Which food, when you eat it, instantly transports you to childhood?
My mom made it in the electric frying pan she cooked everything in. She made little wells in the canned hash and put eggs in them. Two for each of us. I ate it like it was ambrosia.
I make that dish for myself sometimes. Not often. But I think of my little nuclear family and all the cheap meals we thought were special.
Mom did some good things.
I was asked how I cook black-eyed peas for the big meal on New Year’s Day. Now, if you’re used to reading monetized blogs, you’re probably ready to have to read a long story, scroll past many repetitive ads, and suffer through much blathering to get to the recipe (or knitting/crochet pattern, etc.).
This blog is for me and random people who care about nature, horses, and/or anxiety, so no monetizing will occur. And I just have a brief story about black-eyed peas at New Year’s.
I have mentioned that this is my favorite meal probably every year since 2018 and no doubt I mentioned it in my two earlier blogs as well. I like to blog and eat peas, usually not simultaneously. I love this meal for the flavors, but also because it’s one of the few connections I have with the past few generations of my family. Rural families in the Deep South always must have their peas for good luck and greens for money (the meaning varies).
In my family growing up, that meant black-eyed peas cooked with ham hock, rice to put the beans on (not cooked together), collard greens cooked with more ham hock or bacon, cornbread, and green onions sliced up for garnish. You were encouraged to put homemade hot pepper vinegar or something similar on the beans. I thought this was a gourmet meal, not very inexpensive ingredients combined to be delicious. I did realize it was also what Black people ate, since we exchanged dishes with black friends (in the 60s that was my grandmother’s maid and her extended family).
I still make the same meal, carefully passed down from grandmother to mother to older sister to me. Its ingredients vary depending on what’s available, but it’s always good. I do. Now I have to add a pork loin or ham for people who insist on a slab of meat at each meal. Traditions change! It’s all good. Okay, recipes, or guidelines:
Note: ideally start this the night before
Ingredients
Night before or early in the morning, rinse the peas and cover with a lot of water. Soak overnight in a large pot or at least four hours. Beans will expand.
Next day drain and rinse the peas and return to the pot. Cover with the broth (this adds flavor; vegetarians can use vegetable broth and skip the meat). You will probably have to add water to keep the peas (really beans) covered. Add onion, meat, and seasonings.
Bring the liquid to a boil. Do not be concerned if there’s scummy froth; just stir it back in. Turn down the heat and let cook until you have the right amount of delicious liquid in with the solids, then cover and simmer a long time.
The key is to cook them to the mushy stage. So I cook at least three hours. The longer it cooks, the more the flavors merge.
Serve over rice and top with green onions and any hot sauce you like. But taste it first. It’s so good.
Chop the greens. Important: slice off the thick stems. Fold the leaf over and you can quickly eliminate them, so your chickens can eat them. Greens are more pleasant to eat without stems. But some people like them. Chop them enough that people won’t get huge long strips of them on their forks.
This will look like a lot of greens. It isn’t. They shrink.
Put them and the onions in a pot big enough to cover them. Add 1-2 cups of liquid and cook covered on high, stirring a couple of times until they are wilted and you see there really aren’t that many.
Add the meat and seasonings. Simmer a ridiculously long time. You can eat them after an hour or so, but the flavors develop during the long cooking time.
Serve along with the peas and rice. Use cornbread to soak up extra cooking liquid (pot likker).
If you are lucky enough to have leftover cornbread and greens, pour warmed up liquid over a slice of cornbread and eat it for breakfast.
Yeah. That was concise…not really.
I just noticed in my stats that certain posts are getting lots of hits. Since US Thanksgiving is coming, I should reshare my two recipes using whole cranberries. Make a double batch of the first one and then make the second from leftovers:
I also make really good cornbread dressing that also has some breadcrumbs in it. When affordable, I add oysters. This year I am trying smoked oysters, from a recipe in a magazine.
I believe these are among the few things I cook well other than New Year’s dinner as my family ate it. Maybe I’ll add black eyed peas and collards to my collection.
I do love cranberries, to get back on topic. Anita’s making a cranberry dessert for us on Thursday. I can’t wait. And oops. I forgot to get a can of the sauce other people eat. No worries. The local grocery store will have tons of it.
