Black Bean Salad

Black beans were taken to Europe by the Spanish and Portuguese from Central and South America. They are most commonly known in Spanish as "frijoles negros" and as "feijões pretos" in Portuguese. Black beans have remained a moderate to major part of the cuisines of a number of Central and South American cultures, as well as the cuisines of a number of Caribbean islands, including Puerto Rico. 

Ingredients:

2 cans (15 to 16 ounce each) black beans, drained, then rinsed
3/4 cup chopped sweet red pepper
1/3 cup thinly sliced carrot (I use the slicing side of an old vegetable grater)
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
2/3 cup Feta or Cotija cheese, crumbled
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro (also known as "coriander")
1/2 cup mayonnaise (low fat type is fine, or you can substitute yogurt)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon ground white pepper (or black pepper)
1 teaspoon salt

Rinse and drain the beans (drain VERY well), then add the beans to a large bowl. Add the chopped red pepper, the thinly sliced carrot, the finely chopped red onion, the crumbled or grated cheese and the cilantro. Mix together well. In a cup or bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, the extra virgin olive oil, the lemon juice, the white pepper and the salt, then add this to the beans and vegetables. Mix well to coat the beans and vegetables. Refrigerate the salad for a minimum of 1 to 2 hours.

WORD HISTORY:

Litter-This word is distantly related to "law," a word from Germanic, but borrowed with the sense, "that which is set down and put in place," from Old Norse, a North Germanic cousin of English; and, to "lair," "lay," and "lie" (the form meaning "to lie down, to sleep or rest in a horizontal position"), all words from the Germanic roots of English. It goes back to Indo European "legh," which meant, "to lie flat, to lie down, to lay;" thus also, "to sleep or rest in a flat position." This gave Latin the noun  "lectus," meaning "bed, couch" (a place to lie down to rest and sleep), and then the derived Latin "lectaria," meaning, "an easily carried bed." This passed to Latin-based Old French as "litière," meaning, "an easily carried bed, a stretcher," but also, "a bed of straw," with this meaning likely from French "lit," meaning "bed," and itself from the above mentioned Latin "lectus." English borrowed the word circa 1300, seemingly from the form "litere," used by French-speaking descendants of the Normans in England. The "straw bed" meaning came to be applied to "animal bedding," with the birth of two or more such animals there from one pregnancy thus acquiring the name "a litter." Further, the use of the straw by animals made it "disposable;" thus, the meaning "debris, refuse" developed in about the mid 1700s, which gradually broadened into "debris strewn about," which spawned the compound "litterbug" around 1950 in American English, "perhaps" patterned after "jitterbug."