Sunday's Salad/Vegetable Slaw with Blackeyed Peas and Roasted Sunflower Seeds

A friend of mine will come for lunch or dinner, sit down to eat, and more often than not ask, "Is this recipe on your blog?" My response will typically be, "No." And then she'll ask rather emphatically, "And why not???

So today, in honor of my friend :), you are getting a very simple recipe that I love, but would typically think it to be too mundane to post.

Here in the U.S., we have a store called Trader Joe's. The environment is kinda happy hippy for lack of a better description. What I especially like is that a healthy lunch can be had with just the combination of a few ingredients, and even easier, because all the preparation has been taken care of. With that said, everything for this salad can easily be prepared as well.

I purchase a bag of broccoli slaw, pretty easy to find these days. A container of chopped vegetables. This is a combination of chopped broccoli, carrots, jicama, green and purple cabbage, radishes, celery, and green bell pepper. Of course, you can add or delete depending upon your taste if you are chopping your own vegetables.

I love Melissa's steamed blackeyed peas, but a 14 oz. can of blackeyed peas that have been rinsed and drained will work just fine. 

And finally the dressing. I like the Asian Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette, but any dressing would actually work, depending upon your taste.

Not pictured above is 1 last ingredient, 1/2 cup of toasted sunflower seeds. With the combination of the peas and the seeds, the salad is chock full of protein. If you would like, 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa would make a nice addition and add more protein.   

Couldn't be easier, just dump everything in a bowl, stir and enjoy. With a lot of salads like this, it's advised to allow the salad to sit so the flavors can intermingle. I never wait, I dump, stir, and serve!
If you would like a printable recipe, you can find it HERE.

Last winter, I tried out a cottage cheese pancake recipe that I found at A Garden For the House. These pancakes have become an absolute favorite in my house. I made a batch this morning, and my husband literally stood over the stove waiting with anticipation!!!

Rather than strawberries, I did a mixture of peaches and blueberries. My husband said that he thought he liked the mixture better than the plain strawberries. I had 6 peaches and about 2 cups of blueberries. Added 1/2 cup of sugar and then poured the fruit and sugar mixture into a baking dish and roasted at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.

A note on skinning the peaches...
I boiled a pot of water and then placed the peaches in the boiling water for just about a minute or so. The skins are then quite easy to remove. 

So, I think my friend will be happy ;) And hopefully you as well! The salad is really quite nice and makes a great lunch during the week. 
Enjoy!
Rhonda