Sometimes I come across someone in real life who knows me from my online presence, and they say something like I know all about your life, is that creepy? To which I reply, not creepy at all. In the social media age, many of us know intimate details about people we’ve never met, like the avocado toast they just devoured or the lace-up heels they’re wearing for date night. These days, it’s normal to share parts of the depths of our souls to complete strangers. The bad of this oversharing culture: our minds become cluttered with mundane information about people we don’t know. The good: we’re able to learn from each other and feel a sense of community as we navigate life.
Many people choose to focus on the bad of technology (our brains are rotting! we’re all addicts!), but it’s been a force for good these past few years of Alex and my journey. Going through miscarriage, cancer, and navigating fall-throughs in the adoption process has been significantly easier knowing that there are others who have walked this road before us. After sharing Larson’s adoption story online, we’ve become connected to a huge family of adopted children, birth mamas, and adoptive families who’ve connected and shared their stories. We’re walking through various parts of the adoption journey with a few of these virtual friends as we speak.
Today, I learned that after hearing Larson’s story, a virtual friend of our was inspired to locate her birth mama. After living into adulthood without knowing anything about her birth mom, she’s found her and will reunite in person in a few weeks! To me, that’s the power of technology: to create community, empathy, and vulnerability in the human experience. And in return, I will put up with the inherent “evils” of this web that connects us, so that I can experience this.
The other day, I was playing the piano with Larson. I played him a Chopin waltz; he banged out something horrible sounding. And I realized that much like a piano, life is made up white keys and black keys. If you’d like, you can learn to create beauty out of those keys by pressing them in the perfect order. Or if you prefer, you can bang on them and create something horrible. Same keys; different actions. And the same with technology: while it can be used for terrible things, why not use the same raw materials to create something beautiful?
You choose.
And now, for the recipe: I suppose this black bean and corn salsa also embodies the good that comes from the internet: sharing recipes! This corn salsa is a salsa fresca—a fresh salsa—and embodies everything that’s good about summer. Lightly roasted corn, black beans, garden cherry tomatoes, and a bit of lime and cumin. Easy recipes are perfect for summer meals on the patio; though it takes a little bit of time to put together, it’s truly simple. We love it both with chips, as a salsa, or as a side dish. The corn salsa would be perfect alongside any Mexican-style entree; or, we’ve also served it as part of our summer grilling menu alongside Greek veggie skewers.
Looking for vegan recipes?
This black bean and corn salsa fresca is vegan. Though we typically eat vegetarian, vegan recipes are becoming part of our everyday. Here are a few of our recent vegan recipes:
- Refried Bean Tacos with Chipotle Cashew Cream
- Southwestern Bowl with Green Chile Vinaigrette
- Herby Tomato Flatbread with Rye Cracker Crust
Looking for easy recipes?
There are few truly easy recipes—but there are plenty of pretty simple ones! Here are a few of our favorite pretty simple recipe concepts for weeknight dinners:
Did you make this recipe?
If you make this black bean and corn salsa recipe, we’d love to hear how it turned out. Leave a comment below or share a picture on Instagram and mention @acouplecooks.
This recipe is…
Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, plant-based, and dairy-free.
- 2 cups fresh corn (2 to 3 ears)
- 10 ounces cherry tomatoes
- 15-ounce can black beans (or 1½ cups cooked beans)
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
- ¼ cup lime juice (2 limes)
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- For the fresh salsa, shuck the corn cobs and cut off corn kernels. Broil 5 minutes until tender and bright yellow.
- Dice the tomatoes. Drain and rinse the black beans very well by placing them in a bowl with water, then thoroughly draining (this step is important to avoid incorporating the can juice, and is not necessary for cooked beans). Chop the cilantro. Juice 2 limes.
- In a medium bowl, mix together corn, tomatoes, black beans, cilantro, lime juice, cumin, and kosher salt. Stir to combine; taste and adjust additional seasonings as desired.
A Couple Cooks - Recipes for Healthy & Whole Living
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