I made sausage and black-eyed peas with cornbread!

I make this black-eyed pea dish often, and I guess it seems to be called "Hoppin' John." I don't know about that, reallly. My grammy used to make this when I was a kid and we're pretty southern, but she never once called it "Hoppin' John." Anyway, here's the recipe:


1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped
1 stock celery, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 small red pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 links andouille chicken sausage, cubed**
1 can black-eyed peas, drained and rinced
1 can diced tomatoes
Olive oil
Cayenne pepper (if you like it spicy)

**You can get this at your grocery store near the deli, hotdogs, or refridgerated specialty items. If you want to make it really good, hit up cajungrocer.com. Comeaux's brand is to die for.

Sautee the olive oil (just enough to cover the pan lightly) onions, garlic, green and red peppers over a medium heat. Add the chicken sausage, mix it up well and put a lid on while it cooks over a medium heat for approximately 10 minutes (or til those meats start getting juicy). Throw in the diced tomatoes, celery, and black eyed peas- mix well again. Put the lid back on, turn the heat down to a simmer-- but not too low because you want those black eyed peas to cook up right. Use a "3" or "4" if you have a 1-10 heat dial on your stove.

While that's cooking, you're going to make this cornbread from scratch! It's jalapeno honey cornbread. I got this recipe from Cooking Light sometime ago, although it's slightly adapted not to be so sweet. Add more honey if you feel.


1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup honey
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 425°. Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Combine buttermilk, honey, peppers, and egg in a bowl; add to flour mixture. Stir just until moist. Pour batter into an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for approximately 15 minutes.

Turn off the oven and stove, and ENJOY! It's a little taste of Southeast Texas in New York City. Yee haw!