Slow Cooker Black-Eyed Peas

I have high hopes for 2018 — for my business, my family and my country. Leaving nothing to chance, I decided on a New Year's Day dinner of black-eyed peas and collard greens. Southern culinary tradition has it that you eat these foods on January 1 to bring you luck, prosperity and wealth in the new year. Who can argue with that?

Of course, to soak up all the yummy juices I baked cornbread, too. Making these foods comes naturally to me, thanks to the Tennessee side of my family. Beans and cornbread equaled a regular supper (we didn't say dinner) growing in my family. I'm pleased to say my husband and daughters now enjoy it. If you've never tried it, this wintertime meal is cozy and comforting. Give it a try. 

Wishing you luck, prosperity and wealth in 2018.

XOXO,

Amy

Slow Cooker Black-Eyed Peas

1 pound dried black-eyed peas

6 cups chicken broth 

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced

1 leftover ham bone with some ham remnants or 8 ounces of ham

4 sliced of bacon cut up into half-inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon black pepper

Salt to taste

Soak beans in water overnight. This step is optional. The beans will probably be fine if you skip this step; you'll just have to let them cook a bit longer.

Rinse beans and place in slow cooker.

Add all other ingredients. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until beans are tender. Serve with greens and cornbread.

Slow Cooker 15-Bean Soup with Sausage and Spinach

For dinner in the winter, I'm satisfied with a warm bowl of beans. Growing up we'd often have beans and cornbread. Not fancy beans — just thrown in the crockpot with water or broth, a diced up onion,  that "ham" flavoring packet and maybe a leftover ham bone. And it was good. This is better, healthier even thanks to the spinach. In fact, I've made these beans twice in recent weeks and am officially declaring it my official, go-to, wintertime bean recipe.

The recipe is adapted from a favorite line of cookbooks: America's Test Kitchen's Healthy Slow Cooker Revolution. I made a few tweaks. For starters, I omitted the mushrooms (just sounds unappealing to me to cook mushrooms and beans together for 9 or so hours). I increased the amount of sausage from 8 ounces to 9-12 ounces (for easier math) as sausage typically comes in 12-ounce, 4-link packs. Likewise, I upped the spinach by an ounce, because the baby spinach I buy comes in a 5-ounce clamshell container. Lastly, the second time I made it, I used a 4-ounce container of chicken broth and the 2 cups of vegetable broth leftover in my fridge. Why open another container of chicken broth?

Anyhow, if you are craving an easy dinner that takes the edge off the winter chill, try this out. Tweak it; make it your own.

XOXO,
Amy

PS: A great thing to serve with this: my Family Cornbread.

Slow Cooker 15-Bean Soup with Sausage and Spinach
Adapted from Healthy Slow Cooker Revolution

9-12 ounces (3-4 links) hot or sweet Italian chicken sausage, sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 onion, chopped fine
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
8 ounce bag of 15-bean soup mix, flavoring packet(s) discarded
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt (plus more to taste)
Black pepper to taste
5 ounces (5 cups) baby spinach

Microwave sausage, onion, garlic, thyme and pepper flakes in bowl until onion is softened (about 5 minutes), stirring halfway through. Transfer to slow cooker. Stir in broth, water, beans, bay leaves and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add black pepper — to taste — now or later, if desired. Cover and cook on low until beans are tender — 9 to 11 hours on low or 6 to 8 hours on high.

Discard bay leaves. Stir in spinach and let sit until slightly wilted, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Carolina Collard Greens

My younger daughter -- and the more adventuresome eater of my two girls -- turns 7 tomorrow. We celebrated on Saturday with a home cooked early birthday dinner. Penny's taste buds were set on having collard greens.

Yes, my child is weird. A child of the South and a weird collard craving, blue cheese nibbling, quinoa salad lunching kid. But finally someone else in my house other than me appreciates collards, so I happily fixed a big mess of greens.

Here are some Southern inspired dishes that would go well with collards: Family Cornbread, Slow Cooker Pulled Pork, Tangy Slow Cooker Pork with Onion Jam, Slow Cooker Chicken & Biscuits, Pecan-Crusted Chicken Breasts and a Deviled Egg Sampler.

However, our birthday dinner was a little more eclectic. We had Parmesan and Yogurt Crusted Chicken, scalloped potatoes and a nearly flourless French chocolate cake.

Penny, by the way, had two helpings of collards.

XOXO,
Amy

PS: I call these Carolina Collard Greens in honor of Cam Newton, QB1 for the Super Bowl 50-bound Carolina Panthers. In an interview following the Panthers' NFC Championship win, Cam compared "instant grits" to "slow cooked collard greens" when asked to talk about what's happened to him since being drafted. Go, Panthers! Keep pounding!

