There is a whole different world out there, guess we still learning, huh????

Sharon, how do you prepare your sauerkraut???

Sometimes I drain it and eat it cold straight out of the crock. Sometimes I lightly pan fry it. Sometimes I just warm it in its juices.
I like my kraut crunchy.

If I buy it, I usually pan fry it before eating but just for a short time, sort of braised, I guess.

I saute 1/2 an onion in a little bacon fat or oil, add 1 tablespoon or more, sweet Hungarian paprika, I like more, add kraut and a generous grinding of fresh black pepper, stir well, cover and cook for several minutes. Recipe came from my ex MIL who was Austrian/Hungarian.

That's close to what I do, but I only add coarse black pepper. No onions.

mcash70 said:I saute 1/2 an onion in a little bacon fat or oil, add 1 tablespoon or more, sweet Hungarian paprika, I like more, add kraut and a generous grinding of fresh black pepper, stir well, cover and cook for several minutes. Recipe came from my ex MIL who was Austrian/Hungarian.

That really sounds good. I've never used onion, either but I'm going to try it. Yummmy!

Jean, it is really good, I think you will like it, the paprika gives it a nice color, and if you like spicy food you can add cayenne to taste.

Margaret, I do like spicy food, however, DH doesn't, so usually go easy on that.

Anyone growing up in the south will probably have eaten field peas (or probably black-eyed peas) with hot peppers chopped up in them. Although I like black-eyed peas, I prefer field peas. I got DH hooked on field peas early on, and they are still a favorite of his.

Jean, we both like spicy. I know what black-eyed peas are, but what do you mean by "field peas"?

Field peas are smaller than black-eyed peas, and not quite as starchy in my estimation. Farmers where I grew up used to plant field peas (they vine) in their cornfields and the vines grew up the corn stalks.

One of the nicest gifts I received after moving to AR was a package of field pea seeds from one of my former neighbors back in NC!

I don't think I will find those here in my small town, I Googled to see what they look like. I love all kinds of beans and peas.

And along with the morning glories that also grew up the same corn stalks, those cornfields sure were pretty! I love field peas, any kind of peas. I'm all stocked up with black eyed peas for New Year's Day.

Sharon, do you make a special New Year's day meal with the black-eyed peas?

Usually I cook black eyed peas with ham hocks or some kind of smoked ham, cornbread and that's about it. Sometimes stewed tomatoes if I have any frozen or maybe buttered/steamed broccoli or kale or spinach. Nothing fancy, but just traditional.

And no, I don't eat the ham, but don't mind it flavoring my black eyed peas!

Sounds yummy, I love ham hocks, doesn't have to be fancy to be good!

Sharon said:Usually I cook black eyed peas with ham hocks or some kind of smoked ham, cornbread and that's about it. Sometimes stewed tomatoes if I have any frozen or maybe buttered/steamed broccoli or kale or spinach. Nothing fancy, but just traditional.

And no, I don't eat the ham, but don't mind it flavoring my black eyed peas!

....or bacon drippings or fatback aka salt pork! gotta have that cornbread with the peas, too!

Yep, or bacon drippings or fatback and always cornbread.
Love it!

But my oven just died a couple nights ago - it baked the cornbread but didn't brown it on top. I ate it anyway. Tried it again and it won't even heat up.

I can't get my handyman guy here till late next week, so I might be frying my cornbread to go with the black eyed peas.
Bummer. But I do like fried cornbread, so it will be OK.

Sorry about the oven, Sharon. Fried cornbread is good, too!

How do you make fried cornbread?