Happy 2008!!!

Happy New Year!! There's been very little cooking happening around here since the big Christmas meal. We had left-overs for a few days, spaghetti with jarred sauce once, dinner out once, and the most shameful of all......soup from a can.

So, today, I started the New Year off right with a nice home cooked meal. It's a tradition for us to have black eyed peas and cabbage on New Year's Day (I can't remember a New Year's Day without 'em). So, this year, of course, we had black eyed peas and cabbage, only, since I was making the meal I put a little twist on things. We had vegetarian Hoppin' John, rotkhol (German braised red cabbage), fried potatoes and onions, and corn bread. It was fantastic. Even Rob, who turns his nose up at black eyed peas and cabbage every year, liked this meal.

For the rotkhol I used this recipe from allrecipes.com. The potatoes were fried in olive oil with some sliced onion, salt and pepper. For the cornbread, I took the easy way out and made a mix from Whole Foods. The recipe for Hoppin' John was my own, based on a few other recipes that I looked at.

Vegetarian Hoppin' John

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp thyme

6 cups cooked black eyed peas

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (seasoned with garlic, oregano and basil)

1 cup vegetable stock

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups cooked brown rice

cayenne pepper sauce (like Tabasco brand)

In a skillet over medium heat saute onion and celery until softened and onion is translucent. Add in garlic and thyme and saute a minute more, just until garlic becomes fragrant. Transfer sauted vegetables to the bowl of a slow cooker and add in black eyed peas, tomatoes, and vegetable stock. Turn slow cooker to low and let cook for 6 hours or so. Add in brown rice and salt and pepper to taste and cook another 30-45 minutes. Cayenne sauce can be added to the entire dish, or served on the side so each can season their own (this is how I served it so that the kids could eat it too)

Here's hoping that we all have a safe, healthy and happy 2008.