<p>After several weeks of ho-hum meals, I decided to start the new year in grand style, so I made a couple of favorites and I must say, the results were good.</p>
<p>Made my first ever batch of Brunswick stew [chicken and pork]. Not bad at 'tall. Also cooked some Collards and Cabbage with chopped smoked turkey tails and the traditional New Years Day Black-eyed peas mixed with chopped pork (not Hoppin John). Anyone else do any traditional American cuisine this holiday weekend? Skillet corn bread recipes would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I am cooking again- all it takes is the one child home to break the empty nester habits a bit. I have spread out the time consuming favorites- still 2 more weeks to get them all in. Can make something and not have too many leftovers or the need to freeze them. Cooking the foods son won’t take time with and can’t buy that he grew up with- H’s regional Indian cusine, especially.</p>
<p>i tried my hand at scones for the first time this year. i was surprised at how relatively easy they were to make. I have some ideas about how to tweak them for future batches. dh seemed to like them best. they probably weren’t sweet enough for the kids.</p>
<p>lw, i have a family member who makes brunswick stew year round for his catering business. it is a big hit and he sells it along with his bbq. it’s not one of my favorites because i’m not a big meat fan…i prefer vegetable soup…</p>
<p>i am cooking a pork butt in the crockpot today…with bbq sauce…and it can be shredded for sandwiches. again, not a hit with me but dh likes it.</p>
<p>dh smoked a brisket for new year’s eve dinner. very tender and it’s all gone now…i do like brisket…</p>
<p>i may make some homemade potato soup later today. this was something that my mom made frequently when i was a child. very easy and great for a snowy day at home. i might even get motivated to make some made from scratch biscuits. those are fairly easy.</p>
<p>One of my great dissappointments in life is that I didn’t get my grandmama’s recipe for scratch biscuits before her passing. Disliked them as a kid but came to love them once I got out of college. Maybe it was the flour (White Lily brand) from rural Georgia and the local water in the batter that made the difference in taste?</p>
<p>Mmm, I love Brunswick stew. I was just going through my recipes today and was thinking about making it soon. Cornbread is good with it, but Mom used to make johnnycakes to serve with hers. I guess they’re too greasy to eat nowadays but they sure tasted good dipped in that stew :)</p>
<p>I made Hoppin’ John for the first time on New Year’s Day. Instead of ham hocks I used a smoked turkey thigh. I served it with a side dish of braised red chard (with a splash of red wine vinegar for some zing) and cornbread. Yum!</p>
<p>I will have to check out the recipe for Brunswick Stew. </p>
<p>I’ve never heard of any of these dishes! Brunswick stew? Hoppin John?</p>
<p>I made two huge turkey-sausage and spinach lasagnas for last night (relatives visiting and other friends over as well). The best part is that I had plenty left over for dinner tonight. What a treat to just heat up dinner in the microwave and not have to clean up a cooking mess!</p>
<p>Here is the recipe, in case anyone is interested. 313 four-fork reviews on Epicurious. The spicy tomato sauce (recipe embedded) is fabulous.</p>
<p>Hoppin’ John is a requirement for New Year’s at our house. Eating black-eyed peas for luck is a wide-spread Southern tradition and my favorite way to eat them is in hoppin’ john.<br>
Mine is pretty simple. Cook up some bacon. Pour off the fat and saute an onion in the little bit of drippings left. Add cooked rice and canned black eyed peas (Trappey’s with jalepeno peppers is our favorite). Stir it up and keep hot until dinner. Serve with a good Louisiana hot sauce.
Remarkably similar to Costa Rica’s national breakfast dish of Gallo Pinto.</p>
<p>I’ve never had either of those dishes, but Brunswick stew is very intriguing. </p>
<p>I happened to watch Julie and Julia last night, so I had to make Beef Bourguigon today! The smell is killing me right now. Between Christmas and now, I’ve cooked a turkey, made turkey soup with quinoa (the new miracle grain), a prime rib roast, and a pork shoulder in pasilla chilli paste, from my new Rick Bayless cookbook. Also on today’s agenda was fudge for DD’s thank you gifts for college references. So much for the diet and exercise thread, eh?</p>
<p>I went with the Pennsylvania Dutch good luck New Years dish of pork roast with sauerkraut. I am not a sauerkraut fan, nor are our boys but my husband is and I found a crockpot recipe that called for adding beer, brown sugar and a chopped apple and onion that sounded quite appealing. It came out well and now we have leftover pork for shredding into barbecue sandwiches.</p>
<p>The Hoppin’ John sounds great, but I have never had black-eyed peas. Are they available outside the south? I love all kinds of beans, lentils, etc., so I’m sure I would like them. I’m not sure about the rest of the family.</p>
<p>love,love,love Brunswick stew. We grew up eating it (rural south) most often with eastern NC style BBQ and cornbread. We never put pork in it, just chicken. DH and I had Brunswick stew in Brunswick Co. GA last summer…awesome.</p>
<p>Cooked collards and country ham for Christmas. They are requisites or it just isn’t Christmas.</p>
<p>NYMomof2, Have you ever looked for black-eyed peas in the grocery store?
They’s usually near the Pinto beans at the stores here…'course we’re in the south
You can buy canned or frozen.</p>
<p>NYmom,
black-eyed peas are a type of bean like a small navy bean. My parents can even buy them in Seattle, so the canned things are pretty universal. They have a dark spot where the bean hooks to the pod, hence the “black-eyed” designation. There are probably lots of similar beans that would work in these dishes, but the good luck may be missing.</p>
<p>OK, OK! MY taste buds are being overcome by curiousity! Would you share the recipe for this delectable Brunswick stew?..seems there are lots of us who haven’t had the pleasure~</p>
<p>NYMomof2,
We can get black-eyed peas here in Minnesota and got them when we lived in NYC. We can get the dry beans in bulk or packaged at our local food coop or at natural foods chains like Whole Foods. You can find them canned at most well-stocked grocers, especially any that serve a significant African-American clientele as most African-American cuisine is Southern in origin. Not my favorite bean, but WF is featuring an intriguing recipe for a black-eyed peas-and-collard soup (with garlic, carrots, celery, and ham in chicken stock) on their website right now.</p>
