Tropical Chop Salad with Cilantro Vinaigrette

Every time I log on to Facebook,and especially when I talk to my sister in Cleveland, I'm hearing about how Fall has hit Ohio. I get it, you can drink a hot Pumpkin Spice Latte while wearing a sweater. But I'm not jealous. Yet, anyway. 

As far as I'm concerned, summer can stay for another month or two as long as the produce keeps coming! See, when I was pregnant, vegetables hated me. I still loved them, and when I was stupid, I'd eat them, but inevitably I'd be sick for hours or even days.  I'm finally able to go to the Farmer's Market every Saturday and buy more than peaches and watermelon (though those were my #1 craving), I'm buying peppers, cucumbers, beets, squash, and above all, fresh, sweet, delicious tomatoes! 

This past weekend, I went nuts buying up produce. When I got home, I decided to throw a random bunch of my finds together into a salad. Once I had the peppers and tomato chopped, I decided to add some black beans I had in the fridge, and take it in a different direction. At first, Tex-Mex seemed to be the way to go, but then I decided to add some fruit for the sweet-savory combo I love, and finally I had a bunch of cilantro that needed to be used up. This salad just happened by chance, but was absolutely delicious! 

Tropical Chop Salad with Cilantro Vinaigrette

Salad:

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 heirloom tomato, seeded and diced

2 c. black beans (I used cooked, dried, but canned is fine too)

1 c. chopped pineapple

1 star fruit, sliced

Vinaigrette:

2 c. cilantro

Juice of 1 lime

2 tbsp. red wine vinegar

1/4 c. EVOO

Salt and pepper

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tbsp. honey 

1 tbsp. pineapple juice

Add all salad ingredients except star fruit to a bowl, line with star fruit.

Add all vinaigrette ingredients to a blender, puree until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve salad with vinaigrette on the side.