July 4th Festivities...and recipe!

This year, our July 4th celebrations started on July 3rd with a cookout at my parents church. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans and lots of homemade desserts. It was all your good ole July 4th food, and it was good! They also had a quartet for entertainment. However, Little mostly liked exploring in the church courtyard where there is a fountain and lots of turtles that live there.The morning of the 4th, we went to a farm close to our house to pick blueberries with some of our friends. It was a great experience, and definitely something I would recommend taking toddlers to do. Even Little was picking the blueberries and eating them, though she mostly was interested in sticks and mulch.After we got home, my parents came over to grill out and swim.

I'll end this post with one of my new favorite recipes for Sweet Corn and Black Bean Salsa. I got this recipe from a friend's blog and made a few tweeks to it. You can also add red onion and red bell pepper if you like. I just left that off because red bell pepper has been so expensive lately at the grocery store. Yes, I'm cheap! Even without it though, this dip is wonderful!

Sweet Corn and Black Bean Salad
Ingredients:
2 ears of fresh corn, cut off cob (uncooked)
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup cilantro leaves, finely chopped

Combine all ingredients. Serve with tortilla chips.