Few things are as frustrating as reading a cookbook all about a specific ingredient, knowing full well that you are completely out of that ingredient. But I did it, I read this fascinating rice cookbook in one of the very few times in my adult life that I was out of rice.
I thought there was another giant bag of rice in the freezer, but there wasn’t. Luckily, Lee got me some Basmati rice today when he grocery shopped. But now that I’ve read The Simple Art of Rice, by JJ Johnson (with Danica Novgorodoff), I know I need more kinds of rice, like my beloved sushi rice, brown rice, and black rice.
I discovered this book the way I discover so many, on an NPR interview. It’s a good thing I’m not in the car listening as much as I used to, because I found two books in one day driving to and from College Station.
Anyway, this book is gorgeous, with lovely photos of the rice dishes from many cultures as well as elegant watercolor illustrations by the co-author. I love a substantial hardback book.
Most importantly, the content is interesting, with a nice mix of rice history, stories of cultural ties to rice, some science, and a well rounded collection of recipes that Johnson collected from workers at the many restaurants where he’s worked.
Now JJ Johnson is a famous rice chef, but I enjoyed how he didn’t re-do traditional recipes, just added a little to some. I enjoyed learning African, Asian, Caribbean, and American traditions and how they are interrelated, often due to the forced African diaspora to North America and the islands around it.
Most of the recipes would be easy to try for the average cook. They all sound very flavorful. Some call for special ingredients from cultures whose grocery stores are not near Milam County, Texas, but maybe I can get some in Austin. I expect I’d be the only one to eat some of the ones I’d like to try most, because they’re full of cilantro, very hot peppers, and the dreaded curry. But that would give me more leftovers!
I suspect my family would love some of the desserts, though. And dishes I know they love are in there…with so many variations of beans and rice! We eat that!
All in all, I had a blast reading the stories, interviews, and cultural nuggets in this book. The recipes are like a delicious bonus! This is a great addition to any collection of cookbooks, especially of home cooking.
Write about your most epic baking or cooking fail.
I’m sure I’ve had plenty of cooking fails, but I must admit that meals I cook don’t stick in my memory, good or bad. It’s just not a part of my life that I think about much.
Cooking is something I did a lot of in my younger years. I enjoyed it when I was trying new things and feeding my kids. I’m grateful that the kids’ dad ate pretty much anything I made and seemed to like it. That encouraged me. He ate a lot to fuel his cycling and running.
I don’t have as much fun cooking today, for a variety of reasons. We rarely are all home at the same time. Lee has started wanting to eat at 5 pm or earlier, like the old people we used to make fun of with their Early Bird Specials. The other man here works late and often eats around 8. Then there are all the things various folks can’t or don’t want to eat, healthy eating choices versus other choices.
Every so often one of us will cook a nice meal, and we all enjoy it. I’m quite fond of everyone’s choices. Mostly we just scrounge, as we call it.
What was the question? Oh yes. I asked Lee if he remembered a particularly icky meal, and he said he couldn’t remember exactly what it was, but that we threw it out and went to a restaurant. That sounds bad.
One cooking error I remember was when I was in my twenties. We made a huge batch of ice cream, and when it was finished we saw the bottle of vanilla extract, which hadn’t been opened. Luckily, the iced cream was still very good.
I’m pretty sure I made banana bread with no sugar once, too.
Sorry this was pretty dull, but hey, I committed to answering each WordPress prompt this month!
My actual day was mostly quite fun. Work was interesting and full of good conversation, and we went and looked at a potential house to renovate later.
One negative part of the day was that I got my flu shot for this year, and got it on the wrong arm. No horse lunging today! I also have been enjoying a fever. It’s a tiny price to pay for no flu.
The other negative part was that a swarm of tiny biting flies attacked me this morning, when I was wearing shorts and had exposed arms. They hurt almost as badly as horseflies and it lingered. The stiff breeze seems to have blown them away.
Just in case, I put fly spray on all the horses. I’m sure glad I have such a friendly herd that come right up to me and let me spray them.
That’s it. I’ll leave you with one more meal from my handy photo search for “food” tgat brought you today’s pictures.
Every time we come to South Carolina we make sure to go on the Waccamaw River cruise. We were going to go tomorrow, but the forecast calls for rain. So I took the afternoon off and we went today.
