So I have a whole bunch of time on my hands lately because I quit my job at the newspaper. Besides the copious amount of yoga and online shopping, I’ve decided to fill my hours with trying new recipes out on my family and

friends.

I’ve always said I hate hate hate kidney and black beans. When my dad makes something with kidney beans, like spaghetti sauce or vegetarian chili (my mom and I don’t eat meat), I pitch a fit. My poor, extremely accommodating father is always willing — nay, eager — to cook for me, and I imagine it’s hard to find something nutritious for a girl who doesn’t eat anything sentient. Here’s the thing, though — I’m such a raging bitch about the kidney bean thing, even though in recent years I’ve discovered I like them.

I’m kind of irrational. Sorry, Daddy.

Anyway, I finally admitted today how much I enjoy kidney and black beans, and prepared this Mexican bean salad for my dad and Angela as kind of a peace offering. I have no idea why I have been denying I like these nutritious, delicious little nuggets for so long. Maybe I’m chemically imbalanced?

INGREDIENTS
15 oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained
15 oz can of kidney beans, rinsed and drained
15 oz can of corn, rinsed and drained
1 red pepper, diced
Some carrots
1 big tomato
Some fresh basil (very important! I use this in basically every recipe)
1 onion (red, sweet, whatever)
A little splash of oil (or not)
1/2 cup of red wine vinegar
Some lemon juice (I splash this too .. “to taste,” as they say)
Lime juice (If you like)
Some salt
Some pepper
2 cloves crushed garlic
Some cumin
Some pepper
Some chili powder
Hot sauce

Um, combine everything. These ingredients are all variable to your tastes. I don’t really like to be exact. Serve cold. Or heat it up if you like things warm. Add more hot stuff if you like things with kick. The original recipe calls for a half-cup of oil. But I use literally a tiny splash just to hold things together. The original recipe also calls for cilantro, but I lack the enzyme in my tongue to process the stuff, so it tastes like soap to me. Ugh.

OK, off to try my hand at split-pea soup for my madre before three hours of vinyasa flow and a trip to victoriassecret.com.