Guacamole Salad

The beautiful colors in this dish brightened up my mood on a gloomy fall day. The taste is fresh and light, making it the perfect complement to a heavy Mexican entree. Try turning this salad into an appetizer by dicing everything even smaller, and serving with tortilla chips. Guacamole Salad is easy to prepare. Make sure you have a good knife, and are ready to chop, chop, chop!   

Ingredients
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 can reduced sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup finely diced red onion
2 minced jalapeno peppers, seeded
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest
Lime juice from 2 limes
1/4 cup good extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 ripe avocados, seeded, peeled, and diced

Directions
Place the tomatoes, yellow pepper, black beans, red onion, jalapeno peppers, and lime zest in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic, and cayenne pepper and pour over the vegetables. Toss well.

Just before you're ready to serve the salad, carefully mix the avocados into the salad. Check for taste, and add more salt if necessary. Serves six.