Black-Eyed Pea Salad

Kind of fell off the map there, eh? I kind of went on a break from my regular life while on winter break, and that included the blog. Break was amazingly wonderful, and admittedly, I did very little in terms of fun and new and creative cooking. Instead, I got lots of sleep, read several books, put in time at the gym daily, put in even more time at the dog park, got together with friends. You know, the fun things that can't be your priority when you have work.

Even though it's the second week of January, I'm eating black-eyed pea salad in the hopes that it will bring belated luck. I really like black-eyed peas but rarely eat them, for whatever reason. This salad has a tangy dressing, but I (think) I like it. And I really like eating it out of a mason jar. Not only is it super cute, but it makes packing my lunch for 2-3 days at a time much easier. I'm all about saving time, so making a big salad like this and serving it over several jars at once saves time, but more importantly, reduces the number of times I ask myself, "What the hell am I going to eat for lunch?" Maybe these little lucky legumes are rubbing off already...

Weekend Glow Kale Salad

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered Oh She Glows, an amazing blog, and fell in love immediately. Not only does Angela have the same name as my big sister (bonus points), she shares the most incredible recipes. The first recipe I tried from her repetoire was the Weekend Glow Kale Salad. You can check out her post to read all the wonderful benefits of this salad, or just make it and enjoy!

My only issue with this recipe was the dressing, but I think the tahini was to blame. My dressing seemed too heavy and too much for the amount of salad. Next time I'm going to try fresh tahini and see how that works.

Edamame and Corn Salad

I wanted something easy and light to make for my lunches this week, because I've felt like a zombie lately and therefore want to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible. I'm also reading a terrific book (The Hangman's Daughter, if you're interested), so that, too, has consumed a lot of my time and interest. This recipe for Edamame and Corn salad, from Veganomicon, caught my eye because I love the namesake ingredients, and also have a weird affinity for sesame seeds... don't ask.

This recipe turned out fantastically. You might notice the peas in this picture, and, if you have the book, you might also notice that the recipe doesn't call for peas. I didn't have quite enough edamame as called for, so I threw in some frozen peas when I added the corn.

I'd also like to add that this recipe gets bonus points. Why? Because it uses some oils/vinegars that I don't use often, but they're handy to have because when you need them, well... you need them. I have a tiny kitchen with super limited storage, which I share with my omni mama. So yeah, picture trying to fit a well stocked vegan and non-vegan kitchen/cupboard in a tiny space. More than once, I've been asked, "Do you really need this oil? Do you need so many vinegars?" And the answer is always a dramatic, "Yes, mom." So, I was super happy to pull out the rice vinegar and sesame oil and say, "See? I use these."