Rice, Bean and Corn Salad

By Denice Moffat

I’m always looking for complete protein, low-fat, tasty salads that are not boring. Here’s a recipe we like. The neighbors like it too, so it must be a keeper. We took a bowl over to our neighbor, Tim, and he ate both servings before his wife made it home for a taste. When Barb finally made it home, she was asked to trek on over to get the recipe. She made another whole batch the next day. Here’s the recipe:

Rice, Bean and Corn Salad

•½ cup Long-Grain Brown Rice
•3 Corn cobs or ½ large bag frozen kernel Corn
•3-4 Tablespoons Olive Oil
•1 small Red Onion, finely chopped
•1 fresh Tomatillo, finely chopped (the recipe called for Green Chilies, but I’ve noticed that Green Peppers and the Pepper family cause some major fibromyalgia signs for about 4 days after eating them, so that’s why I substituted the Mexican Husk Tomato (Tomatillo).
•1 Tablespoon fresh Lemon Juice
•1 Tablespoon fresh Lime Juice
•¼ teaspoon Tabasco sauce
•2 Tablespoons chopped, fresh Cilantro
•14 oz. cooked and drained Garbanzo Beans
•¾ cup lean Black Forest Ham, diced
•Celtic Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

For the Rice: Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the rice and return to a boil, stirring once or twice. Reduce the heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes until the rice is tender. Drain and rinse under cold running water; drain again, and set aside. You can use white rice which takes less time to cook, but I like the brown rice as it has more fiber and B-Vitamins in it and is healthier for you.

For the Corn: Scrape down each corn cob with a knife to remove the kernels. Place in a bowl and set aside. Scrape along each cob to remove the milky residue and transfer to another small bowl. Now heat 1 Tablespoon of the oil in a pan. Add the corn kernels and cook gently, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes until tender. Add the Red Onion and Tomatillo, and then stir over low heat for about 1 minute until blended. Transfer to a plate and set aside to cool slightly.

Place the Lemon and Lime juices in a large bowl and whisk in the Tabasco sauce, 2-3 Tablespoons of the remaining oil, and the milky corn liquid. Whisk in the chopped Cilantro until well combined.

Using a fork, fluff in the cooked Rice, Corn and Onion mixture. Add the Beans, Ham, and season with Salt and Pepper to taste. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately. Keeps in the fridge for several days, if it isn’t snarfed down before you get it there.

Dr. Denice Moffat is a practicing naturopath, medical intuitive, and veterinarian working on the family unit (which includes humans and animals) through her phone consultation practice established in 1995. She has a content-rich website at http://www.NaturalHealthTechniques.com and free internationally distributed monthly newsletter. For more healthy and low-fat recipes like this, go to: http://www.naturalhealthtechniques.com/Recipes/recipes1.htm