Recipe Thursday: Avocado Bean Salad (& shop news)

One of our all-time favorite treats is the Barefoot Contessa's Avocado Bean salad. With color, texture, flavor, and fresh ingredients, this salad really has it all. It's so delicious, you'll be hard pressed not to devour the entire bowl, even though the following recipe serves six.

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and 1/2-inch diced
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 c. small diced red onion
2 tbsp. minced jalapeno peppers, seeded (2 peppers)
1/2 tsp freshly grated lime zest
1/4 c. freshly squeezed lime juice (2 limes)
1/4 c. olive oil
1 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
2 ripe avocadoes, seeded, peeled, and 1/2-inch diced

1. Place the tomatoes, yellow pepper, black beans, red onion, jalapeño peppers, and lime zest in a large bowl.
2. Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic, and cayenne pepper and pour over the vegetables.
3. Toss well.
4. Just before you're ready to serve, fold the avocados into the salad.

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And in shop news: The ric rac has landed!
And it's absolutely gorgeous! Here's a sampling of all the new colors. The first photo shows the velvet options, while the second photo shows the velveteen. You'll notice the scallops of the velveteen are slightly rounder; it also has a thicker pile. These are from different manufacturers and, ironically, the measurement of 3/8" wide differs slightly between styles -- the velvet is about 1/16" wider while the velveteen is spot on 3/8". Go figure. You can find these here.