Corn Bread Salad...

A little prep work went a loooooooooooooooong way in throwing together a super quick and AWESOMEEEEEEEEEEE salad last night!  Salads can be a pretty drab way to start a Monday sometimes, so it is just SO. VERY. EXCITING. when we find one that is soooooooo good!!!  Last night we made a Corn Bread salad (based on this recipe) with almost every color of the rainbow :)....LOVE....

I got started on Sunday night by making the cornbread for the croutons (the rest of the cornbread will make an appearance later this week;).  I mixed:

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons rosemary (optional...I had it in the fridge for extra flava! :)

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.  Make a well in the center and add all of the wet ingredients.  Mix until JUST combined and pour into a 8x8 pan.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

The cornbread was nice and cool for Monday night, when I diced in into 1 inch pieces and placed the cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet. 

Toast the cubes for 8-10 minutes at 400 degrees or until golden brown.  Watch closely because they will turn QUICKLY.  They don't need to be SUPER toasted since they will crisp up once they sit for a few minutes outside of the oven as well. 

The other prep I did on Sunday night was taking the nice green & yellow wax beans I got fresh from the market on Saturday (IN SEASON AND SO CHEAP!) and trimmed off the ends and cut them into 1 inch pieces.  I let them boil in salt water for about 10 minutes and let them cool overnight in the fridge. 

I also took a handful of the cherry tomatoes and drizzled them with olive oil and popped them in the toaster oven for about 20 minutes until they were nice & caramelized.

OK, I know it sounds like a lot of prep work, but honestly it all took MAYBE a half hour and VERY worth it when all we had to do was chop up a few more vegetables & mix the dressing and was DONE for the night:)  At the bottom of a large bowl I whisked together:

• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Salt & Pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon honey

Once the dressing was mixed, into the bowl went:

• The boiled & cooled green & wax beans
• Roasted tomatoes
• 1 diced red pepper
• 2 handfuls of torn fresh basil
• 1 can of kidney beans
• 3 diced scallions
• 1/2 a bag of frozen corn, roasted on the stove & cooled
• Rosemary cornbread croutons

And my secret weapon for the evening:  Honey Goat Cheese.....

Mix, mix, mix and DONE!  I layered a few leaves of red leaf lettuce on the plates and topped them with my bean/pepper/goat cheese/cornbread mixture.  And let me tell ya, it was soooooooooooooo good....

The mild flavors of the green beans, corn & red beans mixed SOOO well with the tangy mustard 'dressing' and the honey kissed goat cheese!  Goat cheese is one of those great ingredients because you don't need a lot of it to create a BIG flavor, plus the soft textures swirls & coats ALL of the salad so well!  HUGE flavor boost!!

And along with the goat cheese, the other star ingredient was the fresh cornbread croutons!  Just the perfect combination of crunchy outside and tender cornbread crumbs on the inside:) YUM!

So a definite winner in our books!  We LOVVVVVVVVVVVVED this and will be making it again VERY soon, I'm sure!  Yet another dish you MUST try while all of the vegetables are looking so lovely:)

And also perfect for this RIDICULOUSLY HOT weather we're having this summer.  BLEH!  It's horrid!  Countdown to Labor Day has commenced:)  Have a good Tuesday:)