Recipe of the Week, with modifcations...

Sorry about the low quality, indoor-at-night, with-a-flash photo

THE QUICKEST BLACK BEAN SALAD

  


I had to make a few modifications to this recipe. First of all, my local, amazing Co-op did not have water chestnuts...which is fine with me because I think canned water chestnuts are lame...so for the crunch factor I substituted half of a Chioggia beet (which is a beautiful thing) lightly blanched and cooled, and a few stalks of celery. Second, I added one fresh jalapeño, finely diced, to give it a little zip. Third, I love citrus so I used the juice and zest of a whole lime, not just a half. It improved the salad.

This salad is delicious and I will be making it regularly but next time I will cut back on the amount of onion. I find it too oniony.

Here is the recipe from Forks Over Knives and the link...

THE QUICKEST BLACK BEAN SALAD
By Ann and Jane Esselstyn
Makes 4 bowls
Ready In: 8 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
Two 16-ounce cans black beans 
(I used beans that I soaked overnight and then cooked. Why use canned beans??)
drained and rinsed WELL!
1 very large tomato, chopped
1 package frozen corn (I bought frozen organic corn from the Co-op)
½ Vidalia onion, chopped (next time I will use less than this)
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained
and rinsed (I substituted as noted above)
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
½ lime, juice and zest (I used a whole lime)
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar or
more to taste (I used 4 tbsp.)

Instructions:
1. Add beans, tomatoes, corn, onion, and water
chestnuts to a bowl (glass looks pretty) and mix.
Rinsing the beans well keeps the salad from looking
gray.
2. Add cilantro, lime, and balsamic vinegar and mix
again. Serve alone or with cucumber open-faced
sandwiches for a perfect meal.

Link to recipe on Forks Over Knives website

Copenhagen, Denmark!! Yeah!

June, 2010

My friend Meg and I made it to Denmark. That is by far the longest flight I have ever been on, but so worth it. I have been wanting to check out Copenhagen for a very long time. What a great city. We stayed with a woman named Pernille who rented us each a room in her 7th floor apartment.

One of the things I loved the most was how many people ride bicycles there. Large groups of cyclists are everywhere and the cars accommodate them in a mostly friendly manner

We stayed in the Nørregade part of the city, which was in easy walking distance to the Botanical Garden

So many plants! I could have spend a week there. I don't remember this species but it was almost prehistoric seeming because of its huge leaves.

Beautiful art floating on the pond.

I enjoyed this sculpture in one of the plazas.

They told us no photographs were allowed in a part of town called
Christianhavn (possibly because hashish is sold out in the open),
but here is some of the graffiti that adorns the entrance.

Vertical gardening added a touch of beauty and punctuated the overwhelming
sense of sanity that pervaded the town.

The buskers of Copenhagen filled the
streets with great music.

We made a side trip to Malmö, Sweden.
I'm glad we did, but we really needed more time to do it right. We went to a park near the water and saw this funky tower. Turns out it's a famous art-itechcure called The Turning Torso.

We made dinner one evening and ate it on the roof of Pernille's apartment building. Great view from up there. (PS. It was one of the most delicious dinners we had there).

And the last day in Denmark I sat in a coffee shop reflecting over the entire 

experience when this played on the sound system. The perfect song.