Charred Corn Salad with Tomatoes and Avocados Recipe (2024)

This is a guest post by Pamela Salzman with PamelaSalzman.com. Her blogwas introduced to me by Shawn (our FB Moderator). Pamela’sInstagram feed always leaves me feeling hungry, so I thought you guys would love a guest recipe from her today! :)

Hi, 100 Days of Real Food readers! I’m Pamela Salzman and I am guest posting today while Lisa and her family take some much-deserved time off. I am a Los Angeles based natural foods cooking instructor and holistic health counselor. I am a big fan of Lisa’s, and I share her mission of educating families about the importance of eating real food.

My Story

I was fortunate to grow up with parents who believed in cooking real food as much as possible, even growing fruits and vegetables at home. It wasn’t until I had children of my own that I became much more interested in nutrition and food as medicine. At the same time, I also realized how many of the parents I knew never learned how to cook from scratch and often relied on processed and refined foods for their family meals.

Years ago, I was in a cooking group with some friendswhere a chef would come to one of our homes and teach us how to cook 4-5 recipes every month. She was notfocused on natural andunrefined foods, so I was always whispering to my friends, “I’m going to sub whole wheat flour for that” or “I think coconut oil would be a better choice.” Eventually the group asked me to take over the class because they were more interested in learning how to feed their families whole food based meals without stressing out and breaking the bank.That started mybusiness, and I now teach cooking classes full time.

Picky Eaters

The emphasis in my classes is always on unrefined, minimally processed, seasonal food that is family friendly. Sometimes I’ll teach a recipe and someone will say, “My kid would never eat that.” But what I also emphasize in my classes is that creating healthy eaters is a journey. One meal or one recipe doesn’t predict a child’s future eating habits and isn’t a reflection on our parenting skills.

The path to creating healthy eaters is about modeling good eating habits, providing a wide variety of nutritious foods, and being a little flexible, too. I never make two dinners in one night because I don’t have that kind of time, and my kids need to get the message that they should be eating like their parents. My youngest child is rather picky, but every year he becomes a little less so, which encourages me to stay the real food course!

Fresh Summer Corn

This charred corn salad recipe was a big hit in my classes last summer as well as with my family and friends.Corn has gotten a bit of a bad rap the last few years because of the fact that field corn is almost always genetically modified, which means that it has been genetically altered in a lab to produce its own pesticides internally. But field corn is not what we put on the grill and eat off the cob — that is sweet corn. Although there is genetically modified sweet corn out there, most of it is not GMO. If you want to be sure you are buying non-GMO corn, look for certified organic.

This corn salad is the epitome of summer – a little char on the corn, juicy summer tomatoes, and a bit of smokey chipotle chili powderto highlight the smokiness from the corn. You can assemble this ahead of time and keep it refrigerated. My picky eater will happily eat this salad without the dressing or green onions, and I gladly oblige since that is an easy win-win for both of us.

I hope you enjoy this beautiful and delicious charred corn salad many times this summer!