Black-eye Pea Dip for New Years!

Eating black-eye peas on New Years seems to be a more Southern tradition. I have looked it up just out of plain curiosity, why we have this tradition! Is it superstitious? Is it because it's healthier than bringing in the new year with a bowl full of sugar? Although I can't remember finding an exact answer (this was many years ago because I was hoping the tradition was wrong and it was actually something more delicious), I do remember that it says the "tradition" dated back the Civil War days. Black-eye peas are hearty and had no problems holding up in winter temperature, they were cheap and readily available to everyone! With that being said, I wish strawberries or tomatoes made the top list of "readily available farm foods", but no here we sit bringing in 2013 with black-eye peas on our plate! It's said to bring luck to your New Year (I'm not superstitious, but why not?)! So, I'm going to share my yummy way to eat black-eye peas! It's simple, and I've made it for years! I can't remember where we came across the recipe! I've seen many variations since, but none of them make my taste buds do a little happy dance quite like this one! I've taken it to many parties and family gatherings and can honestly say, I have NEVER heard a complaint. I've actually had to "re-make" it in front of groups of people because we ran out, and then everyone wanted to know how to make it! So I had a, "make this incredibly simple dip" session in the middle of a get together and felt so silly because in about 5 minutes, I was done, all the while I felt like I should have done a cartwheel/back handspring to give a more "wow" effect! So let's get started so ya'll can hopefully enjoy this tomorrow (I've already grabbed a couple bites and then had to make myself stop or it would be GONE!)

Ingredients:
2 cans of plain black-eye peas (no extra flavorings...I've tried them and it just takes a wrong turn)
1 can of white hominy
1 can of petite diced tomatoes (again no extra flavorings)
3 green onions, chopped
1/2+ of red (you can use any color or combine colors) pepper, chopped
1/2 jalapeno, chopped (more or less depending on how spicy you like your dip)
1/2 bottle of Zesty Italian Dressing
A splash of red wine vinegar ("Splash" means I start to pour count to 1 and put the lid back on)
A couple shakes of salt (really one or two shakes from the salt shaker is all you need because your chips will probably be salted and then it becomes too much)

To start off you're going to open and drain all your "canned" items (peas, hominy, and tomatoes). Once they are drained, pour them into a large bowl. Next chop your green onions and peppers, then add those to the bowl! Now hold your breath and stand on one leg, and turn yourself around (not necessary but it makes me feel like I'm not giving you the EASIEST recipe ever lol)! Add the dressing, and splash of red wine vinegar along with the salt! Mix together and you're done!! It is BEST if chilled overnight, but you can pop it in the fridge covered for a couple hours and you're still good to go! Seriously, THAT EASY!! 

Here are some hints I've heard along the years:
Too Spicy: Easy fix, don't add jalapenos/remove the seeds of the jalapenos/use less jalapeno
Too "Runny": Easy fix: Use a slotted spoon so excess liquid drips off/use less dressing
Would garlic taste good: YES!! Add it if you so desire!
What about chopped onion?? Of course! I love onions, so the more the merrier!

So DELICIOUS

I hope you all have a wonderful New Years! I'm working on some blog ideas for 2013! Ya'll have been so good to me this past year! I'm looking forward to another year of sharing recipes with you! Until next year...

~Happy Eating~

Venison (or beef) Stuffed Peppers

Sadly, I have come to the end of ground venison from last hunting season. This is one of the last recipes I was able to pull off with what we had in the freezer! Good thing hunting season is just around the corner! So I pulled this off a friend's Pinterest site and went to work! You know it's good when your man takes one bite and looks up to say, "You can feel free to make this anytime you want". I totally agree!! The thing about cooking with venison vs. cooking with beef is no matter how "lean" you buy the beef, you still always get grease! When I popped these in the crock-pot, there was almost no grease at all which made the peppers very yummy and not soggy. If you make it with beef, let me know how it turns out! We wondered where all the grease would go. Here is how to fix up these delicious peppers...


First you are going to start with 4 bell peppers. (Any color will do...I used red, green and orange). Cut off the tops of the peppers and remove the stem and seeds. Save the tops because you're going to want to dice them up to throw back in! Dice half of a yellow onion, then pour one cup of enchilada sauce over the onion in a bowl and microwave for about 5 minutes. Pour 1/3 cup of water into the bottom of your crock-pot, then nestle the bell peppers in. In a large bowl you are going to combine one pound of meat, the sauce and onion mixture, the chopped up bell pepper tops, one cup of shredded cheese, 3/4 cup of cooked rice, one and half teaspoons of salt and a half of a teaspoon of pepper. Now spoon mixture into the the peppers and top it off with more shredded cheese. Cook these yummy peppers on low for 6 hours (I actually didn't have six hours so I cooked mine on high for about 4 hours). Remove them from the crock-pot and eat up! I served it up with some homemade guacamole and chips and they were a hit!

Happy Green Pepper on a Plate

You can find the original recipe on a cute little blog titled no. 2 pencil 

Here is the run down:

4 bell peppers
1 pound of 85 percent lean ground beef
1/2 of a yellow onion, diced
1 cup of canned enchilada sauce
1 1/4 cup of shredded jack cheese
3/4 cup of cooked Mexican rice
salt and pepper
sour cream and diced green onion for toppings

Finely dice the onion place in a bowl and cover it with enchilada sauce. Heat in the microwave for 5 minutes.

Cut off the tops of the peppers and remove the stem and seeds. Finely dice the tops of the peppers and place in large bowl.

Pour 1/3 cup of water into the bottom of your crock-pot and nestle the bell peppers in (It might be a tight fit...it's okay)!

In the bowl with your chopped pepper tops add, meat, sauce and onions, 1 cup of shredded cheese, 3/4 cup of Mxican rice (cooked), 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

Fill peppers and cook on low for 6 hour. Top them with sour cream and green onions and enjoy!

~Happy Eating~ 

Also, if you have a hunter in the family as well and haven't discovered Game and Garden you really need to head on over to Stacy's blog and check it out! We saw her the other day on the outdoor channel and I immediately went out and looked up all the recipes I could find by her, and put her cookbooks (she is releasing a new one) on my WANT list :) She has some great ideas!! I can't wait to try more of her venison recipes once hunting season starts back up and we get more venison! We are getting ready to try one of her fish recipes...check back soon to find out how it turned out!