Edamame Vegetable Salad with Lime Dressing

I'm excited to share this with you.  I've been wanting to do so for ages but haven't gotten around to it.  Where to begin?  Okay, four.  Four is the magic number.  Magic number to what?  There are four weeks left to this 16-week semester.  YAY!  Since my last post I have taken at least five different exams at school, celebrated my 25th birthday, continuously studied, and worked on some new recipes.  Yes, I'm definitely busy and most definitely lacking in sleep.

So, this is a wonderful veggie salad that it is guaranteed to be a hit at your next gathering or for whomever eats it.  It's got major pizzazz and zip and pow!  The creamy edamame with bursts of sweetness from the tomatoes and the corn?  Mmm, and then the herbaceous cilantro, crunchy cucumbers, and rich avocado?  And let's not forget the wonderful tang from the lime juice!  I love it.  I started making this salad last year and recently made it for my friend's baby shower where it was reaffirmed that it's a total hit, especially with the vegetarian crowd.

It's such an easy salad to put together and I even put some of it into a regular green salad since it has most of the ingredients I'd put into my salads.  The beautiful colors and fresh flavors totally remind me of spring and bring out a bouncy happiness when you eat it!

I've never tried it with lemon juice and although I'm sure it would impart a different flavor, it'll do the same job for the dressing.  And for those with aversions to cilantro, chopped fresh basil would be a great substitute; it would bring a lovely sweetness to the salad :-)  My instructions and ingredients are mere guidelines; this salad can be customized to all sorts of different tastes.  For example, for extra chewy sweetness, you could add some dried cranberries, dried cherries, or perhaps dried currants.  For some extra crunch, slivered or sliced almonds would be beautiful in here, too.

As always, it's super simple to make yet incredibly delicious.  This is a great recipe to make ahead of time and best served cold.  Happy salad-making!

Edamame Vegetable Salad with Lime Dressing

Ingredients:

• 2 bags frozen shelled edamame (it makes your life easier to buy them shelled, trust me)
• 2 cups frozen corn, thawed
• 1 pint grape tomatoes
• 2 cups diced peeled cucumbers (I prefer Persian cucumbers because they give a nice crunch and sweetness)
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (or basil)
• 1 1/4 cups fresh lime juice (six plump and juicy limes for me)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 2 ripe avocados, diced

1. Bring a pot of salted water to boil and cook your edamame according to the package's instructions.  Optional: in the very last minute of cooking, throw in your frozen corn to get them defrosted.  Strain them both and add to a very large bowl.

2. Add your salt and pepper and then add your lime juice.  You want to add the lime juice while the beans are still warm so that they absorb all that tangy goodness.

3. If you didn't throw your corn in the water and instead had them thawed, add them to the bowl now.  Next, add your chopped cilantro. 

4. Now, add your tomatoes and then the cucumbers.  Mix everything together.  Give it all a taste and add more salt, pepper, or lime juice as needed.  

5. Refrigerate the salad for about two hours or even overnight.  When you're ready to serve, add in the diced avocado to either your serving bowl or your mixing bowl.  *I like to do this at the end so that I don't mush up the avocado with the constant stirring.*

Make sure to cook these through.  I've found that al dente edamame is not that fabulous.

Season with your salt and pepper.

I really do love limes.

I am totally a huge fan of frozen corn.  I especially love it in my salads.

Right, so, now I understand why I really love this salad--it has so many ingredients that I absolutely love using!  And we all know that cilantro is one of them :-)  Again, chopped fresh basil would work wonderfully, too.

I love using sweet grape tomatoes for these.  However, you can also halve or quarter up some cherry tomatoes or even use small pearl tomatoes.  I just recommend using small tomatoes like these and don't recommend dicing large tomatoes up.

Ooh, the colors!  The textures!  Yay!  Time for a tasting and adding more lime, salt, or pepper if it needs it.

Avocado's in and now, it's time to eat!