Napa Valley Cottage life and Fresh Chopped Salad

Napa Valley is a place I would love to visit. Tour the gorgeous vineyards, sample wonderful wines and stay in beautiful bed and breakfasts. These are photos from a cottage in Napa Valley - my kind of cottage! I could live in this shower all summer...

I love the photo above, a touch of roughness. Beautiful. I could picture making this salad in that kitchen. My mom brought it over one summer evening a couple of weeks ago, it was so delicious!!!! So refreshing for summer. You can serve it over tortilla chips or just eat it as a salad like we did. Enjoy your cottage if you have one. If not, make this salad and enjoy your own personal summer surroundings. Bon appetit!

¼ cup olive oil ½ tsp. minced jalapeno

2 ears of corn, husked 2 cups diced sweet peppers

3 small tortillas cut into ¼ inch strips 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes

¼ cup fresh squeezed lime juice 2 cups canned black beans….rinsed and drained

3 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro 1 avocado..pitted and diced

1 tsp. brown sugar 2 celery ribs, diced

1 tsp. chopped garlic

Place tortillas on baking pan and bake until tortillas are crispy and golden brown.

Cook corn on the cob and cool and then cut corn kernels from the cobs and set aside.

Dice peppers, slice tomatoes and chop cilantro.

Put peppers, tomatoes, black beans and corn in large bowl plus celery if using.

In blender, combine olive oil, lime juice, cilantro, sugar, garlic and jalepeno and puree until smooth to make vinaigrette.

Toss veggies with the vinaigrette. Add avocado and gentlyl toss again. Serve garnished with tortilla chips.

ENJOY!!!!!

~photos from House Beautiful, recipe from my mom, Linda