@Smithy Thanks! I find that many people are under cooking their legumes. Mealiness is defiantly not something any well cooked bean should be. In salads in particular, it is important to cook them very well since the starch hardens as it cools (just like pasta salads - you don't want al dente pasta in those). It is also true for other dishes. For example, I often see people mention peeling chickpeas for hummus making. I find it absurd, because no restaurant will go through this work. The right thing is to cook it long enough the skins are meltingly tender 
A good slow cook, or pressure cooker are needed, as well as an overnight soak in salted water.
As for the salad - the dressing is a simple vinaigrette - olive oil, wine vinegar, some garlic; with some juices from the roasted peppers. Green beans or asparagus, some arugula, I like the eggs grated, but they can be sliced instead.
Edit to add: I noticed you said you got them frozen, this makes me think that you had green lima beans. I never cooked those (we don't get them here). I used dry mature beans here.
