Looking for a new summer side dish? I have a great one for you. This recipe is so easy that I do not even have photos of the steps because I think that you know how to open cans. Right?

You can make this early in the day and leave in the fridge until dinner time. Perfect for those days when you are going to be out of the house all day and just going to grill some hamburgers for dinner.

Also, it looks so pretty. Doesn’t it?

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

1/4 c Hellman’s Light Mayonnaise
2T lime juice
1/2tsp ground cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 cup quartered cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 c chopped red onion
2T chopped fresh cilantro (I left this out because I could not find any at my grocery store)

Combine mayonnaise, lime juice, and cumin in a medium sized bowl.

Stir in remaining ingredients.

Serve chilled or at room temperature.

This was loved by all. Except for the child who insists he doesn’t like beans, though I doubt that a bean has ever crossed his lips. So really he doesn’t count. The rest of my children said it was wonderful and that it should be made again and again. My eldest son even ate some of the leftover with his lunch, which says something because his general feeling is that leftovers are garbage that I store in the fridge.

So do you ever have questionable bananas but totally do not feel like baking banana bread?  And by questionable I mean bananas that now have slightly speckled skin and are therefore summarily rejected by the children who insist that they are rotten, even though they are not.

And do you also ever have stale bread?

Then this is the recipe for you. I have made this for people who have insisted that they hate bread pudding. Turns out they just hate dry bread pudding. Good bread pudding is just like French Toast on steroids.

You will need:

1/2 cup butter
loaf of stale French bread (or whatever) cut into cubes
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
4 cups half-n-half, (or milk if you want it to be lower fat, but really it is a dessert, a treat, and therefore should be high in calories and fat)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp vanilla
4-5 sliced bananas

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place your stick of butter in an 11″x13″ casserole pan. Stick it into the warming oven to melt the butter.

Once the butter is melted, remove baking dish from oven and stir in the cubed bread.

In a large bowl mix together all the other ingredients EXCEPT the bananas.

Pour the egg mixture over the bread and mix thoroughly. You want all the bread to be soaked. That is what makes it turn pudding-like. Then gently stir in the banana slices.

Place in the preheated oven and back for 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

You can eat it hot, right out of the oven, which is usually what happens with half of it,because my children do not have patience. Or you can put it in the refrigerator and let it chill, which is my personal favorite.

This entire pan was gobbled up in record time, with my children asking if I could buy rotten bananas again soon.