New Years Day - Hoppin John's and Mexican Cornbread

In the South, the traditional New Year's meal for good fortune includes black eyed peas, pork, collard greens, and cornbread.  We chose to forego the collards as I’ve never been able to make any that I liked so we just went with the other three.

Hoppin Johns seem to have originated in the South Carolina Low Country when rice was cooked with black eyed peas and for our meal, we used a recipe that we have made before except I used Kentucky Legends Ham rather than andouille to keep the heat level down.

Hoppin John’s

Ingredients:
½ lb andouille sausage, sliced ¼” thick half-rounds baked ham

½ cup finely chopped onion

¼ cup diced green bell pepper

¼ cup diced celery

2 (15-oz) cans black-eyed peas, undrained

1 (10-oz) Rotel, undrained

1½ cups beef broth

1 tsp Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp black pepper

Salt to taste

¾ cup uncooked rice

Directions:

1. Cook sausage in a large pot until browned, about 5 minutes.

2. Add the onion, green pepper and celery and cook until tender.

3. Add black eyed peas, diced tomatoes and green chiles, beef broth, cajun seasoning, garlic, and black pepper & bring to a boil.

4. Stir in rice, cover, and simmer until it is tender (about 20 minutes)

5. Adjust seasoning and add liquid if necessary

The hoppin johns were a big hit with just a little heat from the Rotel and Creole Seasoning but a still a bit too much for Bev.  Since he really likes the peas and cornbread, we sent the leftovers home with good buddy Joe to share with his wife.  I'll try to remember and report at year end if the meal brought us good fortune.

We also used our usual Mexican Cornbread recipe but it rose more and was lighter than normal which Bev attributed to the different buttermilk (Prairie Farms from Walmart) that she used this time.

Mexican Cornbread

Makes 12” skillet full

Ingredients:   

2 cup self rising corn meal mix (White Lilly or Martha White)

3 lg Eggs, lightly beaten

2/3 cup Vegetable oil

1 sml Onion, finely chopped

1 sml Green pepper, finely chopped

1 cup Cheese, shredded

1 cup Buttermilk

½ tsp Baking soda

1 ea Jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced

1 cup Whole kernel corn, drained

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F and warm greased cast iron skillet.

2. Mix together meal, eggs, oil, soda, and buttermilk.

3. Stir in other ingredients.

4. Bake until top is browned and toothpick pulls out cleanly.

We all thought the cornbread was excellent and maybe her best ever.

For dessert, Bev made Caramel Apple Cupcakes using the recipe from All Recipes and they were light and very good.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 ounce) package spice cake mix

1 1/3 cups water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 large Granny Smith apple, cored and chopped

35 caramels

1/4 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup chopped peanuts pecans

24 wooden craft sticks

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners.

2. Place cake mix into a large bowl, and pour in water, vegetable oil, and eggs. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat until moistened and combined, about 30 seconds. 
3. Increase mixer speed to medium, and beat for 2 minutes. Stir in the chopped apple, and fill the prepared cupcake cups about 2/3 full.

4. Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned and a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Remove cupcake pans to a wire rack to cool.

5. When cupcakes have cooled, melt the caramels with evaporated milk in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth and combined, about 4 minutes. Spread the caramel icing over the cupcakes, and sprinkle with chopped peanuts. Insert a wooden stick into the center of each cupcake.

Joe was here for football and supper and he ate three of the cupcakes so I'm going to guess he liked them - he took these leftovers home as well.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

1/1/20 event date