A Tale of Two Southwestern Black Bean Recipes- a dip and a side dish

I've been making a southwest black bean dip recipe for several years now. I found the recipe here and have varied it just slightly from the recipe on that site. I like to serve this when we're having people over for dinner. I include it with the appetizers. It's nice to have a non cheese/ sour cream/ cream cheese based appetizer in my repertoire. And everyone seems to really like it so there's that, too :).

I recently found a southwest black bean side dish recipe.  I've only made it twice but know I will be making it again many times. It's a side dish that could be turned in a main dish if more protein were added to it.

Both recipes contain a jalapeno pepper, black beans, cilantro, corn and other veggies. The main difference is that for the dip, after the veggies are placed in a bowl, they are drenched in Italian dressing. The dressing transforms the veggies into a dip. Our preference is to dip tortilla chips in it. So, not exactly healthy when it's all said and done/ dipped BUT it is very tasty and you're consuming some veggies so it's not all bad. The side dish is healthier. After the veggies are placed in a bowl, they are tossed with a homemade olive oil based dressing and a cup of cooked quinoa is added.

Here is the recipe for the Southwestern Black Bean Dip

Ingredients:
15 oz can black beans, rinsed
15 oz can corn, drained (or 1 3/4 cup fresh corn)
3 tomatoes, chopped (I use a can of petite diced tomatoes)
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, ribs and seeds removed, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro (or more or less based on how much you like cilantro)
1 teaspoon cumin, salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup zesty Italian dressing.

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl. Enjoy with tortilla chips or crackers.

Here is the recipe for Southwestern Black Bean, Quinoa and Mango Pineapple Salad

15 oz can black beans, rinsed
1 cup fresh or frozen corn
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1 jalapeno pepper, ribs and seeds removed, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 cup chopped mango (I subbed pineapple and will continue to do so...)
1 cup cooked quinoa

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl.

Dressing-
Juice from one medium lime
1 1/2 TBSP olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder

Wisk dressing ingredients together and then add to the veggie/ quinoa mixture.

Note: I omitted some items that both of the original recipes had in them. One great thing about a recipe that doesn't call for the ingredients to be baked is the ability to omit or substitute anything that you wish to omit or sub.

Some pictures of the black bean dip:

Here are some pics of the black bean quinoa side dish before the quinoa was added. I love all the colors of this dish. I was a bit skeptical of adding fruit to a dish with mostly veggies; I needn't have worried- the flavors all came together so well.