PPS: You might recall that Erin is bringing you grits following the Seattle Seahawks' playoff loss to the Panthers. Grits are coming later this week.

Carolina Collard Greens

2 pounds of collard greens, each leaf cut in half to completely remove center stem/vein and torn into 2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 pieces bacon
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch or two of crushed red pepper
4 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar

Rinse prepared collard pieces under cold water and  set aside.

In your largest pot -- like a pasta or lobster pot -- heat olive oil over medium heat. (Trust me, the collards cook way down.)

Add bacon and cook for a minute. Add onions and cook until softened, about four minutes. Add garlic and red pepper and cook until fragrant, about one minute.

Remove bacon and cut into pieces and return to pot. (Or you can do what I do, which is use kitchen scissors to cut bacon while it is still in the pot.) Add collards and stir to incorporate with other ingredients the best you can. Add broth and vinegar.

Bring pot to a boil and then cover and reduce to a simmer for at least 45 minutes.

Use slotted spoon to serve.

Family Cornbread

Growing up I don't think I ever knew you could make cornbread from a Jiffy box or that some "cornbread" is sweet. Now I'm more than all grown  up and here to tell you that cornbread should never come from a box or taste sweet.

My family always made homemade savory cornbread. That's why I call this Family Cornbread. My Ohio-born mom learned how to make it after marrying my Tennessee-born dad. Cornbread and homemade banana pudding with scratch-made (no box!) vanilla pudding.

Growing up we'd have Family Cornbread and beans for dinner. My grandma would make it to use in her cornbread stuffing, which also featured hard boiled eggs, the neck of the turkey and sage. (Note to self: Make grandma's stuffing.)

I serve Family Cornbread with all kinds of meals: beans, pulled pork, brisket -- to name a few. My BFF Andrea serves it with her Turkey, Black Bean & Sweet Potato Chili.

And while I don't keep  boxes of cornbread mix in my pantry, I do keep Ziploc bags of Family Cornbread mix. It's a trick I learned from Mom. Get an assembly line of bags going in your kitchen and add enough dry ingredients to each to make one cornbread. Smart.

XOXO,
Amy

Family Cornbread

3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup yellow or white cornmeal
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 beaten egg
4 tablespoons melted shortening (Mom and I just use olive oil.)
1 1/2 cup buttermilk (Mom and I use light buttermilk.)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of 9-inch cast iron skillet; I use Crisco.

Combine ingredients -- dry first and then wet -- and pour into prepared skillet. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown at the edges and pulling away from the pan. Remove from oven and immediately flip the cornbread onto a plate. Cut into wedges and serve with butter. Enjoy!

Turkey, Black Bean & Sweet Potato Chili

The warmer days of middle March mean my boys play outside as long as they can. As the nights remain cool, it's a good time for a spicy-sweet chili that fills their bellies without being too heavy.

This turkey, black bean and sweet potato combo is nourishing and the slightly honeyed taste of the potatoes hints of full-on spring.

This dinner is close to my heart because I first started making it when we moved from Cincinnati to Peoria. We spent three months in a cozy, turn-of-the-century cottage. Our temporary home offered a tighter space that fostered just the right amount of family closeness we needed during our transition to a new city.

Since then I've tweaked this recipe from its original – a skillet potpie with a cornbread topping. I never could get the cornbread to be anything buy mushy. Now I serve it on the side. And my boys eat more of the chili. Points for Mom!

Whenever I make this meal, I think of the start of our Peoria adventure (four years ago now!) and it warms my soul. I hope it makes your family feel all warm inside, too.

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

Turkey, Black Bean & Sweet Potato Chili
Adapted from GoodHousekeeping.com.
Serves 6.

1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1/4 cup water
1 jumbo onion (about 1 pound) finely chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves finely chopped or 1 tablespoon jarred minced garlic
1 pound lean ground turkey
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1 or 2 tablespoons canned chopped roasted green chilis or pickled jalapeño peppers, if you prefer more kick
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cans (14.5 ounce) no salt added, fire roasted or plain diced tomatoes, mostly drained
1 can (15 ounce) no salt added black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Optional:
Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
Shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese for topping

Place sweet potatoes and water in a microwave safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and vent. Microwave on high for 5 minutes or until tender.

Using a deep 12-inch skillet or Dutch oven, heat oil over a medium-high flame. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. (Don't worry – while this looks like a ton of onions, they melt down and add a subtle flavor to the chili.)

Add garlic and cook for 1 or 2 minutes. Add turkey, salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, breaking up turkey into small pieces.

When turkey is lightly browned, add roasted chili or jalapeño peppers, chili powder, cumin and the sweet potatoes with their liquid. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes while stirring.

Add tomatoes, beans and black pepper and heat until bubbling. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Dish up chili into bowls. Top with cilantro and cheese.