Leftover beans, corn and frig staples! Yum
Today there was a HUGE thunderstorm in my area. Storms can be somewhat unnerving unless you can distract yourself in a safe way. Is making a recipe a good idea on a day like today? To be safe during a thunderstorm, they recommend unplugging your computer, TV, and other electronic gadgets, don’t use electric appliances and don’t take a shower or bath, right? I turned off my digital entertainment as directed for safety and to protect that equipment investment as well. (I took a lightening strike once and lost my oven and computer! Replacements cost me some cash.)
What options do we have for creativity when directed to go off the grid for safety?
Instead of taking a nap, my solution was to head for the kitchen. I opened my refrigerator and surveyed my leftovers. I keep leftovers from my meals, even though they get a bad rap from some people (General Recommendations for handling leftovers and check out the great chart on times and temps for storage in this reference) Saving prepared food, may be a hold over from growing up with parents who experienced the depression and a family garden. I don’t want to get sick, but I just don’t want to waste the nutritional value of my food hoard, or the cash value either. How about you?
Leftovers vary in my kitchen, since I love to cook and cook lots of different dishes. I don’t like to leave leftovers for days, they should be used almost immediately. Why wait to create another tantalizing taste treat? This afternoon my leftovers were an ear of cooked corn on the cob (picked fresh from the patch at the end of my street and served up yesterday), some black beans from a lunch nacho meal yesterday, green pepper left from a turkey wrap lunch today, and half a fresh grown tomato, just because I couldn’t eat the whole, huge tomato earlier.
What recipe uses leftover corn, black beans, green pepper, and tomato?
It came to me that Cowboy Caviar would be tasty and I could use up my fabulous leftover ingredients. I could make this recipe without using any of my fun electric kitchen gadgets. It was just me, my knives and my favorite cutting board (made for me by my husband). I always keep lemons, celery, onion and avocado in my refrigerator, and garlic bulbs in their own little crock, don’t you? All I had to do was chunk up the leftover vegetables and chop a few fresh ones from my stock. For more flavor, I sprinkled some cilantro and ground cumin over the mixture, added a spoonful of raw sugar, then squeezed a lemon over the mixture. I tossed the whole thing with some rice vinegar and olive oil. I like my “caviar” a little hot, so I sprinkled some red pepper flakes and dashed some Habanero sauce in as well. You could chill the caviar, if you want, but I couldn’t wait, so I just ate a little bowl!
I enjoyed the storm and my yummy treat! Best of all, I love maximizing the investment I have made in my fresh, whole food stash! I enjoyed handling the colorful foods, getting creative and spending time preparing nourishing food for myself. Below is my recipe for this leftover delight, Cowboy Caviar!
Ingredients (Toss in serving bowl):
1 cooked fresh ear of corn on the cob, cut off the cob (or 1 cup cooked corn kernels)
1/2 cup tomato, diced
1 cup of black beans, drained
1-2 stalks of celery, diced
1/2 avocado, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
Dressing (add to chopped veggies and toss)
juice of one lemon
2 T Rice vinegar
1 T Olive oil
1T raw sugar
1-2 t. cilantro
1 t. ground cumin
1-2 cloves garlic, pressed/ or chopped
salt and pepper to taste
Optional
Red Pepper flakes
Habanero sauce
Toss, chill, if you like, eat up on lettuce, or with chips (maybe cucumber slices or corn chips) and enjoy.
NOTE: Vary recipe as you like, nothing is static on this one. Adjust the seasonings to your liking. It can be good with all sorts of variation.
