Black-eyed Peas in the Crockpot

Black-eyed Peas in the Crockpot 

3 cups dried black-eyed peas 

10 to 12 cups water

1and 1/2 TBL mineral salt 

Cook in crockpot on high about 4 to 6 hours, or low (usually overnight), until desired tenderness. I do cook them on high overnight, too.

It took some trial and error to figure out the correct ratio of salt to peas, but I finally got it. I knew there had to be a way to make Crockpot Black-eyed peas taste great, with just salt and water like the canned ones. And I was right!

Black-eyed peas are one of my very favorite foods! You can see in the picture above, one way I like to eat them: with cornbread (pretty Southern USA). The top picture is cornbread from a family size pan and the picture just above is a single serve microwave cornbread (both made with Masa Flour).

 I also like to pair them with Wild Rice.

This is a bag each frozen caulirice, peas, green beans, corn, and yellow squash cooked in a skillet together until thoroughly cooked. Scooped a portion onto the plate and topped with black-eyed peas. 

Black-eyed peas with shells and tomato juice is another great combination. 

Macaroni & cheese with black-eyed peas and green beans cooked with butter is classic comfort food to me.

Drive-thru Sue Style 4 Cheese Cauli-mac THM S

1 bag of frozen cauliflower florets 

1/3 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup extra sharp white Cheddar
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 TBL parmesan
Generous sprinkle of pink Himalayan sea salt and black cracked pepper (freshly ground is tastier)

This is the Drive-thru Sue version, so try to pick up cauliflower in a package that you can steam in the microwave. 

Once the cauliflower is steamed, empty the bag into a smallish mixing bowl, pasta bowl, or extra large cereal bowl. 

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix with a fork, breaking up large pieces of cauliflower so that you have more uniform chunks.

Microwave again for about 60 seconds to warm all the cold cheese.

ENJOY!

This dish is a great way to eat more than one serving of non-starchy vegetables. It's packed with protein and flavor. And it's not really 4 Cheese, because one of my "cheeses" is actually Nutritional Yeast. I choose the 4 "cheeses" because they are super flavorful, and we usually have all of them on hand. I try to keep bags of frozen cauliflower on hand, too. It's a quick and easy meal to make in under 10 mins by my estimation. I steam my cauliflower for 6 mins, add the cheeses, and microwave all for 1 minute. 

Cheesy cauliflower has become one of my healthy comfort foods and this version is tastiest and quickest way I have come up with fixing it.  You could easily make this a Purist style recipe by choosing to cut up a fresh, organic head of cauliflower and heating it up in your Instant Pot, oven, or on your stove top. You could make your own cottage cheese!

The possibilities with this recipe are practically endless. You can steam cauliflower however you like, switch up the cheeses, and heat in all however you choose. You could even top it with some homemade FP breadcrumbs and crisp that under the broiler. 

I hope this gives someone some great ideas to love Cauli-mac!

Vegetarian Cowboy Grub THM E

1 batch Taco Style Lentils 
2 package frozen caulirice
1 recipe taco seasoning (or packaged mix)
1 bag frozen corn (or 1 can, drained)
2 cans drained and rinsed pinto
beans, or black beans, or 1 of each (just less than 4 cups from the crockpot)
Diced tomatoes (fresh or canned), if canned, use 1- 28 oz or 2- 14.5 oz
Water to allow seasoning to simmer

Put everything together in a large skillet or pot. Simmer until everything is cooked thoroughly. 

This is a variation on a Trim Healthy Mama recipe called Cowboy Grub. I use my version of Taco Style Lentils (recipe linked above). Just to be clear, because of the Taco Style Lentils, you will need two recipes or packages of Taco seasoning; one for the Lentils recipe and one for Grub recipe. You could use the Taco Style Lentils as a meat replacement and make the Cowboy Grub with the original Trim Healthy Mama recipe, which you can find on Facebook, the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook, or the Trim Healthy Mama membership site.

You can top with Nutritional Yeast, or sprinkle parmesan, to add cheese flavor and keep as a Trim Healthy Mama E meal. Serve with blue corn tortilla chips, if desired. You could also top with 0% fat Greek yogurt, or low-fat cottage cheese. As a Trim Healthy Mama XO, you could add cheese or full fat sour cream.  Salsa would be a great addition to any version. 

I like to eat this hot or cold. It's one of those meals I think is good either way. As a mostly Drive Thru Sue, I love how simple this is to put together. I also love that, with the exception on the frozen caulirice,  this can be made exclusively with pantry item dry/canned goods. I do believe I have seen some packaged caulirice on the shelves at the grocery store... so, you might be able to get literally everything as shelf stable items. You could also make this more Purist style and make your own caulirice from a fresh head of caulirice, in addition to chopping fresh tomatoes.  There are many ways to adapt this recipe, make it your own!

Note:  You can easily halve the Cowboy Grub recipe and use the rest of the Taco Style Lentils for nachos, tacos, or Taco Salad.