Hoppin’ John.

The wintry weather hasn’t let up a bit, with windchills making my time at the bus stop bitterly cold this afternoon, so I knew we had to have something warm, hearty, and comforting for dinner tonight.  What better to fit the bill than Hoppin’ John?

To be truthful, I’d planned on putting this meal in the Crock-Pot this morning, but a 3:30 a.m. call to 911 left me feeling a little ragged.  (Our carbon monoxide detector began to go off unexpectedly at 3:30, and it wouldn’t stop even after a reset.  The nice firemen who came through the house to test the air said the problem was with the detector itself, which was a relief.  And yes, they came with their sirens blaring and lights flashing, waking up the neighborhood.  Mortifying! … but I’m glad they came.)

So suffice it to say, I was in No Mood to whip up dinner at breakfast time.  So tonight, once I got home from work, I poured a bag of black-eyed peas into a pot, added a can of Rotel, a four-pack of Lightlife chorizo links (sliced into coins), a heaping amount of collard greens, some salt and pepper, and four cups of broth.  I brought the pot to a boil and then left it simmering for the better part of an hour, adding a little extra water every so often when the peas started cooking down too much. 

With 10 minutes left in the cooking time, as the peas were almost perfectly tender, I added half a cup of instant rice to the pot and stirred the grains in well.  By the time the rest of the meal was cooked through, so was the rice!  I love it when that happens.

We chowed down with gusto, enjoying our piping-hot dinner out of warm yellow bowls.  And not to worry – there’s a ton left for our upcoming lunches!  Perhaps we’ll revisit this on Saturday?  The dinner, I mean.  Not the firefighters.

:)