Welcome back, everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your summer! But, at our house, we have one more week of summer vacation. So, I wanted to kick off this season with one of our fav summer salads…and there’s not one leaf of lettuce in this one! I promise you, this is THE BEST side to your BBQ chicken or steak and corn on the cob. If you love guacamole flavors, you’ll love this. So, grab yourself the ingredients you’ll need, and toss up this easy, but incredible tasting (and not to mention, SUPER healthy) salad!

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and half inch diced
1 (15 oz) can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 C finely diced red onion
2 tbsp minced jalepeno peppers, seeded (2 peppers)
1/2 tsp finely grated lime zest plus the juice of 1 lime
1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
2-3 ripe hass avocados, stoned and diced (larger pieces)

Place the tomatoes, yellow peppers, black beans, red onion, jelepeno peppers and lime zest in a bowl. Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, s&p, garlic and cayenne. Pour over the salad ingredients and fold together gently until incorporated, being careful to keep avocado in tact. Serve at room temp.

Food photography by: Rebecca O’Hara Photography

Original Recipe found here