Happy New Year

so the traditional meal on new years eve involves black eyed peas - they supposedly bring good luck in the year to come.  browsing recipes for black eyed peas we discovered the other long-standing tradition of cooking with bacon, beef bones, pork fat and other large hunks of meat.  no thank you.

we opted for something less animalcentric.

 Creole Black Eyed Peas (our adaptation based on a recipe from FatFree Vegan Kitchen):

1 large onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 rib celery, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups dried black-eyed peas, picked over and rinsed

5 cups water

15 ounce can diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Southwest Spice blend (to taste)*

*recent gift from my mother who visited the Spice House in Milwaukee.  let me just say that the difference between the store-bought dried spices and the freshly ground spices is phenomenal.  due to our dependence on spices in our meals, we have made the decision to use only freshly ground spices going forward.

Here we go:

Saute onion, pepper, celery, and garlic in olive oil.

Add black eyed peas, tomoatoes, water, and spices.

The liquid in the mixture should cover the black eyed peas by about 1 inch.



a note on the peas: you can used dried but you have to soak them overnight. we used fresh so we were able to throw them right in the pot



Allow this to simmer for roughly 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until the peas are tender.

It was still a little watery after 2 hours so we added 3 tablespoons of cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoons of water and allowed it to simmer for an additional ten minutes.

We served our black eyed peas with brown rice and jalapeno corn bread muffins.

Jalapeno Corn Bread Muffins:

1 1/4 cups unbleached flour

3/4 cups yellow corn meal

1/4 cup natural sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup nondairy milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon corn starch + 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar

1 whole jalapeno (minced)

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin pan. Combine and mix dry ingredients.

2. Stir in milk, oil and cornstarch mixture, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in minced jalapeno. 

3. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown and wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.