It has been hot, hot, hot the past few days and the only things I’ve been able to eat are light salads or fruit. Not too shabby of a diet, if I do say so myself, especially since I’ve been living in a bikini! To change up my typical veggie-topped spinach salad for dinner, I decided to create my own Black-Eyed Pea Salad the other night. It was the perfect summer meal with fresh, seasonal ingredients, plus super filling!
Ingredients
3 tomatoes
3 corn on the cobs
3 cans of black-eyed peas
A bunch of green onions
1/2 of a red bell pepper
1/2 of a jalapeño
1 cucumber
1 garlic clove, minced
Juice from half of a lemon
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
First things first, get your grill fired up. After shucking off the husks, lightly brush each ear of corn with olive oil and place on the grill rack. (You can soak your corn for 2 to 4 hours prior to grilling if preferred. I got lazy and listened to my stomach instead of my head (oops?), although I honestly can’t tell a difference between soaked and not-soaked grilled corn.)
While the corn gets all toasty and lightly charred, begin preparing the other ingredients. FYI: The order in which you do so doesn’t matter. Open the cans of black-eyed peas, rinse and drain thoroughly. Blot with a paper towel until dry, if necessary.
Once the corn is ready, remove it from the grill and set aside to cool down. Dice up the tomatoes and bell pepper. Slice and quarter the cucumbers. Chop the jalapeño and mince the clove of garlic.
Carefully cut the corn off the cob and combine all the ingredients together! Whisk the dressing (the red wine vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil) before drizzling over the salad. Mix everything thoroughly and chill before serving.
As you can see, I topped mine with avocado slices! So colorful, so good. Bon appétit!
Do you get sick of the same old salad? How do you change ‘em up for a new and improved meal?
Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren
