Last night, I felt like eating something down-home and simple.  I searched through the freezer and found a couple of bags of Purple Hull Peas.  These were not just any old peas from the store.  They were special.  These peas came from my neighbor's garden last summer.  My sweet neighbor-friend, Randy, LOVED sharing his garden goodies with others. Many times, I have opened my front door to go get the mail and there on the front step lay a basket of vegetables. Below is a photo of last summer's bounty from Randy.

Randy went to be with the Lord on December 29, 2011.  He passed away from a heart attack.  He was only 64 years young. That sucks, plain and simple. I miss waving to him every time I go outside and talking with him over the back fence.  He owned an automotive shop that was on the way to the grocery store.  Every time I drove past, I would slow down, check for him, then we would wave to each other.  I'm REALLY going to miss swapping jelly jars with him next season. *sigh*

Do you have a great neighbor-friend like Randy? Share what you like about them in the comments below.  I would love to read about them.

Last night's dinner was a fine meal indeed.  I ended up cooking those peas with onion, roasted red bell pepper and mess of collard greens in the pressure cooker.  It took 15 minutes to cook everything tender.  That was plenty of time for me to flip a batch of cornbread pancakes on the griddle and reheat some leftover brown rice.  We ate the leftovers for lunch today and already, I wish I had more to eat again for dinner tonight.  They were THAT GOOD.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

makes about 8 servings

• 6 cups frozen fresh purple hull peas
• 1 3/4 cup water
• 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet Paprika
• 4 to 5 cups slivered collard greens (1 bundlesworth)
• 1 roasted red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 4 cups cooked brown rice

Your favorite pepper sauce for topping (Tabasco, Cholula, Louisiana Hot Sauce, etc.)

In a 6-quart pressure cooker, add the purple hull peas, water, onion, bay leaf, salt, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, Thyme and paprika.  Give them a good toss.

Wash the collard greens very well in a cold water bath, making sure to remove any dirt. Remove the center stems from the leaves and discard. Roll the leaves up together, cigar style, and cut into 1/2-inch slivers.  Lay the slivered greens on top of the peas in the pan.  Top the greens with the chopped red bell pepper.

Cover and lock the lid on the pressure cooker and heat over medium-high heat.  When the pressure valve pops up and the pressure regulator begins to chatter or rock around, turn the heat down to just below medium.  Start counting cooking time for 15 minutes.

When the cooking timer goes off, remove pressure cooker from heat and allow to cool on it's own.  Or you can carefully transfer the pressure cooker to the kitchen sink and run cool water over the lid until the pressure lock/valve drops down.

Remove the lid and give those victuals a good toss.  Serves over a bed of rice with a side of cornbread pancakes. Let everyone spice up their plate with as much hot pepper sauce as they like.

IMPORTANT NOTE!!

I made this again using frozen black eye peas from the grocer's freezer section.  It only took 5 MINUTES in the pressure cooker to get them tender.  Any longer and I would have had a pot of mushy peas.  Be sure to read the cooking time on the back of the freezer bag.  The bag I used called for 6-12 minutes on the stove top, so I went 5 minutes in the pressure cooker, just to be safe.

Watch the video below to see how easy it is to cook peas in the pressure cooker.

QUICK STOVE TOP INSTRUCTIONS

Using a dutch oven or large soup pot over medium heat, cook onion in a thin layer of water until soft, about 7 minutes.  Add frozen black eye peas, water, bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, salt, Thyme,  Paprika.  Give everyone a good toss.  Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer.  Add slivered collards and bell pepper, cover and continuing cooking for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir occasionally, making sure not to over cook the peas, but long enough to get them and the collards tender.

Imagine a toasty warm tortilla, smeared with garlicky hummus, filled with thinly sliced crispy, fresh cabbage, green bell pepper, carrot, cucumber, mushrooms, green onion, and a few black beans.  OH SO GOOD!

Charlie and I have had these crunchy veggie wraps for lunch three times this week.  They seriously ROCK!  You should have seen us.  Charlie was making grunting sounds as he ate his wraps.  I was doing a wiggle dance in my chair.  I haven't been this excited about lunch in a long time. And these wraps are very filling.  We had a late lunch today at 1:00 and I'm still full.  I didn't even get my usual 3 o'clock snack attack.  As I type this out, it's 5:30 p.m. I should be making dinner now but I'm not hungry enough to figure something out.  Yikes.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES FOR THESE GREAT WRAPS

• large flour tortillas
• Creamy good hummus
• carrot
• green bell pepper
• cucumber
• green onion
• mushrooms
• green cabbage leaves
• cooked black beans, rinsed

Heat a griddle over medium heat.  Julienne the carrot, bell pepper, cucumber, and green onion. Thinly slice the mushrooms. Roll up the cabbage leaves and thinly slice.

