Lighten Up: Mexican Street Corn Salad

Ingredients:
-1/3 C wild rice blend or quinoa, cooked to directions
-1/2 C frozen corn
-1/4 C peppers (I used red sweet peppers and green bell) diced
-Onion (I typically use a couple rings diced up, not a whole lot, use more to preference)
-About 10-15 fresh cilantro leaves, cut up
-1/2 C light or fat free sour cream mixed with 2+ tsp of adobo sauce from chipotle peppers
-1/4 light or fat free feta or other preferred cheese (cojita would be more authentic, but I tend to only have feta on hand)
-Salt

Get the rice or quinoa cooking according to directions and put about a TB of butter or oil in a skillet on medium heat.  Add your peppers, onion, and a couple TB or so of water.  Pop a lid on that and let it steam for a five to eight minutes or so (more if you like soft veggies, less if you like crunchy). 

Now, authentic street corn is grilled but if you are like me you don't have a grill.  So, I cook mine in with my peppers in the skillet.  You lose that char, but it is all still really tasty.  Add your corn into the skillet and hit it with a little salt and a sprinkle of cilantro leaves. 

Drain your rice if needed when it is finished and add it and the veggies to a bowl.  Add the cheese and sour cream mixture and the remaining bits of cilantro leaves.  Give it a good stir, taste, and adjust salt and adobo sauce as needed.

I am refrigerating mine overnight and taking it to work for lunch.  This would also make a really tasty side dish.  You could also add chicken in to make it even more hearty if you wanted.

Traditional Mexican street corn involves mayo which is fine, but it is a really easy ingredient to swap out for something a little lighter like sour cream.  I ALWAYS have sour cream with my favorite Mexican foods anyway, so to me this just makes sense.

You can either eat this as is, but you also might consider stuffing this in a tomato for something different.  Lunches sometimes get boring, and I think this dish is a pretty good kick up from a sandwich.  I loved it right when I made it when it was warm, and have tasted it as it is getting cold in my fridge and think it is also delicious, so I fully believe it will be very versatile.

And it is colorful! What a fun perk.

My cilantro leaves are STILL just fine in my fridge.  I have had them in there weeks and weeks in a cup of water with a Ziploc bag popped down over the leaves.  I have them sitting on the bottom shelf of my door, and I am legitimately impressed with how long they have lasted.  Some of them will be finding their way to some chicken tortilla crockpot soup tomorrow...mmmmmm yummy!

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