Garden Salsa
with black beans, corn, avocado and herbs
As seen on the Sonoran Living program.

Bring an ordinary salsa to extraordinary heights! It’s easy and oh, so colorful and tasty. Serve with several colors and flavors of chips. Also try slices of jicima and summer squash for dipping.

This is just a guideline, please personalize it to your tastes. If you have fresh herbs growing outside, take this opportunity to use them with great results. This may even get you thinking about planting a few herbs-hint, hint.

Think of the health benefits in salsa:

Tomatoes – have lycopene, a cancer fighting antioxidant and Vitamin C. These little jewels fight free radicals that attack our DNA. Eat lots of tomatoes!
Avocado – though high in fat, it is a good fat that is actually nourishing and filling and has no cholesterol. It does have substantial amounts of potassium, vitamins A and C and niacin.
Cilantro – recent studies have been proving that this popular herb is an effective chelating agent that pulls out mercury from the body by sending it bye-bye through the urine.
Peppers – gets the fires burning under your metabolism and also clears out the sinuses!
Onions and Garlic – contain two compounds, Allicin and Sulforaphane, that are thought to lower the risk of certain cancers and also have good bug-fighting action. Eat lots of garlic and onions!

Now that you know there is always a good reason to eat salsa, try this combination:

Ingredients:
Start with a 16 oz container of a good basic salsa fresca (or in a pinch, use a bottled salsa)

Add some color and texture with any or all of the following:
Black beans (about ½ can)
Frozen corn (about ½ cup)
Avocado, diced (1-2 avocados)
Green Chilies (1 small can)
Diced Roasted Red Peppers ( about ½ cup)

Kick up the flavor with any or all of the following:
Green onions, small chop (about ½ - ¾ cup)
Fresh Garlic, minced (1-2 cloves)
Fresh lime juice (from ½ - 1 lime)
Fresh herbs: cilantro, lemon balm, a little epasote’ (about ½ cup total)
Diced jalapeno (how hot do you like it??)
Salt to taste
 
Method:
Mix all together and give it a final taste. Cover and let sit in the refrigerator for an hour or so to let the flavors mingle. Serve with a variety of chips and veggies. Enjoy!


Interesting to note: It is good to buy corn and corn products as organic when possible. A very large percent of corn is genetically modified, and the vote is still out about the health and environmental effects of that. Also, corn is a crop that receives a high amount of chemical sprays when growing.