A new twist on an old tradition

For countless years I've eaten black-eyed peas, cornbread and ham on New Year's Day. Sometimes we add collards, sometimes we eat rice, sometimes we add biscuits. But the peas, ham and cornbread are holiday staples.

Until this year.

My youngest son balks at eating black-eyed peas and my teenagers weren't here to eat. It had become pretty clear that I was the one who aimed to eat a pot of peas by myself. What kind of luck will that bring?

So I decided to change gears. I saw this black-eye pea dip recipe posted a few days ago by Ree Drummond, who writes the wildly popular The Pioneer Woman blog. It was spicy and creamy downright delicious and is destined to become a new tradition for my family. Even my youngest loved it!

I used fat-free sour cream and fat-free cheese. I normally detest the fat-free cheese, but when it is cooked, it does a pretty fine job. Try this dip with tortilla chips or wheat crackers. And if you use fat-free ingredients, the dish is guilt free. Happy New Year, friends!

Sausage and white bean chowder

Like most people, I try to stretch my food budget and I love developing recipes that are low in cost and big in flavor. Soup is a great way to get high nutrition for fewer dollars; using low cost dried beans is a great way to get added protein.

My family really likes kielbasa – I’ve usually got a pound of the stuff tucked away in the fridge waiting to be part of something delicious. Kielbasa is a wonderful substitute for beef in spaghetti sauce. And it is terrific in soups and stews.

This recipe was a delicious variation on white bean soup, often made with ham.

You’ll need:
1 pound of kielbasa, sliced
½ white onion, diced
1 cup navy beans, soaked overnight, then drained and rinsed
½ cup white wine
14.5 ounce can corn, drained
2 teaspoons oil
1 teaspoon diced jalapenos

Soak the beans overnight, then drain and rinse in fresh water. Add to a 5-6 quart slow cooker. Warm the oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the kielbasa and cook for about 5 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove the kielbasa with a slotted spoon and add it to the slow cooker. Add the diced onions to the skillet and sauté for about 3 minutes. Pour in ½ cup white wine and stir to deglaze the pan. Pour the onions and wine into the slow cooker. Add 3-4 cups water. Cook on low for about 6 hours.

Once the beans have softened, remove about a cup of beans from the cooker and smash them with a potato masher. Return the mashed beans to the cooker; add drained corn and the diced jalapenos. (I buy jalapenos that are diced in the jar. It makes a wonderful addition to recipes that need a little bit of tang and heat.) Cook another hour on low.

To serve: Place a half cup of cooked white rice in the bottom of a soup bowl. Ladle sausage and white bean chowder over the rice. Top with a sprinkling of shredded cheddar cheese. Yield: 8-10 servings.

This recipe is smoky and spicy and has a creamy texture without adding cream, thanks to mashing the beans. A great trick!

Last sip of summer

Welcome fall, with all your vibrant colors and cooler days and nights! As we enter the new season, I wanted to post a couple of photos to remember some favorite summer foods: Fresh green beans and okra.

My father-in-law grew the okra in his garden in Wise, Va. My husband and I loved it! I cooked it just like my mother would have -- sliced, dredged lightly in cornmeal

....and fried quickly in oil.

Okra is one of my mom's favorites (despite the fact that the plants make her skin itch). The okra pods have to be cut from the stalks with a small knfe. If you've never grown it, okra has the most beautiful yellow and purple blooms!

I also cooked some fresh green beans last week, which is a favorite food of my husband's.

Break and string about a pound of beans; rinse them well and add them to a medium-sized pot with a lid. Add about a half-cup of water, a couple of pieces of bacon (diced) and a liberal sprinkling of black pepper. Cook them for 20 minutes, or until desired doneness. Yum!

Spectacular bean salad

Three bean salad is a summer favorite – easy to make and almost universally loved. When my in-laws hosted a family reunion in August, I was asked to make pea salad and three bean salad. I actually made five bean salad, with corn thrown in for good measure. Years ago, when my second child was born, a sweet neighbor brought dinner over to help me out. She made a marinated bean salad with corn, and I have made it this way ever since. Some people slice the onions and green pepper in rings – it makes for pretty presentation, but I think it is easier to eat if the vegetables are diced. Use the beans you love in this recipe.

Spectacular bean salad
Two, 15-ounce can green beans
15-ounce can black beans
15-ounce can yellow wax beans
15-ounce can garbanzo beans
15-ounce can red kidney beans
15-ounce can yellow corn
1 medium onion, diced
1 large green pepper, diced
½ cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup white vinegar
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

Drain and rinse all the beans, then add to a large bowl. Add the diced onion, green pepper and corn (drained). In a medium bowl, mix vinegar, sugar and oil. Add salt and pepper and blend well. Pour over vegetables and stir. Refrigerate overnight to let flavors blend. Serves 10-12.