We were surprised to see the odd little zoo that used to be on the road to the launch area was gone. No more zebras. All I saw were more wild turkeys. The zoo owners were getting very old and having trouble finding workers, so the animals went to another zoo. The peacocks just moved over to the boat area.
As usual I took a lot of pictures of plants and animals, including some I hadn’t seen there before. I just love swamp plants. And I keep finding new (to me) dragonflies, too.
Thanks for bearing with me on all my nature photos. I know they are endless. Anyway, off we went on the tour. We sat in back to be far away from the captain spiel. There weren’t many birds, just a blue heron and lots of ospreys. We saw two ospreys enjoying their fish catches together.
There weren’t many turtles and we only saw one alligator (I spotted it). That’s because there was a very light rain, which was quite pleasant. I didn’t sweat at all!
I just enjoyed looking at the cypress, tupelo, oak, and pine trees, along with many flowers. It was a wonderful reminder of what the world looks like when left alone. It also helped me remember how small we humans and our problems are.
We drove around and looked at housing developments and such, then had dinner at the nice German-Austrian restaurant near the condo. I had cabbage rolls. They were huge.
We actually didn’t have to leave the condo to see cool wildlife today, though. An osprey was flying around the building right up close to us, and we got to watch a pod of dolphins cruising in the ocean, right from the balcony. Add all the pelicans and fish crows, and that’s good nature watching!
Ok, now send someone you like a text!
This morning I set out to see how the flowers and insects are doing here at the Hermits’ Rest. I needed some Nature Time and wanted to see if I could locate and dwarf blue-eyed grass, winecups, or Texas baby blue eyes. I knew they should be up by now.
I enjoyed walking on our property all the way to the creek and back. The bluebonnets and paintbrush plants are going to seed, but there’s lots of other plants to see.
It seemed like almost every flower had an insect or two getting nectar or pollen (or eating it). It was a lot of fun to observe and later to try to identify what I saw.
I was interested in seeing what’s new, and sure enough, I eventually found all the plants I sought. The little blue eyed grass was easy to find along the driveway, now that it’s dried up a little.
Winecups were hiding in my horse playground, but a new patch appeared near the chicken house. This flower also hosted many insects.
The Texas baby blue eyes were harder to find, since my old patch got plowed over last year. But, when I was gazing at the far end of Walker’s Creek, I looked on the shore, and there they were. Later I finally saw some in our woods. I love these flowers, because they were my introduction to Texas wildflowers when I saw them at McKinney Falls State Park the first spring I was here.
I was happy I found the flowers I wanted. There were also SO many butterflies, many of which I photographed. Not shown are the variegated fritillary, spicewood swallowtail, and tiny sulphur.
I found a lot of new or interesting bugs and plants, especially when I took my friends Anita and Martha out to look at plants while Easter dinner was cooking. Here are highlights.
It really was a great plant day, and I really enjoyed sharing observations with friends. I left my phone in the car when I went over to Sara’s to get some leafy greens, but we had the best time just observing the flowers and insects in the pasture next to her house. There was so much clover in the field that we stood there blissfully inhaling its spicy scent. Ahh.
I made the pak choi she gave me into a delicious side dish (mostly Kathleen did it), so that was FRESH.
Anyway, the time with friends was so nice, as the afternoon sun made the people, the dogs, and the flowers grow.
Well…I had this nutty idea that I was going to ride the horses today, or else! I guess “else” ensued.
First I got my precious boy, Droodles. I quickly realized that he resembled a chocolate-covered Easter treat. There was a dried layer of clay mud over much of his surface area.
I figured I’d just curry comb it out. Nope. I did get a lot off but I could tell it hurt him and was pulling out hair. I tried to get mud out of his tail, and hairs broke off. Oops. I realized I would not be saddling him. So I rinsed him off, but he was not thrilled. At least much mud got out of his mane and tail.
So, Plan B was to at least do some ground work. We did get some done, but when he slipped hard jumping, I ended that. I sure didn’t need to get him hurt. So he went into a pen to await his food. What did he immediately do? He rolled. At least it was in dry dirt.
I tried to get Apache in to groom, but after nearly hurting myself and losing both shoes in the mud, I gave up. I didn’t want me (myself?) or a horse hurt. Better miss your project goal than injure humans or livestock!
