Honey-Lime Oat and Black Bean Salad

Summer to me means salads. Not lettuce-based salads (bleh) but grain salads. Quinoa and couscous mostly, orzo sometimes, and occasionally new grains I've never had before. Cue me flipping through Canadian Living and finding Honey-Lime Oat and Black Bean Salad, which sounded fabulous and involved oat groats, which are minimally processed and so retain much of their nutrition. Well hey, as long as my local bulk store carries it, I'll try it!

So oat groats are pretty tasty, they look a bit like thick brown rice and have a nice nutty taste. Either they're a little chewy or I didn't cook them long enough - the water (2 cups to 1 cup groats) was all gone after simmering about 35 minutes, while the recipe states it should take 45. Hmmm. The other ingredients in the salad: 1 can black beans, 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes, 1 jalapeno, finely chopped, a little bit of diced red onion, 1/2 avocado, diced, and fresh cilantro.

Mix the vinaigrette: 3 Tbsp oil, 1 tsp lime zest, 3 Tbsp lime juice, 1 Tbsp honey, 1/4 tsp chili powder, and salt and pepper, and pour on! I think it was better the next day, once the dressing had soaked into the groats overnight in the fridge. A great south-western inspired side dish. My only complaint: not spicy enough! I wanted more lime and jalapeno, and less honey, but then again adding more heat to recipes is a recurring idea on this blog. Just can't get enough.