Black Eyed Peas

I'm not much of a cook. In fact if you came to our house for dinner, most of the time you would find me making something simple and easy like pot stickers from Cos*tco, spaghetti, or sloppy joes. If it takes me more than an hour to do, I skip it. I guess you could say that I don't exactly have a passion for cooking. However, there are some days my brain steps into high gear, I get an inkling for something different, and become motivated enough to make it. Yesterday was one of those days. With all of the heavy foods we ate over vacation (not to mention the four pounds I put on), I felt like making a salad. I just hoped my husband would go for a salad for dinner, since he's usually a meat and potatoes kind of guy. I already had some chicken thawing, so I pulled out an old cookbook and started perusing. This is what I came up with....

Chicken 'n Peas Tostada Salad
4 bone/skinless chicken halves
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp olive oil
2 c torn red leaf lettuce
2 cup iceberg lettuce
2 cup torn spinach leaves
1 cup frz peas, thawed
1 cup canned blackeyed peas, rinsed, drained

1/4 c kernal corn

3 roma tomatoes, chopped

4 green onion, sliced (of course I omitted because I can't stand onion)

1/4 c fresh cilantro

1 cup shredded jack cheese

1 cup crushed tortilla chips

sour cream

cilantro sprigs

Cut chicken breasts into strips and place in medium bowl. Add chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, lime juice, and olive oil; strip to coat chicken. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes, stirring once. Remove chicken from marinade with slotted spoon. In large nonstic frypan with cooking spray, place chicken and saute' over medium heat about 5 minutes or until lightly browned and no longer pink. In large bowl, place spinach, red leaf lettuce, and iceberg lettuce. Toss gently and add sweet peas, black eyed peas, corn, tomatoes, green onions, and cilantro. Add cheese and tortilla chips, toss gently. To serve, place salad mixture on platter and arrange chicken strips on top. Garnish with sour cream and cilantro sprigs. Makes 4 servings.

Dressing: In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 c white wine vinegar, 3 tbsp lime juice, 3 tbsp honey, 1/2 tsp garlic pepper, and 1/4 tsp crushed pepper flakes.

I was missing a couple ingredients for the dressing, so we did just use what dressing we had in the fridge, but it was still very good. I loved how summery it tasted. We had fresh cilantro from our garden too (which was quite potent, but yummy). And I was even surprised to see that my hubby liked it, and even brought leftovers to work the next day. The girls however, not so much. I figured they wouldn't like it so much (especially since neither are salad fans), but to their credit they did try it, and Kyra even ate about half of hers (although I think she had more dressing in her bowl than salad). So, there you have it. A recipe from the chef boyr*dee! Of course don't you just love the stale hot dog bun we use as garlic bread! Oh well, works for us. I must have really been in a cooking mood, because later that evening I made banana split banana bread! Hmmm....now there's something the kids DID like.