Toast one side of the flour tortilla(s) for 30 seconds or so.  Flip.  Smear the middle of the tortillas with a couple of tablespoons of hummus.  Lay the cut julienned vegetables parallel to each other in the center. Top with cabbage.  Add a tablespoon or two of black beans.  Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.  Carefully transfer the filled tortillas to a warm plate.  Roll up the tortilla tight and serve it up with extra hummus on the side for dipping.

After eating them the first time, I went back in the kitchen and cut more veggies for the next lunch rush.  It was a great help to have all the veggies prepared and ready to go the next day.  Give this lunch a run past your family and see what happens.  Then, come back and tell us all about it.

I could eat a whole plate of oven roasted vegetables and call it 'dinner'.  Couldn't you?  The other night, I had a icebox full of leftovers that didn't quite go together, like leftover stir-fry veggies, baked yellow squash, and pinto beans.  It didn't help that I had a hankering for fried potatoes.  That's when I got the idear to roast up some spuds and the last green bell pepper and add them to the buffet of reheated leftover vegetables. We had a veggie-palooza! Everything got eaten up and the icebox was empty and ready for my next grocery shop.  I just love it when a plan comes together. ;D

ROASTED BELL PEPPER and POTATOES for 3

• green bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 large yellow or white potato, cut into 1 inch chunks
• extra virgin olive oil
• course salt and fresh ground pepper

Heat oven to 425ºF degrees.

On a large sheet pan, drizzle enough oil to coat bell pepper and potato chunks. Use clean hands to toss the vegetables well and coat the sheet pan, too. Spread vegetables in a single layer. Season generously with salt and pepper.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender. Midway through roasting, turn the veggies once with a metal spatula. Potatoes will have a crispy outside and remain creamy, soft on the inside.

Never in my days have I come across a cabbage recipe that had a Mexican flare to it.  My husband and I have always known cabbage cooked with sausage or tossed into stir-fry meals. Eating it cooked with tomatoes, beans, sweet corn, onion, cumin and chili powder was a whole new yummy experience.  We were instantly won over. And let me tell you, this spicy cabbage dinner recipe holds up very well for leftovers.

 HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

Serves 4 easy

• 1 medium sweet onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 small cabbage or 1/2 large cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1 16-ounce can tomato sauce
• 2 4-ounce cans green chilies
• 4 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons New Mexico Chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano

• 1 1/2 cup frozen yellow corn
• 1 cup cooked black beans
• 2 cups cooked brown rice

toppings

• Tomato, chopped
• Avocado, cut into chunks
• Serrano peppers, sliced
• Corn tortilla chips

Get a large skillet hot over medium-high heat. Add 1/4 cup water, onions and garlic, cook until onions are translucent, 5 minutes or so.  Add the cabbage, tomato sauce, green chilies, tomato paste, cumin, chili powder and oregano.  Reduce heat to medium and cook cabbage about 10 minutes, or until tender.

Turn off heat.  Stir in corn and black beans.  Season with salt and pepper to your taste.  Serve over brown rice and top with fresh tomato, avocado, and Serrano peppers.  Use tortilla chips for scooping and a bit of crunchy fun.

This recipe was adapted from the Mexican Cabbage recipe found in The Happy Herbivore.

Have you watched my Happy Herbivore review on video? WATCH HERE

This Chickpeas and Lentils Lunch Salad recipe is one of my favorite vegetarian recipes.  It really hits the spot when you're so hungry you could eat a horse.  If you have any leftover rice or quinoa, toss it in and you'll have a well rounded meal in a bowl. Like all great salads, this healthy recipe gets better the next day, and the day after that. ;D

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

Makes enough to feed 8 as a side or 4 for lunch.

• 1 cup green lentils
• 5 cups water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 bay leaf

• 3 tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1 small zucchini, peeled and diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 serrano or jalapeno pepper, finely diced
• 1/2 small red onion, diced
• 1 small bunch mint, finely chopped
• 1/3 bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 2 cups or 1 (15 ounce) can cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Juice of 1 large lemon
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot over medium heat, bring lentils, water, salt and bay leaf to a boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer and cook until lentils are tender but not mushy, 20 to 25 minutes. Strain lentils. Run cold water over lentils to cool completely. Drain and move to a large bowl that will hold the whole salad.

