Poor Girl Cooks: Bell Pepper and Edamame Salad

So lest my mother suspect I am only capable of cooking desserts, I have decided to feature my favorite summer salad today. This recipe originally came to me as a black bean salad recipe, but since I'm not the world's biggest bean fan and I couldn't get Adam to eat the original recipe, I've adapted to greatly to cater to our tastes and make it a little bit lighter in the belly. This has also worked out well because we've had one of the worst heat waves in the history of EVER, so minimal work is very important...

First off, pick yourself up one of those three pepper packs from the produce section. For some reason it is cheaper to do this than to purchase the peppers individually, and I'm all about saving money. You can also include a green pepper if you like, but I don't, so these are the three that I'm going to use.


I should also mention that this is not taking place at my house, but rather at Adam's parents' house, as they had extended their hospitality and washing machine to us for the day.

First of all, Carla BLEW MY MIND but showing me a super secret and extra efficient way to deseed these lovely peppers. I'd always cut the stem out and cut them in half and dug the suckers out, but apparently if you just chop the top off you can just grab them all from the get go! What a fantastic revelation! Anyway, dice those babies up and throw them into a bowl....

So pretty! Our red pepper ended up being gross in the bottom and we had to throw most of it out, but it's okay. Salads are never exact, right? Add to that half a bag of frozen corn and half a bag of edamame (not in the shell kids, let's use our logic here). Toss it with the dressing and let it sit until the frozen veg is slightly less frozen. Then dice up a firm avocado (not crazy firm, just easy to work with), stir in and you are ready to serve!

Totally delicious, I could eat this every day. And the in-laws like it too! I served it with the delicious enchiladas, I'm pretty sure they'll let me marry into the family now...well, hopefully...

Bell Pepper and Edamame Salad
adapted from my mom's black bean salad

1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 avocado
1/2 bag of frozen corn
1/2 bag of frozen out-of-shell edamame (soybeans)

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp of honey
3 cloves of garlic, crushed/diced
1 tsp cumin


Dice your peppers and put them in a pretty bowl. Stir in the corn and the edamame. Whisk together dressing and pour over, stirring thoroughly to combine. Right before serving dice avocado and stir in. Goes surprisingly well with Mexican food.