CORN & BEAN SALAD

~ Maryanne Gobble

8 small (4-5 inch) ears of corn
vegetable or olive oil
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
chili powder, to taste
4 c. crockpot beans
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 - 1 small onion, chopped
1 c. chopped cilantro
1 lime, cut into 12 wedges

Place oven rack 4-6 inches from top burner, then turn broiler to high. Rub or spray a little oil onto the corn, then sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chili powder. Place corn on pan and broil 8-10 minutes, turning once. Once the corn has cooled enough to handle, cut kernels off the cob and into a large bowl.

Add beans, garlic, tomatoes, onion, and cilantro to corn and toss well. Serve lime wedges separately to allow people to add as much juice as they prefer. 

Makes about 12 cups. 

Notes: I suppose you could use canned pinto or black beans for this, but that's pretty unappealing when you can always have quart-sized bags of crockpot beans in the freezer. I don't like a ton of oil on my corn, so I just give it a quick spray to help the spices stick. It's great as is, scooped up with tortilla chips, served over a bed of lettuce and/or spinach, garnished with avocado dressing, or eaten alongside cornbread.