At least dinner was good. Rice cooker jambalaya to feed seven! And the pak choi in sesame oil, plus a great salad from Martha and Chardonnay from Anita. I think the men liked it! No time for photos, because we ate it!
All I have time for today is to share a recipe, since it’s one packed-full-o-stuff day today. I don’t even have a photo to share of this porky/beefy noodle dish, because we ate it all. Even Lee, who “doesn’t really care for pasta.” Who doesn’t like pasta? (Rhetorical question.)
I had a leftover hunk of pork loin and wanted to be sure to use it, so last night I sauteed a big onion along with that pork loin and two thick slices of ham, all cut into cubes. I used olive oil and a bit of lemon olive oil. Then, I added two cups of beef broth, (and I know this sounds weird) a few leftover potatoes that were just cooked in butter and garlic, and a can of butter beans. These were the giant seasoned ones, which imparted a smoky flavor. I added a teaspoon of lemon juice to add some flavor.
The key to all this is that I mashed up the beans and taters so it didn’t look like it was full of vegetables, and the sauce thickened a bit. I then dumped a package of rigatoni in there, turned down the heat, and simmered it covered until the pasta was cooked.
I opened the lid to see some brownish noodles that didn’t look spectacular at all. However, when we went to eating it, all we did was say how good it was. All the seasonings from the leftovers melded together into a huge dish of deliciousness. Now at least I know how to satisfy two hungry men, one of which just got his appetite back.
I said I’d make it again, but we all laughed, since I’ll never be able to exactly reproduce that again. However, the mashed up beans and potatoes as thickeners is something I’ll use again. You know, sometimes I try to make fancy food and it’s just okay. Throwing leftovers into a pot ends up spectacular!
Bone appuhteet, as we used to say.
My goodness, I love traditional Southern US New Year’s food. I also love cooking it. Today has been the best day all year so far (ha) because all I did was cook easy food in a relaxing manner. Then I got to eat it.
I made fresh black-eyed peas, for luck. I cooked them with some mystery sausage and onions. They were so good. I cooked them all day. Yum.
Then I cooked two bunches of collard greens. The secret is to cut out the thick ribs (and feed them to chickens) and cook them with tasty meat. You can use bacon, ham hocks, andouille sausage, or pork of some sort. Mmmm.
I do so love collards. They aren’t so bitter and just have a mild, soothing flavor. They go great with cornbread. So if course I made that. Leftover collards and gravy (pot liquor) served over cornbread was my mother’s favorite.
My sister made deviled eggs courtesy of our chickens.
And in my family, you have to serve the peas over rice. Just one of many possibilities in the US. Here’s dinner.
The most fun part of the meal was that I decided to make a lemon cake. I just took my favorite cake mix and added some lemon juice in the water. I put in an extra egg and half a cup of sour cream. That made it really rich and moist.
I put a orange marmalade between the layers then frosted it with store bought lemon frosting. I added colored sugar for fun.
Dang, it was so good! Plus, my sister made gingerbread cake, another favorite of mine. It was also moist and tasty. So, yep, I’m full. But, so what? We had a wonderful meal and a very pleasant day. At least so far 2021 is just fine.
I made lots of cranberry sauce this year. I think I used too much liquid (fresh orange juice and mango juice that was lying around), so I strained the liquid out and ended up with a chunky sauce and a few cups of smooth sauce. What to do with it?
I also bought more bread than dainty little Anita and I could eat. So it was sitting there. What to do?
Since I happened to have a dozen eggs, a quart of whole milk, and some butter, I declared it bread pudding time! (It’s my favorite dessert.)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cut bread into cubes and place in greased 9×13 baking dish or whatever baking dish you want — just fill the pan.
Drizzle melted sugar over bread.
Spoon cranberry sauce over bread and mix it up however you would like to.
Mix eggs, milk, vanilla, and optional sugar until well blended.
Pour mixture over bread and let sit for 30 minutes to soak. Mmm.
Sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar over soaked pudding. I forgot this, but it would make the pudding sparkle.
Place pudding in oven and bake at least an hour or until a knife comes out smooth.
Let cool a while and serve warm with ice cream or a sauce. Tell yourself what a good job you did using up leftovers.
The Hermits' Rest 