My girlfriends and I have recently started doing potluck dinners/wine nights. Is it a sign that I’m getting older that I would rather do that than go out?

Now, even though I am a dietitian, I love, love, love sweets. In fact, most dietitians I know feel the same way. So naturally, I volunteered to bring cupcakes.

How could you not want to share these works of art? Cupcakes from Swirlz Cupcakes in Chicago.

To balance things out, though, I wanted to make something a bit healthier. Lucky for me, the Green City Market is brimming with amazing veggies right now. Tons of varieties of tomatoes and peppers plus delicious sweet corn. Yum!

I wanted to also incorporate some pinto beans as I had a big bag to use up. Hmm, what could I make? Then I realized…Texas caviar! Even though the traditional recipe uses black eyed peas (cue “Boom, Boom, Pow”), I could easily replace them with pinto beans. I found this amazingly quick method from the Paupered Chef (only 90 minutes start to finish) to cook dried beans. Check out the dried beans below – so pretty, and a nutritional powerhouse. Per 1/2 cup of pinto beans, you’ll get 8 grams of protein, 7.7 grams fiber, 2 grams Iron, loads of potassium, and a slew of other vitamins and minerals. All for approximately 120 calories. Not too shabby.

Texas Caviar (inspired by this recipe I found on allrecipes.com):

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cooked pinto beans (or 1.5 cans, rinsed)
• 1 cup minced bell pepper
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, diced (I used amazing black cherry tomatoes)
• 1 ear of corn, cut off cobb (or about 1 cup frozen/thawed corn)
• 1/2 sweet onion, minced ) (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 small jalepeno, finely minced
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 3 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

• Heat de-cobbed corn for about 90 seconds in the microwave.
• Mix all ingredients together

Serve on top of tacos or salad, or as a dip with tortilla chips.