Southwestern Black Bean Rice Salad ~

This salad is a great combination of textures and flavors and is a favorite during the summer. It’s light, crunchy and full of flavor and the cumin/ lime vinaigrette gives it a nice zing. I love that it’s easy to make but tastes so delicious. It goes well with any Mexican food as well as chicken, beef or seafood.

I made it for a friend's cookout and everyone loved it.  Just chop everything in the morning, cook the rice and toss.  Just one thing, rice can get soggy, so just remember that it's best if you allow it to cool and add the dressing about 1/2 hour before you are going to serve it.  And less is better, when you are going to dress it, try it with half the salad dressing first.  I save the other half of the dressing to use on my garden salad.  Oh and dice everything small, it goes better with the rice.

2 cups of cooked, white rice.  (I use basmati.)
1 large cucumber, seeded and diced
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
2 small roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
3 celery stalks, small diced
1/2 cup blueberries, washed (optional)
1/2 jalapeno pepper, diced very small
2 ears of corn, shucked
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 large or 1 medium red onion, diced

Dressing:
2 limes, juiced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teasoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground, black pepper
Mix ingredients togther

Add all of the vegetables, beans and fruit into a large bowl, add rice and toss.  Cover with saran wrap and place in refrigerator, undressed.

Right before serving, add 1/2 of the dressing and toss. 

Enjoy ~