The purpose of What’s For Dinner? is to provide you a recipe with items on sale this week, with no more than 10 ingredients (not including pantry items), and coming in at under $10 per meal.
In my quest to have EVERYONE converted to dried beans, I thought I would provide another recipe that includes them. (Sneaky, aren’t I?)
But besides using dried beans, Hoppin’ John is suppose to bring good luck to all who eat it on New Year’s Day.
According the Wikipedia, the peas are symbolic of pennies or coins, and a coin is sometimes added to the pot or left under the dinner bowls. (Evidently, these people did not have small children or bad insurance.) Also the use of “green” vegetables is suppose to add wealth since they are the color of money.
So here is to good luck and wealth to all the Kansas City Mama readers! May we all get an extra insert in our newspapers this weekend.
Note: I’ve had Hoppin’ John before and it simple and pretty tasty (I blame the bacon). I would serve it as a side dish with either a little leftover ham or smoked sausage.
Hoppin’ John
Ingredients
1 cup dried black-eyed peas
4 cups water
1/3 lb. bacon or leftover ham (I’d go for the bacon)
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalk of celery, chopped
1 bay leaf
2 tsp of salt
Pepper to taste
1/2 cup raw rice (not minute rice)
2 tsp minced parsley
Directions
1. Boil two cups of water. Place dried peas in water. Take off heat, cover, and let sit for two hours. Do not drain.
2. Cut ham or bacon into bite sized pieces and brown. Add onion and celery and cook till softened.
3. Add bacon/veggie mixture to peas. Add two more cups of water and bay leaf, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for another hour or until peas are tender.
4. Discard bay leaf. Add rice to mixture and cook for another 20 minutes. Add water as necessary.
5. Use parsley as garnish. Serve with ham or smoked sausage.
What about you? Do you have any New Year food favorites? Share it with us via the comments or on the Kansas City Mamas Facebook Page.
