Guacamole Salad

All I had to do was see a picture of this in Barefoot Contessa At Home (thanks again, Aunt Em!), and know that I wanted to make this asap. Not to mention my new obsession with Trader Joe's and its cheap produce! I thought I would eat this as a salad, or use it as a dip with tortilla chips. I did both. Because it was so tasty. And filling! But, if you look at the ingredients, guilt-free. I meant to serve this as an appetizer but it was so filling I at it as my entire meal. John said he'd never thought a salad smelled so good!

Guacamole Salad
Recipe by Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa)
Serves 4-6 for entree (depending on portions) or more for appetizer
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Ingredients:
*1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
*1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and 1/2-inch diced
*(I also added 1 orange bell pepper, seeded and 1/2-inch diced)
*1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
*1/2 cup small-diced red onion (I used 1/2 red onion)
*2 tablespoons minced jalapeno peppers (I skipped this)
*1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest
*1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (2 limes)
*1/4 cup olive oil
*1 tsp salt
*1/2 tsp ground black pepper
*1/2 tsp minced garlic
*1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
*2 ripe Hass avocados, seeded, peeled, and 1/2-inch diced

Preparation:
*Place the tomatoes, yellow pepper, black beans, red onion, (jalapeno peppers if you're doing this), and lime zest in a large bowl.


*Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and cayenne pepper. Pour over vegetables and toss well.

*Just before you're ready to serve the salad, fold the avocados into the salad. Check the seasoning and serve at room temperature (with chips, if you want!).

First batch of ingredients. Look how bright and colorful!

Mixed and ready for dressing and avocados!

Loooove avocado

Beautiful! And delicious! And healthy!

And for the record the avocado stayed nice and green overnight. I ate this for lunch today, and my avocados looked great. I suggest saving the pit and storing it with that, because it helps the avocado keep its color (in addition to the lime juice).