Black Bean Corn Avocado Dip from Sarah's friend, Michelle

Good for a large gathering --- this dip is easy to make and popular with all ages.  I changed the black-eyed peas to black beans* and left out the cilantro and jalapeno --- to make it kid friendly.

*  Found the Eden brand of beans--- which are low salt and excellent beans --- in the organic section of our store, but sadly, there weren't any black-eyed peas --- we must be too far north ---so I switched to black beans.  

The recipe comes from Sarah's friend Michelle who brought it to a family event earlier this year. Michelle served it with quinoa chips but I used Frito scoops.

Michelle says the key to making this dip is to have the avocado ripe but not too mushy so it holds up well with the beans and corn.

She found the recipe on Skinny Taste which was a new food blog to me, but obviously very popular. and everything looks delicious on it!  www.skinnytaste.com

If you want their original recipe for the black-eyed pea version, click here: www.skinnytaste.com/black-eyed-pea-dip

But the black bean version is, I think, even better.

Black Bean Corn Avocado Dip
(adpated from skinnytaste.com)

15 ounce canned no salt black beans (Eden), rinsed well and drained
2 cloves of garlic, grated
3 T. fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 t. cumin
pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 - 1/2 t. salt
1 cup cooked corn, or canned sweet corn, drained well
1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered and then cut in half again
1/4 cup minced red onion, finely diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped (optional)
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced (optional)
1-2 avocados, diced

Rinse and drain the beans in a colander.  Drain the corn well, too, if using canned corn.

In a large bowl ---the one you are going to serve it in --- combine the grated garlic, fresh lime juice, oil, cumin, crushed red pepper, and salt.  Mix well.

Add the rinsed and drained beans, drained corn, chopped tomatoes, minced red onion, and optional minced jalapeno and option chopped cilantro, and mix well.

Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

Dice the avocados and squeeze a little lime juice on them to prevent them from turning brown.

Then gently add the diced avocados to the dip and serve with firm chips for scooping, like Fritos.

B