The 4th of July has always been one of my most favorite holidays. Okay, really I love all holidays, but this one is no exception! As a kid I always spent my summers visiting my Dad’s ranch in Oregon, and each Independence Day we would trek up to our lake and have a big ole’ picnic with our extended family, friends and neighbors. We’d eat ourselves silly, swim all day and then set off fireworks all night long. It was awesome 🙂
Over the years we developed quite a few recipes that were perfect picnic food – tasty, portable, temperature flexible foods that were easy to prepare and take along. One of my all time favorites is a recipe I stole from my Mom – Summer Corn Salad. Not only does this recipe take advantage of seasonal produce, it’s healthy and bursting with flavor. I know you guys will love it just as much as I do!
Ingredients:
- 6 – 8 ears of fresh corn on the cob
- 1 bottle of Paul Newman’s Light Lime vinaigrette dressing
- 1 – 2 tbsp. honey
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1 medium to large tomato
- ½ medium red onion
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- 1 avocado, diced
Begin by husking the ears of corn. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the corn, bring back to a boil and boil for 4 minutes. Drain the corn and leave to cool. While the corn is cooling, whisk together ½ cup of the light lime dressing, 1 to 2 tbsp. of honey and 1 tsp. of cumin; set aside.
Dice the tomato into ½ inch pieces, discarding the seeds and pulp. Chop the red onion into small dice. Now remove the kernels of corn from the cobs into a large bowl.
I use a great little device I purchased at Sur La Table; you can also use a knife, but be very careful. Once you’ve removed all the kernels into the bowl, mix the kernels to break up any large clumps of corn. Whisk the dressing mixture again and pour over the corn kernels. Add the tomato pieces, red onion and cilantro. Mix well.
At this point you can refrigerate the salad until you are ready to serve. Do not add the diced avocado until you are ready to serve the salad, or else the avocado will brown and get mushy. When you do add the avocado, toss gently and enjoy!
A few fellow bloggers and I are such fans of picnics and 4th of July that we’ve decided to celebrate with a little giveaway and treasure hunt of sorts.
We will be excepting entries through July 6th, and this giveaway is open to U.S. residents 18 years+. Each participant will be entered to win the grand prize – a $60 Amazon gift card! To get your entries in, you’ll need to complete the below Rafflecopter form. For extra entries, be sure to look for the little ant’s that have invaded our each one of recipes in the Blogger Picnic Recipe Hop and take note of their names. Enter them in the Rafflecopter form and you’ll score an extra entry for each one you find 😉
Click “Read More” to see our fellow Picnic Recipe Hoppers and to enter your information in the Rafflecopter form!
Love this one! So fresh and yummy, I can almost taste the corn now. Thanks for joining the 4th of July Blogger Picnic Event and Giveaway. Happy 4th of July!