Tag: ham

Categories
Crockpot Main Dish Soup

‘Peas’ your tastebuds with a spicy crockpot soup

Spicy black-eyed peas are a great way to warm up on a cold day and are even better with some fresh cornbread on the side.
Spicy black-eyed peas are a great way to warm up on a cold day and are even better with some fresh cornbread on the side.

There is enough debate about black-eyed peas that there’s actually an article about them on the Library of Congress website.

It starts out very simply, asking, “Are black-eyed peas really peas?”

The answer is simple: “No.”

The article then goes into a very technical, scientific explanation of how peas, beans and legumes are classified and named. It’s great reading if you want to take a nap.

But I suppose no matter what their official classification, their presence in our house every New Year’s Day is a constant, as they are supposed to create good luck in the coming year.

Obviously, with all the craziness over the past year, I must have not cooked them quite right in 2021, so I’m hoping this year’s recipe was a better one.

I decided to go with a spicy version of black-eyed peas this year, mostly because I had some jalapeno peppers languishing in my crisper drawer already. You can leave those out and just add another bell pepper and cut out the cayenne if you want to try this recipe and you’re not much of a spice person, but if you like a little heat, you’re really going to like this one.

This recipe from Trisha Haas comes from the blog “Salty Side Dish.” You can find the original post at https://www.saltysidedish.com/slow-cooker-black-eyed-peas/. I added extra spices in my version.

Print

Crockpot Spicy Black-Eyed Peas

Spicy black-eyed peas are a great way to warm up on a cold day and are even better with some fresh cornbread on the side.
Course Main Course
Keyword bacon, bell pepper, black-eyed peas, cayenne, crockpot, cumin, garlic, ham, jalapeno, oregano, slow cooker, soup, spicy, yellow onion

Ingredients

  • 16 ounces dry black-eyed peas
  • 3 beef bouillon cubes
  • 1 small yellow onion diced
  • 4 to 6 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 bell pepper diced (any color)
  • 1-2 jalapeno peppers diced (remove the seeds for less kick)
  • 1 cup ham chopped
  • 6 slices bacon chopped
  • 3 teaspoons cumin
  • 2 teaspoons oregano
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Add the beef bouillon cubes to about 1 cup of hot water. Smash the cubes before adding them to a large crockpot along with five more cups of water, and then add all of the rest of the ingredients, as well. You do not have to do anything to prep the peas. Just dump them in.
  • Give the mixture a good stir and then cook on high for six hours or until the peas are cooked through.
  • This is fantastic served with fresh cornbread.

The photos on the recipe’s website show a mushier-looking soup without a lot of broth. I had a decent amount of broth with mine, so it’s really more about what you prefer with yours if you let it cook down even longer to really get the liquid thinned out. Personally, I love having broth with soups like this so I have something to soak up with my cornbread.

This was so, so easy, since it was as simple as just dumping everything in the crockpot. It literally took no cooking skills whatsoever, which I appreciate sometimes.

Now, with our bellies warmed, supposedly Joey and I are covered for 2022 and all the luck life can bring us. I’m not sure if it worked, but I have some leftovers in my freezer just in case we need a boost in the coming weeks.

This piece first appeared in print on Jan. 13, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

Verenike casserole will make you feel like a ham

Verenike casserole has the flavors of traditional verenike without all the effort to make it.
Verenike casserole has the flavors of traditional verenike without all the effort to make it.

In a little less than a month, I’ll be heading off to one of my favorite places on Earth: Camp Mennoscah.

I love it for many reasons—the beauty, the people, the connection with God through nature—but one thing I always look forward to is the food.

While my co-director and I get to run around with a bunch of 8 year olds, there will be a group of wonderful volunteers in the kitchen, churning out tons of delicious meals for us to enjoy each day.

While the camp menu varies from week to week, there are a few staples that always seem to make it onto the list that I can’t get enough of.

One of those is verenike casserole.

If you’re not familiar, verenike is a dough pocket with cheese inside that is traditionally served with ham gravy. It’s an indulgence I adore, but it’s time consuming to make. Verenike casserole takes all the flavors of verenike and simplifies them into an amazing noodle dish.

The recipe I used comes from the cookbook “50 Years of Good Cooking and Camping at Camp Mennoscah,” which was edited by Nancy Becker. The recipe, which is called “Fettucini Casserole” in the book and was penned by Ruth Entz, is colloquially called “Verenike Casserole” by campers and camp staff. I’m leaving out the 1/4 cup of chopped onion.

Print

Verenike Casserole

Verenike casserole has the flavors of traditional verenike without all the effort to make it.
Course Main Course
Keyword casserole, ham, noodles, verenike

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces fettuccine noodles cooked according to package
  • 2 cups cubed ham
  • 1 1/4 cups milk
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 12 ounces dry curd cottage cheese
  • Sauce
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoons flour
  • 2 cups milk
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • In a 9-by-13-inch pan, combine the noodles, ham, 1-1/4 cups milk, sour cream and cottage cheese and some salt and pepper.
  • In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour, salt and pepper. Cook until the mixture begins to bubble. Add the 2 cups of milk slowly while continuing to stir. Bring the mixture up to a slow boil and then reduce heat back to medium to let the mixture thicken a little. You want it to coat the back of a spoon. If it’s too thick, add a touch more milk. If it’s too thin, add a touch more flour.
  • Pour the sauce over the mixture in the baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

If you can’t find dry curd cottage cheese, I buy normal cottage cheese and then rinse and drain it extremely well before adding it to my mixture. 

Every time I make this, it’s always much better the day after, because the sauce really thickens up into something amazing, but it’s delicious straight out of the oven, too.

At camp, my favorite way to eat this is paired with some green beans and fresh bread. At home, I just load up a bowl and dig in.

There’s nothing better than food made with love, and after many trips out to Camp Mennoscah, I have never had a meal that didn’t contain a whole lot of love from volunteer cooks. I’m sure my trip in July will be no different.

This piece first appeared in print on June 21, 2018.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Exit mobile version