Zesty Lime Black Bean Dip

It’s officially summer! Which means it’s officially time for summer foods. It’s felt like summer for at least a month here but I’m still celebrating it’s calendar arrival. I think my favorite food is summertime food: grilled chicken or fish, kabobs, fruit salads, grilled veggies, peach cobbler. Yum!

To enhance our summer experience, this weekend we are building a deck in our backyard. And by we, I mean Matthew and my father-in-law. I’ll make them some lemonade. I’m really excited about the deck because the spot where it is going to be is currently a pit of mud, which doesn’t do much for our backyard. Homeownership is definitely a discipline of contentment. There are about 1,000 things I’d love to do to our house, but it’s good to save and plan and do one thing at a time. I’m so thankful for our home and I’m excited to have summer dinner parties on our new deck!

Speaking of summer foods, this black bean dip is exploding with flavor and super easy to make. This is my mom’s
recipe that she always brought to summer swim parties and cookouts. It’s quite limey, so you can definitely tone that flavor down if you prefer. This dip is healthy and takes about five minutes to make which is a plus in the hot summertime. It’s great with chips but we also put it on tacos and I think it’d be a great topping for grilled chicken or fish. Enjoy!

Zesty Lime Black Bean Dip

Ingredients:
Makes about 3-4 cups worth of dip

1 16oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup of chunky salsa*
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
Salt to taste

to make:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Cover and allow to sit in the fridge for an hour before serving. This allows the flavors to meld and soak into the beans. Serve with tortilla chips!

*make sure you use chunky salsa, smooth salsa won’t work well for this dip. You can make your own or buy it. My mom always used jarred picante sauce. I bought some fresh chunky salsa from Whole Foods. Pico de Gallo would work well too!

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