Moving is hard. It has now been 16 days (not including our week long drive out from one coast to the other) that we’ve been without our household goods. It can be difficult to eat well when you don’t have a kitchen, but you can make it happen! All you need is just a few basic kitchen items.
If you are moving, be sure to bring at least these items for the kitchen:
- Pot or pan, as big as you’re able to carry
- Mixing bowl, as large as you’re able to carry
- Knife, even just a small one
- Cutting board
- Large spoon for stirring
- Can opener
- zip-top bags for storage
Now unless you’re a badass master chef and/or MacGyver, you won’t be whipping up any gourmet meals with this sparse list of cooking utensils, but you’ll have enough to at least make some nice homemade meals. And after you’ve been eating out (cheaply, I might add) for any extended period of time, you start craving something homemade, something fresh, and something that doesn’t sit like a lead brick in your stomach.
This Black Bean and Corn Salad is not only healthy and delicious, but it can be made with the minimal kitchen items I noted above. The ingredients are all simple, quick and easy to prepare, and in-terms of spices only requires cumin, salt and pepper. Seriously, how easy is that!?
- 1-14 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1-14 ounce can corn, drained
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1 pint grape tomatoes, quartered
- ¼ cup cilantro, roughly chopped
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- kosher salt and black pepper to taste
- In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and toss well to combine. Serve and enjoy!
I just cooked up a pot of black beans and roasted a couple of ears of corn in my cast iron griddle with the intention of making this. Just thought I would check a few peoples recipes and saw yours. I guess this is almost a year since your move, but having done this a few times over the last 8 years, sometimes there are still things to do way down the road, at least in our case. Partly, inheriting things that need a lot of work! I love black bean, corn salads/salsas. I like to put jalepeno in, but don’t have that, so I may put a little scotch bonnet for some heat and maybe some feta cheese since you rarely see queso cheese here. One of my fav’s and maybe a sausage to go with.
Oh my gosh, I can’t believe we’ve been here for a year already! I swear we just got here – where does the time go?! I love a little heat in my dishes as well so adding a jalapeno or scotch bonnet sounds great to me! And of course adding sausage to just about anything is a winner!
Ooh, I bet you are SO ready to get settled with all your stuff, Kathleen! I’m impressed that you managed to make something so pretty though all the same. This is a really lovely salad – would be great with some grilled meat (once you get your grill – sorry to rub it in!!)
All the best as far as settling in goes! 🙂
Moving definitely isn’t fun! So glad you made it! This salad looks so good, I need to try it!
Such great tips for moving! I remember cooking scrambled eggs in a rice cooker once – we were having our stove replaced and the new one hadn’t arrived. But I was desperate for home cooking! 🙂
I love this salad! It would also be great wrapped up in a tortilla or as a chip dip!
It doesn’t get much easier…or much tastier… My family will love this salad! Thanks for sharing amidst your projects!!
I have zero idea how you are surviving!! Now THIS is sensational, it is so easy as you say, you barely need kitchen gear, you could almost make it without knife if it weren’t for the onion!! I can’t WAIT until your goods arrive so you can get back to cooking up a storm.
But for now, I’ll settle for a photo of you and the single chair that is your “study”! 🙂
Hey Kathleen! I just made a salad like this for dinner the other day. Such yums!!! And so good for you…you do not get the chance to feel bad 🙂
Okay, first of all- thank you for that list!! I am packing my kitchen as we speak and I set aside pretty much everything on your list as a “don’t pack me yet!”. It was nice to have a lil list to double check against! Second of all, thanks for sharing this salad! Looks great, and it’s a friendly (and much needed reminder) that simple & delish meals are still obtainable amongst the chaos of moving! Wishing you continued luck on the unpacking process!! Feeling your pain, girlfriend! Cheers! ♡
Moving is hard! I feel for you sister! We were in temp housing with my husband before we got to move into our house . . . love the list of essentials for the kitchen! I had packed a “first off the truck box” and labeled it accordingly. . and the movers placed the box in the very back of the truck, which I got last, at the end 😛 Ah, moving!!!!! well, I love the black bean and corn salad! this is the kind of food I live off of in the summer!
This is one of my favorite salads, you can do so much with it and I love the kitchen moving tips.
It’s versatility is one of the things I love about it too! It makes for a great dip for tortilla chips too 😉
This sounds very nice, but I’m surprised it is not ‘dressed’ at all. I’m thinking maybe a little lime juice would be nice for that. I would probably add the lime juice. (But then again, I’m not moving!)
Ah! Omg, Susan you are my recipe hero! I totally forgot to list the lime I used! Wow, talk about a mind reader too 😉 I’m going to update it now! Thanks! 🙂
What an inventive column! Welcome to your new home, you two! I love this idea for a “moving” dish!
Thanks, Suzanne! We’re settling in nicely and having fun exploring our new neighborhood 🙂
Kathleen you work wonders with just 6 little items… Simple and delicious and a complete meal just open up a bag of tortilla chips! Hopefully your things will be coming along soon.
Thanks BAM! Ha, a bag of tortilla’s with this dish is exactly what I do 😉 Actually, we just heard that our items will arrive tomorrow – yay!!! Let the unpacking begin! 🙂
So true. I love going out to eat and ordering out, but it’s tiring after a while. You do crave something homemade and lighter. This Black Bean and Corn Salad looks delicious! I can eat the whole bowl as is without any accompaniment.
Thanks, Thao! I love going out to eat too, especially in a new town and one with such a wonderful food culture as this one! But I start to crave something homemade, even if it’s just a quick little salad 🙂