Corn Bread Southern Style & Crowder Peas

This meal can be truly easy peasy if you purchase pre-made cornbread in our local grocery store deli. Ingles makes great cornbread. Pick up two cans of crowder peas or black-eyes and season to taste. I love adding slaw as a side also, so simply pull the slaw leftover from Monday out of the fridge.

Recipes to cook this meal are listed below.

Cornbread Southern Style

• 2 cups self rising cornmeal mix not just plain cornmeal

• 2 eggs or 1 extra large egg

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil for the skillet if using cast iron

• 1 3/4 cups buttermilk or regular milk Start with 1 cup of liquid if you are using regular milk and add the rest as necessary

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

• If you are using cast iron, place the 1/4 cup oil in the bottom of a 9″ skillet and place over high heat on your stovetop while you make the batter.

• Pour the cornmeal into a bowl and add the oil, egg, and buttermilk.

• Mix until combined and drop a small amount into your skillet.

• If it sizzles immediately, go ahead and pour in your batter to within 1 inch of the top. If you want a thinner cornbread, just don’t pour in as much.

• Transfer the skillet from the stove top to the hot oven.

• Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden and set.

Notes: If you are not using cast iron, grease your pan with nonstick cooking spray and do not preheat the pan. Bake as directed.

Crowder Peas

• 1 package (16 ounces) frozen crowder peas, thawed (frozen black-eyed peas can also be used)

• 1 small onion, finely chopped

• 2 cups beef broth

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 cup diced ham (approximately 4 1/2 ounces) (Optional)

• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Place all ingredients in a large pan and stir to mix well. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 40 minutes, or until peas are tender; stir occasionally.

Leftovers

Leftover cornbread will be used to make Chicken Cornbread Cassarole on Thursday.