Corn and Walnut Salad

I love walnuts and am always trying to incorporate them into my dishes. And they are so good for you too!This is a recipe for a simple salad that I threw together a few days ago and absolutely loved it.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Serves: 3

Ingredients: Corn (frozen or fresh) - 1 Cup, Garbanzo beans - 1 can, Walnut halves - 3/4 cup, Red Onion (medium) - 1, Lime Juice - 2 Tbsp, Salt to taste, Crushed black pepper (to taste), Cilantro - 2 Tbsp, Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 2 tsp

Prep Away...

> Rinse and drain the garbanzo beans and set aside

> Thinly dice the onion, chop the cilantro and set aside

> Toast the Walnuts halves on medium high for a couple of minutes so their flavor really pops out and set aside

> Place a saucepan on medium high heat and add the olive oil and chopped onions and saute for a couple of minutes. Now add the corn and saute for a couple more minutes, add salt and black pepper

> Turn off the heat and allow it to cool for a few minutes

> In the salad bowl, add the corn and onion mixture, garbanzo beans, walnuts and add the lime juice and toss thoroughly so everything's mixed nicely. Garnish with the cilantro.

> Serve as a side dish or even a main dish!

My Thoughts..

> You can use any kind of beans you have on hand, Kidney beans or Black eyed peas or even black beans. I like the Garbanzo with corn, it's a great combination

> I use red onion because it's sweetness balances the salty walnuts nicely

> If you want a little bit of spice, you could throw in a couple of chilli flakes when cooking the corn and onions

> If you have Coriander powder on hand, you could add half a teaspoon of it. Adds that little kick to the salad.

Enjoy!

Cupcake Fun

I am no cupcake expert..in fact, far from it! I love baking and have baked varieties of cakes and breads in the past but my daughter's second birthday provided a good opportunity for testing my cupcake-making skills. We had family over for a party and there are quite a few kids in the family, so I figured they'd enjoy cupcakes. And while I was at it, I decided to get a little creative and try to make Mickey mouse cupcakes (going with the birthday theme). "Try" being the keyword here.

I am a simple, plain baker...never decorated cakes or done fancy things with them!So I baked some cupcakes (from the box, not from scratch), the good chocolate ones, in some mickey mouse cupcake liners. Then I put some white icing on it, took some sour jelly beans and those became the eyes, nose and mouth and one half of an Oreo cookie became a Mickey mouse ear and we now have Mickey mouse cupcakes!I called them distorted-mouse-like cupcakes (take a look at the picture and you'll see why!) but most of the kids saw them and said right away "Hey! Mickey Mouse cupcakes!" That made me happy..Ah, kids are so easy to please.But I have to admit it was a really fun exercise and the cupcakes were a hit with kids and adults too!



If they don't look like Mickey Mouse, well, at least Halloween's around the corner!