Princess and the Pea Salad

Nevermind me.  I only have a week and a half to pack for a trip, go to the gym as many times as humanly possible to prepare for said trip in tropical location, do several (more than I need mention) loads of laundry, clean the house, do all of my room motherly duties, not to mention my motherly duties, with a new fascination for redecorating the house, and oh, I just found and promptly plucked a white hair. 

And my daughter turns 3 in three weeks.  My precious, darling only little girl who is growing up right before my eyes, wants a princess and prince party filled with every kind of chocolate-filled sweet imaginable, pink and blue decorations, and all her friends around her to celebrate.  And gosh darnit I am determined to give it to her.  I'm just not sure how I'm gonna pull it all off, at this point.

The best I've done is collected a few photos for inspiration and thought a bit about an easy, kid/adult/allergy friendly menu that would please everyone.  Key word: easy.  If I'm going to spend a week baking treats, I am not going to want to stay up all night cooking, too. 

There were a few menu items that were pretty popular at last year's party, that I'll consider preparing again, including BLT's (with Vegenaise & dairy free bread, note Iron Kids is no longer dairy free), soy butter and jam sandwiches, and Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese and smoked salmon sandwiches.  I may also add my Bean and Bacon soup, which any soup lover in her right mind will appreciate.  Add to that some fresh fruit, veggies with hummus, and an easy salad, and voila!  A feast fit for Cinderella herself.

Upon digging through my recipe binder, I found a cold Pea salad, shared by one of my fellow teachers, as it was such a big hit at one of our potlucks.  I hadn't thought about it in a while since it required mayonnaise.  But with much recent success with Vegenaise (contains soy), I decided to give it a go.  Couldn't be any easier than this!

Princess & the Pea Salad

32 oz frozen peas, unthawed (that's 2 bags--I like petite peas)
3-5 stalks celery, sliced
2 cups water chestnuts, cubed
3-5 green onions, sliced
handful of cilantro, chopped
1 cup Vegenaise
salt & pepper to taste

Add everything to a bowl and mix together.  Let sit to let flavors combine. 

Fast.  Easy.  Yummy!