Southwestern Edamame Salad

This is a great salad for any Mexican food, but also works well as something to take to a picnic or a potluck.  I like it because it has so many colorful and healthy vegetables and has some zippy flavors too.  This is such an easy salad to make and stores nicely too.  This is a great salad for your vegetarian (or Vegan) friends and family too!

I usually buy the 8 pack of canned black beans at Costco… they are about half the price of the grocery store, usually about .45 cents a can.  Stock up, you can definitely use these up.

I also buy the 6 pack of bell peppers in red, yellow and orange (I really hate those green ones!).  I have noticed that you do have to make an effort to use the peppers or you will have them spoil.  Plan ahead… use them in salads, spaghetti sauces, stews and even sliced and eaten raw.  NOTE: You may notice that Kidney beans are pictured.... imagine my surprise when I opened the can to make this salad! Whoops! Should have shown Black beans, but either would work!

1 cup of frozen edamame, thawed

1 cup of frozen petite corn, thawed

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

1 yellow or orange bell pepper

8-10 small cherry tomatoes

Juice of 1 lime

½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 jalapeno, minced after seeds & pith are removed*** optional

1 Tbsp. Cumin

1-2 Tbsp. Olive oil

½ tsp. Salt

Fresh Ground Pepper

Combine all ingredients and toss.  It’s best if you let it sit for 30 minutes or so to meld the flavors! Usually I combine the salad while the corn and edamame is still frozen and let the salad sit and thaw/combine flavors before dinner.  It would also be a great way to transport the salad to a picnic with a built-in “cooler”.

Side Dish Inspirations

Even though this is a side dish already…

• You could actually make a nice lunch or dinner with it by adding shredded chicken or even shrimp and topping a bed of salad greens with it.
• You could also add cooled rice, brown or white, which would make a more substantial dish and make a complete protein by combining beans, edamame soy protein and the rice together.

Round Two cooking… make more and use it for:

Make a double batch, put in small lunch size containers for your work week lunch. It keeps very well and is very satisfying too.

What else would this technique work on???

You could easily change up the ingredients to your liking:

• If you don’t have any edamame on hand, you could use 2 different beans.
• Jicama is a nice crunchy addition but it doesn’t seem to keep as well for lunches.