Monday, July 24, 2006

BB and Corn Salsa with a tour de school

By the way the flower in Saturday's post is a gladiolia.

Today I present Black bean and corn salsa. Sounds a little weird, but it is really good. I first tried this last summer when I took a teaching methods class on campus. A cute little English major who looked like snow white and spent a year abroad in England the prior year brought this in on her day to make snacks. The neat thing is that she made it using corn that she brought from "Tex" (from Texas), who was in the Ag education program the day before. Tex's dad worked in the oil industry and he had never seen how food grew until he came to Iowa to attend Iowa State. At age 21 he was proud to wear his muddy boots and carry several bags of freshly picked corn into class to sell. I'm so sentimental... anyway, if the recipe doesn't look appealing I'd suggest you try it just because of the cute people I just introduced you to.

Although I didn't take pictures while I attended classes I am going to post a few links so you can check it out via their website. ISU, my school, is a very pretty campus. (Finally delivering on my promise to Luna). This is a picture taken on campus looking across Lake Luzerne, the buildings in the background are where some classes are held.
A link to the Tri Delta sorority house I stayed at not long ago. It's set up to be like a scrapbook. Pretty cool tour!

This LINK is to a page that describes the purpose and objectives of "my college" area. (human sciences)

A link to Iowa State Extension Services to Families. This is Iowa's office, but there are extensions in every state. This site has some links to some helpful information for families.

Back to food. Here's the MILD Black Bean and Corn Salsa Recipe:
5 - 6 good medium size tomatoes, I peel and dice using my handy press and dice machine. (the picture shows my little dicer gadget and a pan of turnips I was preparing to roast).
1 large green bell pepper (a little hot pepper if desired)
1 ear of fresh sweet corn cut off the cob
1 small onion, minced
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 - 1 cup cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 - 1 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp line juice
1 Tbsp dried cilantros leaves (opt)
Mix together at least four hours before serving to allow time for the flavors to meld. Taste before serving and adjust seasoning if needed.

21 comments:

KleoPatra said...

Sweet, sentimental story, Dori. And nice photo to go with it. How pretty!! Go Iowa State! I checked out the Delta Delta Delta sorority web site a little bit. I never was in a sorority myself but this looks memorable.

I have had and have enjoyed very much black bean and corn salsa. It's so tasty and so good for you! Guiltless Gourmet chips are some of my faves.

Eat Peace Please said...

Thanks for the recipe. That is not weird to me at all, in fact, I see plenty of black bean and corn combos around here. Very southwestern of you Dori!

Luna said...

Hi Dori!Thank you sooo much for the links & photo - this one with the lake and the swans is lovely!i checked out the sorority house link, funny web site :-) and i lernt(or, i wrote down to check!)a new word , "coldair"!You know, it's like having a confirmation that what we see in movies is true!
I also went to the college link, there's a video about it which is very interesting, you have a lot of courses to choose from, for many of them we don't have college courses but private schools instead, even though lately some reforms in the italian education system added new courses to the universities.

I finished my exams last week, and i took some photos which you can see on may page.
Thank you again Dori and have a good evening!

Carrie™ said...

I've only tried to leave a comment about 3 times and Blogger keeps eating it. Grrr!
One of the best snacks is tortilla chips and salsa. I've only ever had black bean & corn salsa from a jar. I'm sure your's is 100 times better, Dori. Thank you for the recipe.

Harmonia said...

Awesome pics as usual and nice new one of yourself on the side, too!

I posted a lot in the forums today. Sorry I've been away

Tanya Kristine said...

BLogger SUCKS today!!! must be the heat!

i love black bean salsa... had a black bean & corn salad with bbq sauce and tortilla chips. so good...

i can't write more lest i lose my post

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

hey, is that a rainbow in your university photo?! looks so georgous with the swans & water. thanks for showing us. and a great recipe & story to go with it - i love corn w/blackbeans! :o)

Kuntal Joisher said...

will have to try this recipe out.. I guess time to eat some Home-made salsa!!

Catherine said...

Love this combo!

Luna said...

Hello Dori, thank you for visiting my page :-)
By the way.....what on earth is a "coldair"???I've been looking it up in my dictionary but didn't find it;googled it and found just "cold air" or in any case there was no explanation of what a "coldair dorm" is...so what does it mean when you say that you can sleep in your bedroom or in the "coldair"??( i read it on the tri delta pages)

Thank you :-) !!

urban vegan said...

the recipes sounds great--I love anything mexican.

The ISU campus is very pretty, plus it's a great school. My cousin and his wife both went to grad school there and they loved it.

Dori said...

Luna, about "coldair"...
It was a room that held beds enough to sleep 30 people. The beds were not bunk beds, but tri-level (three high) beds (which I have never seen before). It also was the only air conditioned room on the second and third floor. The actual rooms in which girls could hold their stuff (held two desks, 2 dressers, and a closet) were not large enough for beds, so the "coldair" is where they are expected to sleep. I think it is a term used primarily by those who stay in the house, they can sleep in the room with the "cold air" or air conditioned.

Midwest vegan, I have never been a sorority girl. I just stayed at this house when I had to take a class (a gradulate program that holds classes in the summer months, since the sorority houses are empty then... my porgram was able to "book" it for us to stay in).

Dori said...

Midwest vegan... about the press. I went searching in blog land and found on eon e-bay. It is actually called a LePress food press. Here's a link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/LE-PRESS-FOOD-PRESS-CUTTER-CHOPPER_W0QQitemZ300008535618QQihZ020QQcategoryZ20685QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Crystal said...

Dori - sounds like a great salsa and I will try it this summer if I can get my hands on a bunch of tomatoes. My former co-worker used to bring in buckets full of them...that's about all I miss about him ;)

I LOVED the Tri-Delt website photo book. What a neat idea for any memory type page. I was in a service sorority (similar to a regular sorority, but more focus on service work) and we did a lot in the community - I miss the togetherness of the group. You always had a friend to lean on.

Finally updated my links again so you are on there :)

Shananigans said...

Lovely post Dori! I love recipes that come with a story. It’s been way too long since I made fresh salsa, I’ll have to make this when I can get my hands on some good tomatoes at the farmer’s market. Heirlooms should start showing up any time now, they’re really the best tomatoes even if they are kind of ugly.

Do the tri-delts really answer their phone “Delta Delta Delta, can I help ‘ya help ‘ya help ‘ya”?

Dori said...

Ha Ha Shannon,
I really don't know. I could give the house a call and find out though?! :)

MeloMeals said...

That salsa looks fabulous.. I love corn/black bean mixture.. It's so great that there are so many healthy ways to satisfy the 'chip' craving with salsa..
I actually prefer the baked chips.. the fried make my stomach feel weird.

funwithyourfood said...

I like the black bean and corn combo. This sounds like a good recipe to me!

Annie said...

Beatiful campus! The recipe looks good to me.

karen said...

YUM! This salsa sounds so good and refreshing. Black beans are the best- especially with blue corn chips. I love that the pic you took has a rainbow in it!

Enjoy your classes!!! :)

Amy O'Neill Houck said...

Such a pretty school!