I feel like in the past month, we’ve had a gazillion potlucks at work.
Ok…
We’ve had 2.
But that’s two in a months time, and which is more than enough.
For the past few potluck’s, I’ve turned to my Dad’s “secret” recipe of No Bake Oreo Cookie Cheesecake. This has turned into a ridiculous hit, thanks Dad. I threatened to not make it this time and received a very poor response. Gasps, threats even.
The crowd demands what it wants.
I also wanted to create another star dish usually seen at our potlucks, since its maker had the day off today. So, I basically swooped in to play the hero. Please, the applause isn’t necessary. You are too kind.
I introduce…
Easy Corn and Black Bean Salad
- 1 can of corn
- 1 can of black beans
- 1 red pepper
- 1 small red onion
- 1-2 stalks of celery (optional for those who don’t like celery…. ahem…. me)
- 1 jalapeno
- 2 cloves of garlic
- cilantro
- 1/4 balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 olive oil
- salt and pepper
So it goes like this. Chop up the red pepper, chop up the red onion (and celery if you must), chop up the jalapeno and garlic and throw into a bowl.
Mix
Beautiful, isn’t it.
Mix together the balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
Add the cilantro to the mix, and pour the dressing over everything.
Its as easy as that! In ideal circumstances, this is allowed to sit in the fridge overnight to let the veggies and dressing get to know each other. The balsamic vinegar MAKES this salad, and it goes perfectly with pita chips.
Thankfully, there was a bit left over and I’m super excited to snack on it. Unfortunately, the oreo cookie cheesecake was massacred. No leftovers in site.
The entire potluck was pretty outstanding actually. One of the ladies of honor is a vegan, so some coworkers picked up some food from The Loving Hut, an entirely vegan restaurant, and it was delicious.
I know it looks like a full plate, and it was, but 75% is salads.
On the plate
- Quinoa salad
- Green salad with balsamic vinaigrette
- Corn and Black Bean Salad
- Spicy Cha Cha from the Loving Hut
- 1/2 Moo Shu Veggie wrap
- Homemade hummus and 1/2 whole wheat pita
Fullness. And there was a ton more food to sample from.
So I’ve gotten back on the fitness wagon, after taking last week off due to an insane cold that just wouldn’t quit. I’m not 100% and still relying heavily on cough drops to get me through the day, but I’m need to be in bout-form on Saturday.
Roller Derby practice yesterday was brutal on my lungs and I hacked my way through 1/2 of it before calling it quits. My body was saying that’s enough, and I listened. No reason to overdue it 4 days before the bout.
Today, I hopped on the incline treadmill for about 45 minutes at an easy pace (burning about 450 calories), so I could burn off some of the potluck goodness.
Now, if I could just get rid of this cough…..
