Thursday, December 11, 2008

(Food) Black Eyed Peas

I finally broke down and bought a new slow cooker. My old one was was contaminated with dye. I finally moved it downstairs to the laundry room so it won't be in the way. Now I can conduct my diabolical dyeing experiments in a basement, like a true evil mad scientist.


Now that I have a crockpot that's safe for human food preparation, I can cook more warm, stewy comfort foods. Seriously, this is way better than scented candles. My kids come home from school and sigh about how delicious the house smells.
Another effortless (lazy) meal...
1 lb (2 cups) dry black eye peas
2-3 quarts water
1/2 lb (1 cup) pearled barley or brown rice
1 package taco seasoning (read the label, many are vegetarian/vegan)

Put peas and water in the crockpot and cook on low all day. An hour or so before dinner, throw in the barley and taco seasoning. Turn cooker up to high until grains are cooked.
I served my peas with a green salad and pickles. (I grew up in Texas. I was taught that pickles are required with black eyed peas. And BBQ, burgers, holiday meals, baby showers, etc.)

I took out half of the mixture and put it in the freezer to make Southwestern Burgers next week.
The tree is up! The kids had a good time fighting over the ornaments.

3 comments:

Alwen said...

Mmmmmm.

When we were both working we used to set the slow cooker up and let it go all day while we were at work, then come home to dinner hot and ready. A quick batch of biscuits, and mmmm.

Anonymous said...

The beans look delicious!

Anonymous said...

Oh, yum! Did something similar the other day, with lentils, potatoes, onions, garlic, and spices. Almost like stone soup, but really good.

Husbeast is still trying to boil the dye out of the pan he uses for mashed potatoes... I should look into the whole slow-cooker thing.