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~

Cinnamon Chicken in the crock-pot

Okay, I am a little late with today's blog (12:15 am), but I am still awake because our schedules are all messed up, so to me it definitely still feels like "Friday". I found this recipe on my Pinterest board and thought it sounded great...Crock-Pot Cinnamon Chicken, yum! The chicken was great, what I decided to serve it with, not so great lol. We live and learn my friends! Which is great for ya'll because I can tell you that I did not like it with rice. In my head I was thinking back to those days growing up when you pour milk and sugar with a little bit of butter in with your white rice, which is fantastic to me. So, since this recipe kind of made me think of that, I thought to myself, why not! Nope, the flavors did not mix well and I ended up taking the chicken off the rice and eating it by itself. Since I made this error in your favor (haha), I also decided to throw in a spa dip recipe I found while scouring through a recipe book! YUM! Both recipes are so simple it's kind of ridiculous! I'll start with the chicken and move on from there!

The recipe calls for five chicken breasts. Since there are two of us, I only used two chicken breasts (however they were extremely large and filled up the entire bottom of my crock-pot). I was easily close to a pound and half. You start out by peeling and slicing six carrots. I am not a fan of carrots and Dee Jay is, so I compromised and chopped up the baby carrots and threw them in and made sure to spoon them on top of his plate (yea, I'm a baby about carrots). On top of the carrots you will toss in the chicken. Then here comes the part that will make your mouth water every time you get a whiff of this cooking...spices!!! It calls for one tablespoon of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon cardamom, 1 (15 oz) can of light coconut milk, and one (15 oz) can of tomato sauce. (I am going to make a side note here: I did not have cardamom and when I went to the store I was sad to see it was almost $15 for one spice bottle. So I made do with what I had and searched for what you can use if you don't have cardamom. I minced up a little bit of ginger and tossed in a sprinkle or two of nutmeg.) You put all this over the chicken (I stirred mine around a little bit), turn the crock-pot on low and cook them for 4-6 hours (until the internal temperature of the chicken is 165 degrees and no longer pink). 

The chicken cooking (I promise it's somewhere underneath there)

Sit back and enjoy the smell that will fill your home, and then serve it up with some vegetables as a side and you have yourself a pretty healthy little meal! This recipe was found on a website called The Gracious Pantry. She has a lot of great recipes I can't wait to try out, and the direct link to the actual recipe can be found here if you missed it up above!

Now, on to the spa dip...I pulled this recipe out of Fellowship Bible Church, Tasteful Traditions, book I was talking about in an earlier entry. The lady that entered this into the book is Hilary Smith, and her spa dip is great!

You start with two (8 oz) boxes Cream Cheese (softened), and add two packages of dry ranch dressing, 4-5 green onions, and 4-5 slices of deli sliced smoked ham. You are going to finely chop the green onion and ham and mix everything together in a bowl and serve it up with some crackers (or whatever your choose).

She noted that it is best if made a day in advance so we threw it in the fridge and ate some the next day and it was delicious! See, I told you there were ridiculously easy recipes!! I know it's Memorial Day weekend and this dip would be great at an event you may be going to! We used Special K Multi-Grain Crackers because they are sooo yummy!

SPA DIP
2 (8 oz) boxes cream cheese, softened
2 pkgs. Dry ranch dressing
4-5 Green onions
4-5 slices deli sliced smoked ham

Finely chop ham and onions. Mix everything together. Serve with crackers. Best if made the day before.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday weekend!!
~Happy Eating~