Black Bean Corn Salsa

The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday.  Seriously, I like it better than Christmas.

For the past fifteen years, give or take, we've been lucky enough to be invited to celebrate with Mrs. Charlotte and Mr. Kent.

We get to swim in the bayou...

Drool over the adorable babies (all of whom seem to be male??  something in the bayou water)...

Cyrus and Parker - the two newest additions :) 

my sister Caroline and her sweet baby Thomas

William, enjoying his first experience with homemade ranch dressing

And the bigger boys get to fish!

(strictly a catch and release program)

I usually don't even try to bring anything.   Mrs. Charlotte is, quite literally, the best cook I know.  It's a little intimidating.   And Mr. Kent definitely knows his way around a charcoal pit.

But this year, I had a lot of jalapenos in the garden begging to be used.

I stuffed some (recipe to come, as soon as I make it again and photograph the finished product).

And with three or four of the others, I made this:

from one of my favorite cookbooks - the Houston Junior League's Stop and Smell the Rosemary.

A few reasons why this was perfect:
1. It used up a few more jalapenos.
2. It did not require refrigeration - in fact, it seemed to get better the longer it sat, and the avocados did not turn brown (maybe all the lime juice?)
3. It was fairly easy - a good bit of chopping, but not a lot of technical skill required.

Recipe (Adaptations in parentheses!):

2 (15 oz) cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
Kernels from 3 ears of corn, cooked (you could use 1 1/2 cups frozen, thawed corn, but I just threw the ears on the grill the night before and cut the kernels off)
3 medium firm tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced (I left the peels on - whoops)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced (the original recipe called for 1 cup, but I thought that was a bit much)
3 fresh jalapenos, seeded and diced
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (2 very juicy limes... but if your limes are kind of dry, you may need 3)
Kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 avocados, pitted, peeled, and diced

Combine all ingredients except avocados, tossing well.  Cover and chill.  Just before serving, cut and toss in the avocados.  Serve with blue corn tortilla chips (or really any tortilla chips - my kids ate it with a spoon!)

Happy Independence Day!