A few days ago, my husband and I got back from a week long holiday in Seattle and Vancouver. It was a belated birthday trip for myself, and using a bunch of miles we practically flew for free. (Travel tip! : If you sign up with a southwest airlines rapid rewards visa card, you will get an enormous amount of miles. Two round trip tickets cost us all of $20 just in fees, and we have enough miles left over for another round trip ticket. SCORE!)

Now that we had all this money saved from not having to pay for airfare, we felt like we could eat wherever and whatever we wanted. AND WE DID. French fare at Le Pichet, pizza at Delancey, Katsu Burger, a seafood dinner that included the best of the best alder wood cooked Copper River salmon, cherry pie a la mode at Twede’s (the diner in Twin Peaks!), chili crab, award winning dimsum, Top Pot donuts, sandwiches at Salumi (twice!) etc etc etc.

So now that we are back and feeling like whales, we are still eating as much as we want as long as it is a plant and falls in the category: salad. I’m usually a pretty healthy eater, so I was really eager to get back to eating lots of green things. A trip to one of my favorite shops, the Green Grocer Chicago, yielded an enormous bunch of pea shoots—one of my favorite greens. Pea shoots have a light grassy, pea flavor and can even be a little sweet. The bunch I got even had little flowers. So pretty! I brought it home, did some online searching, and came up with a recipe for Sesame Pea-Shoot Salad. It was delicious and just what I needed. Pair it with some pan seared fish for a well rounded, healthy, and satisfying dinner. Or top with sticky ribs and donuts for a weird/scary indulgent one.

You can get pea shoots at Chinese grocery stores, farmers markets, or finer grocery stores. I can see this totally working for other more conventional greens and lettuces as well.

Sesame Pea-Shoot Salad
adapted from Epicurious

1 large bunch (about 6 cups packed) pea shoots, washed and spun dry
½ cup fresh or frozen and thawed peas
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
½ tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons soy sauce

1. Whisk together the rice vinegar, sesame oil, sesame seeds, sugar and soy sauce in the bottom of a large bowl.
2. Place pea shoots and the peas in bowl and toss until well coated.
3. Plate and enjoy!

Editor’s Note: this post is part of the series “A Sunday Ritual” by guest blogger Debbie Carlos.