Mexican Market Salad

Our town has recently been blessed by the opening of a new Mexican supermarket. It's tiny, but consistently beats the larger stores' prices on certain fruits and vegetables.

Now in any given week, fresh produce consumes at least half of our grocery budget. So when the local ethnic grocers offer pristine produce at bargain prices, I tend to build menus around it.

Staples at this particular market include tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, onions, avocados, cilantro, and lime. Hence, the following salad:

Mexican Market Salad

• 1 large cucumber, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 tomatoes, diced
• 1/4 green bell pepper, minced
• 2 large spring onions, minced
• 3/4 cup corn (Fresh raw corn would have been ideal; since we didn't have any, I dumped frozen corn in the colander, poured boiling water over it to thaw it, and quickly rinsed in cold.)
• 1/2 c. cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp. minced black olives
• 1/4 tsp. cumin
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• Southwest Chipotle Mrs. Dash

In the food processor, I combined and pureed the following:

• 1/2 medium avocado
• 1/2 tomato
• juice of 1 lime
• 1/4 tsp. RealSalt
  

I dumped the pureed mixture into the vegetables to give this salad a cool, creamy base. I could have served it by itself, but wanted to give Hubby a slightly more substantial lunch before sending him back to work, so I stuffed it into pita pockets and served with fresh vegetable juice cocktail. Refreshing and delicious on a hot (nearly 90 degree!) April day ...

Had I been cooking for myself alone, I would have added 1 c. black beans and 1 diced jalapeno. Maybe next time, I'll make a mild, bean-less version for hubby and a more jazzed up version for myself.