Summer Salvage Corn, Bean, and Rice Salad

1 cup of cooked brown rice at room temperature, short-grain preferred.
1 can (or 1.5 cups) cannellini beans
1/2 cup of shredded red cabbage, fresh
1/4 cup of diced red onion
1 very large or two medium fresh ripe tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 jalapeno peppers, seeded unless you like very spicy things
1 cup cooked summer squash or zucchini
2 steamed and peeled baby beets
1 ear fresh sweet corn, cut from the cob. (Canned or frozen my be substituted, of course)
5 sun dried tomatoes.
Juice of 1/2 lime
several leaves of basil, cilantro, or other fresh herb of your choice
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, preferably a nice fruity one.

Salt and/or pepper to taste.

This is an infinitely adaptable recipe, and it tends to get made with whatever I have in the fridge that needs to get eaten. I live in farm-stand country, so in summertime we almost always have half-portions of six or seven different vegetables in tupperware needing to be used up.

Avocado is wonderful in this, and you can use any kind of legume, bean, chick pea. Diced hard-boiled eggs are fine, too.

The tomatoes are important for flavor, and if you make this out of season I would used canned ripe tomatoes instead of those pink plastic grocery store ones. Cilantro gives it a Mexican tinge; basil or oregano makes it taste Italian-ish. Rice vinegar and sesame seeds and oil would give it an Asian hint.

You could sub in different citrus, too, and even add animal protein or tofu if you roll that way. It's easy to make sure this is vegan and/or gluten-free, and it contains complete protein sources even without adding anything. For those avoiding grains, the rice can be subbed with quinoa (which is a seed).

Dice or shred everything into half-inch or smaller chunks. Mix it all together and taste to correct the seasoning.



Serving Size: Makes four generous or eight side-dish servings.

Number of Servings: 4

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user MATOCIQUALA.