Growing up, my dad was always in charge of making the black eyed peas. When he and Mom were first married, he was in the Air Force and stationed at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. He was part of the boat squadron, and spent a lot of time traveling along the coast of Florida...Gulf Coast and Atlantic Coast. One of the things they ate regularly were black eyed peas, and so this made it into our one of our family traditions.
Now that I'm married and have children of my own, I make this same dish for our family. We just got finished eating some, and they are pretty much gone. That tells you something....they are SOOOO good!!!!
So, here is the recipe....
By the way, I really don't measure anything in this recipe, I just eyeball it. I have learned, though, that you don't want to overcook or over season them. Oh, and the crockpot is the best way to cook these!
First, you want to soak your beans overnight (16oz dried beads in a bag). Put them in a pan, cover with water and set aside. In the morning, drain, rinse and put them into the crockpot. Cover the beans with water. Add a big onion, a couple stalks of celery, salt, and a few cloves of garlic. You will also need a hamhock. This is why I like to do a ham at Christmas. I freeze it until New Years. Just place that hamhock on top of your beans, cover and turn on your crockpot. I put my pot on low. Each crockpot is different, so keep that in mind. We had church today, and we were gone for about 3 hours. When we came home, the house smelled so delicious!
So, the next thing you do is add chili powder, parsley, and a few (2 to 3) squirts of ketchup. Mix it up, put the lid back on, and while I mixed up and cooked my cornbread, those beans, hamhock, and seasonings just "married" together. That probably took about 45 minutes.
That's all there is to it.
Hope you try it, and let me know how you like....
