A few weeks ago I dined at an amazing soul food joint in San Jose and my taste buds can’t stop craving the flavors, so I wanted to find a healthy, easy-to-make soul food dish for you to make at home.

After browsing through different cooking sites, I found a recipe that sounded so summer perfect! This refreshing blackeyed pea salad comes from New York’s Soul Food Queen, Mrs Sylvia Woods, another soul food chef turned healthy. You may have seen her products at your local grocery (collard greens, yams and more)

This recipe takes a little under 10 minutes to prepare unless you can’t find a can opener, then you might need to run out and get one.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups canned black-eyed peas, drained

¾ cup chopped green bell pepper

½ cup chopped celery

½ cup chopped red onion

¼ cup chopped onion

¼ cup Splenda or sweetener

½ teaspoon of salt n peppa

1 garlic clove, minced

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

½ teaspoon of hot sauce

Preparation:

Combine black-eyed peas, bell pepper, celery, red onion and onion in a large bowl; set aside.

Combine Splenda granular, salt, pepper, garlic, vegetable oil, vinegar and Sylvia’s Hot Sauce; whisk until blended. Pour dressing over black-eyed pea mixture, tossing gently to coat. Cover and chill overnight.

If you’re watching your fat, calories and carb intake, this is a great salad to keep in your fridge at all times. The fibrous blackeyed peas will fill you up and the apple cider vinegar has been shown to aid in weight loss.  If you’re not watching your weight, eat this anyway! It’s delicious!