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Spicy Black Bean and Corn Relish... "Bean Thing"

Fast and easy, almost everything comes from a can, jar, or bottle, but the brand of each is important. Substitutions might not work well. Serve cold, a good summer snack or topping for grilled anything. Preparation: 20-30 minutes. Yield: 2 quarts or about 4 pounds.

Ingredients:

• One large, fresh (hard and juicy) garden cucumber, peeled and cut up. For best results use regular "garden" cucumbers or Kirby cucumbers, not the long thin bumpy ones.
• 1 15.5-oz can of Goya low-salt black beans.
• 1 7-oz can of Green Giant corn niblets, drained.
• 1 7-oz can of La Costeña sliced pickled jalapeños*.
• 1 7-oz bottle of Goya Salad Olives (chopped olives with pimientos)
• A whole 16.7-oz bottle of La Costeña Salsa Verde. If you can't find La Costeña,
  Herdez is good too. But not Goya.
• About a quarter cup of roasted sunflower seeds (kernels, shelled, like these).
• Two large fresh limes (preferably the smooth-skin kind), or three smaller ones.
• Dark Ancho Ground Chili Pepper.
• Goya Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Black pepper from grinder.

Directions:

1. Drain the beans but don't rinse them; the thick stuff at the bottom is good. Put beans with thick juice and residue in a big ceramic bowl.
2. Remove skin from cucumber, optionally remove seed core, cut into bite-size pieces, put them on top of the beans.
3. Sprinkle fresh Mexican ancho chili powder liberally over the cucumber pieces.
4. Drain and add the corn, squeeze in juice from a lime and grind some black pepper over it.
5. Open the jalapeños can, pour a little of the liquid into the bowl and drain the rest. Cut up the peppers into smaller pieces and add them (with the carrot slices and onions) to the bowl.
6. Drain liquid from Goya salad olives and dump them all into the bowl.
7. Squeeze in the juice of the other lime(s), and also put in some lime pulp.
8. Spread sunflower seeds over the top.
9. Pour about a tablespoon of olive oil over everything.
10. Add a whole bottle of La Costeña green salsa.
11. Mix it all up, put into suitable containers (e.g. two 32oz glass jars), and let chill.

The result should be juicy, not dry. It keeps well; there should be enough for a week or two depending on serving size (see below). Serve over nonfat plain Greek yogurt, low-fat plain cottage cheese, or even a mashed boiled egg. Vegans can use vegan cottage cheese, vegan yogurt, rice, farina, couscous, polenta, farofa... Accompany with casabe (as in the photo), tostadas, platanitos, or any kind of healthy chips or crackers you like (e.g. veggie chips).

Nutrition per serving

The recipe makes 14-16 servings. Beverage, crackers, and whatever you put it on (yogurt, rice, whatever) are not included in the table.

As you can see it's a bit high in sodium thanks mainly to the olives. The maximum daily sodium intake considered safe (USDA Dietary Reference Intake, or DRI) is 2300mg so one serving is about 32% of that. If you serve it on nonfat Greek yogurt the protein goes up to about 15g.