oil instead of vegetable oil, but I figured that olives are vegetables, and seeing as olive oil is regarded as a healthier oil, and the fact that I like the taste of olive oil much more than the taste of regular vegetable oil, and the fact that we didn't even have regular vegetable oil in the house, I think it's a much better alternative.

I couldn't find diced tomatoes with chiles, so I just used petite diced tomatoes. I don't think I really missed out on spiciness though, because I used red pepper instead of black pepper, because our black pepper was in a grinder, and the red pepper was pre-ground, and much easier to measure. That's also why I didn't bother using hot sauce.

Here is my finished food:

I had actually cut the recipe in half, an it was still a lot of food. Enough for 2 people actually. I did, in fact, stuff some of this into a crunchy taco shell, (trying to avoid as much of the liquid as possible,) and I also ate some with tortilla chips. Warning: This gets spicier the longer you eat it. I think that might have something to do with the red pepper I used, but hey. It wasn't a bad spicy. Who likes boring food anyway? It's nothing a cup of soy milk can't fix. So, my overall review: this stuff is really delicious, really versatile, really easy, really impressive, and really cheap. It really (I've been using that word a lot, huh?) lives up to the purpose of the cookbook. I would definitely make this again. (And I plan to. I might even throw a party just as an excuse to make all my friends try this recipe!) I hope you all loved this recipe just as much as I did! Let me know what you thought in the comments.