Simple Black Bean Salad

I usually try to have a light lunch so I can have a bigger dinner.  But occasionally life will get in the way of my carefully planned menus, and dinner time will come around and I'll only have a few points left for the day.  What's a girl to eat?  Salad, that's what!

In honor of Cinco de Mayo this week, we decided on a Mexican-themed black bean salad.

Dressing

We usually like to make our own dressing - you can experiment with different flavor combinations, depending on what is in the salad itself.  Generally, you want 1:1 ratio of acidic liquid, like citrus juice, to oil.  (Some people prefer 1:2, but I think that makes it too oily).  Then add whatever other flavors you want.  Since this was a Mexican salad, we decided to make it spicy with a chipotle pepper, and to balance the spice out with a little bit of sweet raspberry jam.

Juice of 1 lime & juice of 1 lemon (makes about 1/4 c. of juice)

1/4 c. olive oil

2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo

1 tsp. raspberry jam

pinch of salt and pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor or blender, and blend away.  Makes about 1/2 cup of dressing.

Salad


2 c. baby spinach
1/4 c. Trader Joe's fire roasted corn
1/2 c. black beans
1/2 tomato
1/2 cucumber
2 Tbsp pepitas (roasted pumpkin seeds)
1 Tbsp vegan parmesan (recipe coming later)
2 Tbsp dressing from above

Assemble like you would assemble any salad, and enjoy!

I'm learning that I really need to figure out points values before I eat.  This salad would have been great for a normal dinner, but because I was low on points, I really should have skipped the dressing.  Medium salsa would have worked as a quick substitution, and cut down on the points.