Happy Belated Birthday

Tonight I celebrated my birthday, the birthday of my step-mom's husband, and his grandson. Like most folks our family tree has its share of twists.

I volunteered to make something to bring and figured this would be a great excuse to make something from the file.

My step-mom, Gena, asked for a vegetable salad so I decided to make two. Corn and Black Bean Salad and Wilted Spinach Salad.

Corn and Black Bean Salad by Joanna H. a good friend from Castro Valley, CA

1/3 C. Lemon Juice 2 Green Onions sliced
1/4 C. Minced Cilantro 1 15oz Can Black Beans (drained)
1/1/2 Teaspoon Sugar 1 large Red Pepper Chopped
1 Clove Garlice minced 1 15oz Can Corn Kernels
1 Jalapeno pepper, stemmed, seeded and minced

Mix lemon juice, cilantro, sugar, garlic, jalapeno and 2 Tablespoons water. Mix onions, beans, red pepper and corn. Add dressing to beans and salt to taste.

Wilted Spinach Salad by Gena G. my step-Mom
Cut roots and tough stems from 1 pound young spinach. Wash thoroughly. Drain and break into bite sized pieces. Slice 6 green onions and mix with spinach.
Bacon Dressing
Saute 3 slices of bacon until crisp. Remove from pan, drain and reserve bacon fat. Beat together 1 egg, 1 Tablespoon Sugar, 1 Tablespoon Tarragon Vinegar, 1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar. Pour slowly into warm bacon fat stirring constantly until slightly thickened. Season to taste. Pour over spinach and toss well. Crumble bacon and sprinkle over salad. Serve immediately.

The Corn and Bean Salad was great. I made way too much, probably because I doubled the recipe using 1 can black beans and 1 can kidney beans. I found the salad was missing something so I added about a 1/4 C. of olive oil and seasoned liberally with salt.

The Spinach Salad was also great. What's not to like about bacon and bacon fat? I boiled a few eggs and put them on the side to use as a garnish for those who like them on their salad.

For my birthday, I was given a new digital camera and was able to use it to take pictures of these two dishes.