Need black eyed pea recipes - NOT hoppin' john!

[csziggy]

Hubby brought home some fresh black eyed peas. No matter that we have a package of frozen ones or a couple of cans of them in the pantry - he saw them and brought them home. Two pounds since they were BOGO.

Now I like hoppin' john a lot, but I made too much of it LAST New Years Eve and we only just used up the last of it a couple of weeks ago. So I need some alternative ways to use these FRESH black eyed peas.

Some one here posted about making black eyed peas burgers - I like that idea and have found a couple of recipes for them to adapt. But what else can I do with them?

PS I've had the discussion AGAIN with hubby about if he wants black eyed peas to buy dried or canned. I plan meals and buying fresh produce on the spur of the moment messes up my plans. And buying TWO POUNDS of FRESH black eyed peas really messes up my plans!

[Laurian]

1. Black Eyed Pea Dip

I made this yesterday from a recipe I found on the Pioneer Woman's website.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/12/zannies-black-eyed-pea-dip/

Everybody loved it!

[csziggy]

2. I bet that is good, but there are ingredients I can't even handle

Much less eat. I react badly to anything that has a "hot" rating, so jalepenos, tobasco, and that kind of thing is just not possible for me.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

[Laurian]

3. Oh. Sorry I Didn't Help

I am originally from Ohio and black eyed peas were a new food for me when I moved to the south. I went in search of a recipe so that I could serve at least one traditional food for New Years Day. I didn't go all the way with the heat..... I used a mild salsa and left out the hot sauce. Still had a little "bite" to it, though, from the jalapeños.

I'm interested to see what other responses you receive. I'm always on the lookout for new recipes.

[csziggy]

5. I should have mentioned my dietary restrictions

Though I am not really allergic, just very sensitive, to hot peppers. It's too bad, because I love well seasoned food.

I found a whole series of neat recipes on Cooks.com that I want to try - I'll try to post links to those in a few minutes.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. Here is what we made with them yesterday....

Dice 1 large sweet onion, 1 large sweet pepper, 4 stalks of celery - saute in a big pot in 2 tbsp olive oil until tender.

Add 2 cubed, peeped potatoes and 6 peeled sliced carrots and the black eyed peas - 1 can of veggie broth, 1 large can of diced tomatoes, 1 tbsp brown sugar, some red pepper flakes to taste, salt to taste, black pepper, 1 tsp thyme and a bayleaf - bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and simmer for an hour or so - until the carrots, potatoes, and peas are edible/tender.

Serve over steamed brown rice - add some grated cheddar if desired.

we just had as leftovers for dinner - even better the second day!

[csziggy]

6. Mmmm, that sounds good!

I found a similar one on Cooks.com with ground beef or sausage and without as many veggies. With the peas, rice and cheese, who needs the meat?!

That sounds perfect for a crockpot recipe - put the onion, pepper, and celery on the bottom, everything else on top and let it go on low until it's all done.

Thanks!

[GoCubsGo]

7. A warm dip recipe

This recipe calls for dried peas, but there is no reason you couldn't use fresh. 2 cups fresh=1 cup dry. It also has cayenne, but you can leave it out or cut back substantially. I sometimes use garlic or garlic powder instead.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Black-Eyed-Pea-Dip-2194

BTW, the recipe Laurian posted sounds a lot like "Cowboy Caviar" or "Texas Caviar". There are a ton of other recipes for it on the Internet, some of which use all fresh ingredients, rather than salsa. Or, they use canned tomatoes, which you can substitute with fresh ones. If you don't like chili peppers, you can leave them out or use bell peppers. I made a version last night with grape tomatoes, yellow bell pepper and a habanero. And, I skipped the corn. It's pretty flexible, so you can adapt one or more recipes to suit your taste and dietary issues.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cowboy-caviar/morerecipeslikethis.aspx

http://pinterest.com/search/?q=cowboy+caviar

[csziggy]

8. Update on the black eyed peas.

Well, hubby took me out to eat the next night and the night after I used the doggie bag contents to make stir fry. But to use up the peas, I tried to cook them at the same time.

My plan was to cook, cool, and freeze them and pull them out at some later date. First off it turned out they were NOT *fresh* peas but "pre-soaked" peas! So for what hubby paid for the two containers he could have bought about ten pounds of dried peas that I could prepare at my leisure!

