Happy 2018 Folks. Let's cook up some black eye peas, collard greens, pork and cornbread. Yum

Happy New Year!!!!!  Wow, 2018.  I can not believe how quickly last year flew by.  Maybe this year will slow down a bit.  I doubt it, don't you?

What do you do when the ball has dropped and the day has started?  The first day of a new year, do you make resolutions?  I personally think that is setting yourself up for failure but I do believe in a fresh start.  I believe you can do this any day of the year but the first day of the year is good.  So, while you ponder what you are going to do or change this year, let's talk food.  Yep, food.  Good southern New Year's Food.  The way I grew up we ate pork to be prosperous, black eye peas for coin, greens for money and cornbread for gold.   I remember sitting in the kitchen of my grandparent's house when I was very young and hearing my grandma and mama talk about what black eye peas were for on New Year's Day.  I remember my grandpa saying they were for pennies but nowadays we just say coin.

Scott and I discussed this meal in well in advance to figure out what we wanted and how we wanted to cook it.  As I mentioned before I got a Multi-Cooker for Christmas, which is an electric pressure cooker.  I just love love the thing.  It is beyond awesome.  I highly suggest for everyone to buy one.  I did not get the Instant Pot but the one I have is great.   Mine is made by Insignia and is called a Multi Cooker 6 quart.

I did some research on YouTube and came up with some recipes for collard greens and black eye peas.

I cheated and bought pre-cut greens because once you do the work it is the same price and same amount of greens.  I waited until the last minute to buy black eye peas, only because I thought I had a bag in the cabinet.  I will never make that mistake again.  It was a real pain trying to find some at the last minute.  I found my recipe on YouTube.  If you do any research on YouTube please be aware do not cook your greens 60 minutes.  Go for 35 minutes, which will be perfect.  I had to learn the hard way and cooked mine 60 minutes.  This just made them very soft.

Greens
1 bag of greens (can be any kind) or 2 bundles of fresh greens -stemmed, cleaned and cut
4 C broth or water (I used some of my home canned smoky pork broth)
1 small chopped onion
3 cloves of garlic minced
pork side meat cut into pieces

Saute onion and side meat on the saute function on your pressure cooker for about 5 minutes.  Add your garlic and allow to cook another minute.  After cooking add your broth to deglaze and then your greens.  close your pot and seal your valve.  Cook on manual setting set for 35 minutes.  Once cooked do a quick release.  Salt to taste and enjoy!

Black eye peas are so quick and perfect in the pressure cooker.   Plus they are some of the best I have ever made.  Your pressure cooker helps to infuse the flavors so you also need to be careful of how you season them.  I decided to wait on the salt till after they were cooked.

Black Eye Peas

1 pound bag of black eye peas- rinsed
1 small chopped onion
2-3 cloves minced garlic
pork side meat cut into pieces
6 C broth or water (I used rabbit and chicken broth)

Saute your onion and side meat for 3-5 minutes on the saute function on your pressure cooker.  Add garlic and saute another minute or until fragrant.  Add the broth or water and then your peas.  Close your pressure cooker and seal the valve.  Use manual setting for 35 minutes.  Let it naturally pressure release for another 35 minutes.  Salt and enjoy.

While my greens were OK, as I stated I overcooked them. Since then I have researched a lot more recipes and most people only do cook them for 35 minutes.  That is why I stated 35 minutes for the greens.

The peas were so incredibly easy to make and seriously full of flavor.  I now can not wait to make pintos.

My husband made a porchetta which was lovely.  He will have to add this1` recipe and pictures later.

So far, this year is starting off great.  I hope ya'll are having a good one too.  Happy New Year again and stay tuned.  Hope this year is the best one yet for everyone.

Enjoy!!






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