This is my friend Mel. She writes over at A Barefoot Life. We initially met as a part of the God-sized Dream Team, then became part of a mastermind group on FB, were roomies at Allume and now are part of the founding team at the God-sized Dreams website. Oh and we are in the same Hello Mornings group as well! Mel and I, while we have only known each other for less than 2 years, feel like we are sisters. 🙂

She is awesome and when I share her amazing recipe you are all going to want to know her more too! 😉 So we were doing a little “get-to-know-you” in our Hello Mornings group and someone suggested we have a virtual picnic and asked what we would bring.

Mel said she would bring her black bean salsa recipe because it was amazing.

Now I am not a fan of the beans. Personally I think they taste like dirt. I would eat bean-less chili if I could, I really would! 🙂 But my husband is a bean fan and this recipe sounded like something he would really like. So I asked her for the recipe – because she said she would share and she is awesome like that!

I clarified that I probably would NOT like it…but I was willing to make it for my husband, since our anniversary was a few days away.

Now a little disclaimer…Mel does give credit to her MIL for the original recipe…but she tweaked a bit and since I am sharing what she shared with me – we are calling this “Mel’s Amazing Black Bean Salsa”! I will put the entire recipe at the end of the post!

This recipe is really so easy…just a few ingredients and a little chopping and it is done!

Tomato, Avocado, Red Onion and Cilantro.

A can of Black Beans and a can of Mexican Corn. (Now my Walmart didn’t have Mexican Corn but I found Fiesta Corn and figured that would be close enough)

Also the Roma tomatoes were looking a little sad the 2nd time I made this recipe so I just used regular ones and I think it turned out just fine.

Here it is all ready for the final topping.

My Walmart also didn’t have the Fiesta Hidden Valley Ranch packets the first time I made this so instead I bought a regular and a green onion packet. (Did I mention that I doubled the recipe every time I have tried this?!) It is just THAT good!!

If you can’t find the Fiesta packets, trust me that these will still make it taste great!

Mix the packets with some olive oil and white wine vinegar and pour it over everything you have in your bowl.

Now I will admit that it tastes even better after it has been in the refrigerator for a few hours…but it was so good that we ate a bunch of it right out of the bowl – no double dipping of course! 🙂

This salsa is great on chips, Ritz crackers, eggs, steak…boy the list could go on and on. In fact it has become a staple in our home…a condiment we can’t live without.

And this girl, this “beans taste like dirt” disbeliever? I am a changed woman. This will be my go to recipe whenever I need to bring something to a picnic or potluck.

Thanks so much Mel for having and sharing such a wonderful recipe…now go out and get the ingredients and make some for yourself! Your family will thank you, I promise! 🙂

Mel’s Amazing Black Bean Salsa Recipe
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Mexican corn, drained (regular is fine, too)
3 roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
2 avocados, diced
chopped cilantro (I’ve also used dried)

Mix the first 6 ingredients, then add the dressing:

1/4 c white wine vinegar
1/4 c olive oil
1 pkg Hidden Valley Fiesta Ranch seasoning