By Popular Demand: 2 Summer Recipes!

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Memorial Day Weekend!  We had a blast at our little cookout on Saturday, and I had a few requests for the recipes we had in our spread.

Here they are!  They're both super easy, light and healthy:    

Cilantro/Lime Salsa:

• - 1 medium yellow onion
• - 1 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes (the big can)
• - 1 jalapeno
• - 1 tiny clove garlic
• - Approx 1 cup cilantro
• - Salt to taste
• - 1-3 limes (depending on how juicy they are)

You basically just add everything to the food processor in a specific order - the first things you add will be mostly for flavor so it doesn't matter how much you pulse them - you need to be more careful with the stuff you add at the end to make sure it doesn't become like a salsa soup =)

I start by adding the cilantro (about a handful), garlic, about 1/2 tablespoon salt and juice from 1-2 limes to the food processor.  Pulse until garlic is finely ground - scrape the sides to make sure it's all mixed.

Add jalapeno - pulse a few times to roughly chop.

Add the onion - pulse 5-6 times to give it a rough chop - the onion should still be in pretty large chunks.

Drain about 1/2 the liquid from the can of tomatoes and add the can to the food processor.  Pulse 2-3 times to mix everything together.

And that's it!  Give it a taste and add more lime, cilantro, salt if necessary (I tend to like my salsa very lime-y and cilantro-y) but only pulse a few times each time you add something.  The idea is to keep the onion and tomato in generally big pieces.

Black Bean / Corn Salad:

• - 2 12 oz cans black beans
• - 1 12 oz can corn
• - 1 red bell pepper, diced
• - 2 poblano peppers
• - 1 fresh tomato, diced
• - 1-3 limes (depending on how juicy)
• - Approx 1 cup cilantro
• - Approx 3/4 cup parsley
• - Approx 2 tbs olive oil
• - Salt and pepper to taste

Seriously - this recipe is crazy easy.  Drain and rinse beans and corn - add to a big bowl with diced tomato and bell pepper.

The only effort is in roasting/peeling the poblanos.  Grill over open flame, turning every minute to make sure pepper is nicely charred on all sides (or just roast in the oven, 400 degree about 10 minutes), then sweat in a plastic bag for 10 minutes.  Peel the charred skin - dice peppers and add to bowl.

Chop parsley and cilantro, add to bowl.

Dress with olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper and toss it all together.  And that's it!  Super easy =)

I assure you, these are super simple recipes and are always big crowd-pleasers.  The salsa, obviously, is great with tortilla or pita chips, and the salad can be served on it's own or as a dip (it's great with Tostitos Scoops!).

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!