Another Navy Bean Soup

The rain won't seem to quit in Bristol. So despite my excitement over farmers markets and fresh produce, I am making some cool weather comfort food to chase away the cold. I whipped this up this morning with ingredients I already had on hand.

Navy beans are one of my favorites for recipes in the slow cooker. They keep their shape over long, slow cooking and have a mild flavor that even the pickiest eaters (yes, I am talking about my youngest son) will enjoy.

Navy beans are commonly used to make baked beans or in cassoulet. This version of cassoulet calls for another white bean (Great Northern) but any white bean would do – navy, cannellini or others. Navy beans have long fed sailors -- they are inexpensive, easy to transport and can feed a crowd. Here is a Navy Bean Soup recipe from the Department of the Navy. And navy beans are the star of Senate Bean Soup, the dish offered daily at the Senate restaurant in Washington, D.C. The recipe is so simple and satisfying -- and only five ingredients -- that it’s no wonder that it is a perennial favorite.

Navy beans are a great source of protein and fiber and have been shown to help lower cholesterol. They have a high level of saponin, which are antibacterial and antifungal. In some tests, saponion has been shown to inhibit cancer cell growth.

I turn to navy beans for various soups and stews, including a creation I whipped up this morning in my slow cooker. It is an offshoot of a typical ham and navy bean soup, but I added Cajun sausage that I had in the freezer.

Another Navy Bean Soup

1 ½ cups navy beans; soak overnight and drain in morning
½ pound Cajun sausage, sliced into bite-sized pieces
1 cup diced ham
14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with chipotle pepper
1 cup diced carrots
½ teaspoon dried oregano
6 cups water

Add the soaked and drained beans to a 6 quart slow cooker. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. You could add some diced onion, but I did not have any on hand this morning. Set cooker to low and cook for 8 hours.

Almost always, I serve hearty soups with rice. Cook one cup rice in two cups water. Yield is 3 cups (Remember 1+2=3)

Culinary gold from the freezer

A ham bone in the freezer truly is culinary gold, an investment tucked away for the future that can turn a humble meal into something spectacular. I prepared a spiral cut ham at New Years, complete with black-eyed peas for luck, and then tucked the meaty ham bone in a freezer bag for the future. On Saturday, when snow kept us from a planned trip to visit relatives in Lake City, Tenn., and made going to the store a less than pleasant proposition, I pulled out my little package and set to work.

I put a cup of navy beans in a large stockpot and covered them with cold water. Always sort dried beans because they often contain small pebbles. I brought the pot to a boil, cut it off and left the beans to soak in the hot water and on the burner for about an hour.

I drained the beans in a colander and sorted them again.

I added the ham bone, a quart of water, three bay leaves, and a teaspoon of chopped garlic and set the beans back on the stove to cook.

When the pot came to a boil, I lowered the heat to low and let the whole thing simmer, covered, for about an hour.

Then I removed the ham bone and the large chunks of ham that had become so tender they were literally falling off the bone. I put them on a cutting board to cool (and I took a few nibbles, of course!)

I added about 3 more cups of water to the pot, chopped the meat in large chunks, then added the meat back to the simmering beans.

Because the ham is inherently salty and because dried beans often toughen with added salt, I did not add any salt to this recipe. I did add a liberal amount of black pepper and some coarse ground cayenne.

I fished out the bay leaves and dished up our meal. We also enjoyed some green grapes and bacon-wrapped sandwiches.

I added a bit of parsley for color…

And the soup bowls quickly looked like this:

Navy bean soup

1 cup dried navy beans, sorted
1 meaty ham bone
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
Black pepper
Cayenne
Water

Soak the beans in water to cover overnight or cover the beans in water, bring to a boil and let sit in the hot water for about an hour. Drain and rinse. Place in a large stockpot; add one quart of water, meaty ham bone, garlic and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered for about an hour. Remove ham bone from beans; place on a cutting board until cool enough to handle. Chop meat into bite-sized pieces, removing fat or gristle. Return ham to the pot. Remove bay leaves. Add more water, if necessary. Add black pepper and cayenne. Simmer another 30 minutes and serve. Serves 6-8.

Ham and navy bean soup

There are as many versions to this recipe as there are cooks. I love adding diced tomatoes that include diced chili peppers; it gives the recipe a bit of spice without any extra work. This recipe is super simple and inexpensive -- two great reasons to try it.

Ham and navy bean soup

2 cups dry navy beans; soak overnight in water to cover
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
One 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes with chilis
1 pound cooked ham, diced
1 teaspoon oregano
Water

Serves 8-10.


In the morning, drain and rinse the navy beans.
Dice the ham and carrots and place them in a six-quart slow cooker.

Drain the navy beans and add them to the slow cooker.

Then add the diced tomatoes.

Add three cans of water, rinising out the can that had held the tomatoes. Also add the oregano.

Cook for 8 hours on low. As with most heartier soups, I love to serve this soup with rice. This was dinner earlier this week. Simple and delicious.