I put the peas with the suggested amount of water in the crock pot, chopped up and onion a couple of cloves of garlic, a couple of carrots, some stalks of celery, and left it to do it's thing while I made stir fry.

By the time the stir fry was done and eaten, the peas were simmering but not done, so I left them going with the intention of taking them off the heat an hour or so later and re-heating the next day.

I forgot about them. The next day the kitchen smelled odd, but I blamed it on the broccoli in the stir fry. It wasn't until I was heating my dinner late in the day that I realized the frigging peas had been cooking on HIGH for 24 hours. They were dried out and black around the edges.

I'm soaking the crock pot and hubby gets the job of scrubbing it out tomorrow. This really pisses me off - I hate wasting food and I sliced my finger while cutting up the veggies to go in the peas. And it better not have ruined my crock - it's the medium sized one of the set and the one I use most often!

[Lucinda]

9. Oh wow. I'm sorry. How frustrating!

Hope the crock pot is ok.

[csziggy]

10. Lesson learned - don't cook when totally exhausted

Or maybe don't try to cook more than one thing when exhausted.

Wednesday was my physical therapy session. While the exercises are not all that demanding, driving into town, dealing with the therapist, and then running an errand or two afterwards just wear me out. Which of course is WHY I am going to PT! I should be able to do more than that. But then I came home and did not get a chance to rest before I started cooking.

Normally if I leave something cooking or even cooling on the counter, I leave the light over that section of the counter on. I don't know if I forgot or if hubby turned it off, thinking I was finished with that part of the kitchen for the night.

At least the stir fry survived. That's dinner tonight. Plus tonight I need to get the turkey ready to cook tomorrow. If I do the prep tonight, roast it tomorrow and have it for dinner tomorrow, then get hubby to cut it up Sunday to go in the freezer, it shouldn't be too much for me to handle.

Damn, I don't know if it is my knees or just getting old that is messing me up.

[Lucinda]

11. I got tired just reading about your trip to PT.

I have really good, and really bad days, so we have learned to stay pretty flexible. It helps that Bill likes to cook. I'm sorry your knees are misbehaving, leg pain is really annoying. My mind wants to do things but when I move...ouch!

[csziggy]

12. I was doing OK until after I finished dinner!

And then it was pretty much over.

Today I cooked my yearly turkey and started on my once a year turkey stock pot. THIS time I left the lights on over the turkey and the stock pot while they cool. I am NOT leaving another big thing of food to go bad. AND I set the timer so I will remember to go back and put them into the refrigerator once they cool enough.

But once I ate, I hit the wall and had to take a nap. 45 minute nap and I feel able to at least sit up.

I hate getting old and decrepit!

[Lucinda]

13. Smart about using the lights! I do the same. When I designed

the house I put can lights in dimmers over the island and counter areas. If I kick the lights up its a great reminder that something needs to be put away!

Rainy night here and Bill is working, so I just made garlic bread and threw some ham on it when it came out. Feel crappy tonight. I have nap envy, I tried and just cant shut my mind off. It's time for me to make another batch of chicken stock. Not tonight though!

[csziggy]

16. We have undercabinet lights throughout the kitchen

each is individually switched at the light so I only turn on the ones I need. We also put in cans and hanging lights, but the undercabinet lights get used the most.

My turkey stock is waiting to go on the slow cooker in the morning. I cooked the turkey yesterday and hubby cut it up today. All the bones and skin went in the crock pot with vegetables. If I let it simmer all day tomorrow, in the evening I can strain it, cool it overnight, skim off the fat and put it in containers to freeze.

[freshwest]

14. Hope this crockpot version works for you:

Black Eyed Peas Curry (Slow Cooker Recipe)

[eppur_se_muova]

15. How about blackeyed pea pancakes ?

http://www.food.com/recipe/akara-pancakes-black-eyed-pea-pancakes-456306

http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/vegetarian-forum/1290904-black-eyed-pea-pancakes-potato-filling.html

Anytime you have some produce in excess, just google "recipe <ingredient>" to find some good ideas. I had seen the pancakes in an Indian cookbook, so I searched
http://www.google.com/search?q=black_eyed_pea_pancakes