Hoppin' John...

Hoppin' John was a favorite of Grandpa H...he would make a big pot of it and eat it everyday until it was gone!  He also loved vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup which would make a nice dessert on Hoppin' John night.  This recipe is great with hot sauce or spicy tahini (recipe below).

Hoppin' John

a recipe for 2015

"tonight's gonna be a good good night..."

1 pound black eyed peas, dried

1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
vegetable oil of choice

1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 Tablespoon Liquid Smoke
3 bay leaves

1 green pepper, diced
1 cup long grain rice, uncooked
pinch of cayenne
1/4 teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste


Sort and rinse the black eyed peas, cover with water and soak overnight.

In a pot, saute the onion and celery in a little oil until softened.*

While the onion and celery soften, rinse the now soaked black eyed peas.

To the pot add thyme, bay leaves, rinsed peas, 6 cups of fresh water and liquid smoke.

Simmer until peas are tender, approximately 45 minutes.

When peas are tender add green pepper, rice, cayenne, salt and pepper.

Cover and simmer until rice is tender, 15-20 minutes.  Turn off the heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes.

Serve with Frank's RedHot or make Spicy Tahini...

*Note:  I decided to saute the onion and celery.  Recipes I looked at did not do this.  So I imagine you could skip this step.

Spicy Tahini

a recipe from the Post Punk Kitchen

link to recipe at theppk

Blend together:
1/2 cup tahini
1/3 cup hot sauce (Frank's!)
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup water (add more if too thick)

This makes more than we use for one pot of Hoppin' John but this sauce is delicious on pretty much anything!