Add the bell pepper, tomatoes, onion, zucchini, chickpeas and hot peppers to lentils. Drizzle on the oil and lemon juice. Give the salad a good toss without mashing the lentils. Taste before seasoning with salt and pepper. Season with salt and pepper as you like.

Like I mentioned earlier, adding a cup or two of leftover rice or some other favorite grain really makes this all the difference. Try it out and you'll see.

This Brussels Sprouts and Bacon recipe ROCKS!  It took all my will power not to eat it 'em all right out of the pan.

For everyone that doesn't know, I ALWAYS keep oven-fried bacon in the freezer.  And I keep a small jar of bacon drippings on the bottom shelf of the fridge door.

The original recipe that inspired this simple side dish went on about cooking raw bacon, draining off the excess fat, then sauteing the veggies.  I didn't have to do all that.  I just had to heat up the drippings, crumble some frozen bacon, then toss the veggies.  It didn't take any time at all.

For the sake of everyone that doesn't keep a bacon stash, I'll go ahead and type out the original recipe as it was instructed to me.  In italic type will be what I did.  Make sense?

HERE GOES

• 4 strips uncooked bacon, diced
• 1 shallot, diced, or 1 tablespoon yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved, or quartered if large
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 3 to 4 white button mushrooms, chopped

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add the Brussels sprouts to the boiling water and blanch until tender, 4 to 7 minutes; do not overcook.  Drain well.

Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until it begins to release its fat, about 3 minutes.  Add the shallot and continue to saute until the bacon is crisp, 2 to 3 minutes longer.  Drain off all the fat.

OR heat 1 to 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings in the skillet. Take 4 oven-fried bacon strips out of the freezer.  Dice the bacon and warm it in the skillet.  Add the onion and mushrooms, cook 2 minutes or until the onion softens.

Add the Brussels sprouts to the skillet and cook over medium heat, gently tossing the sprouts until they have taken ont he flavor of the bacon left in the pan, about 2 minutes.  Season with pepper and serve hot.

See? There's nothing to it.  This is a very delicious Brussels sprouts recipe. I plan on eating it over and over again.

This simple ratatouille recipe calls for everyday pantry staples.  If you have a food processor with a slicing blade, you can have all the veggies cut up in less than 2 minutes.  The actual cooking time takes 20 minutes.  The vegetables keep well in the icebox for up to two days.  That's how long it lasted before I had eaten the last of it.

My favorite parts of the dish were the bread crumbs, the zucchini and the eggs.  The combination made it hard to stop eating.  I definitely went back for seconds.  And it's not a heavy lunch.  Nor is it loaded with anything bad.  I didn't have any guilt about getting another scoop.

The next time you see this dish on SDR, I will have made it entirely of zucchini, orange bell pepper, plenty of onion and garlic, tossed in some smokey green chilies, 6 eggs, and seasoned it with Mexican oregano. OHYEABABY!

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

Serves 6

For the bread crumbs:

• 3 slices of bread
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

For the rest:

• 4 medium zucchini
• 2 medium yellow squash
• 1 medium red bell pepper
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 6 eggs
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• Salt and pepper to taste

Using the steel blade on the food processor, process the bread slices into fine bread crumbs.  Set aside in a small bowl.

Using the slicing blade on the food processor, process the onion, bell pepper, and garlic together.  Set aside in a medium bowl.

Using the same blade, process the zucchini, squash, and tomatoes together.  Set aside in a medium bowl.
Heat a large skillet over medium to medium high heat.  Add 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil and bread crumbs.  Toast the bread crumbs until they are golden brown and crispy. Transfer crumbs back to their small bowl.

Add another 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil to the skillet, quick cook the onion, bell pepper and garlic for 5 minutes, until the onion is soft and translucent.  Add in the bowl of zucchini, squash and tomatoes.  Season with rosemary, salt and pepper.  Cook another 5 minutes, until the zucchini is tender to the bite.

Make 6 wells in the skillet, but don't expose the bottom of the pan.  Crack one egg into each well.  Season the eggs with salt and pepper as you like.  Cover with a lid, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on how soft you like your sunny side up eggs.  (I like it semi-soft and cooked for 4 minutes.)  After the eggs are cooked.  Top the whole dish off with bread crumbs and serve it up!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH ME BRING THIS DISH TOGETHER

Serves 4 to 6

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked long-grain rice
• 2 3/4 cups water
• 1 roasted red bell pepper
• 1 tablespoon oil packed sun-dried tomato, chopped
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• 3 tablespoons black olives, chopped
• 3 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
• 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 400ºF degrees.

In a casserole dish, combine the rice and water.  Cover and bring to a boil over high heat.  Stir in the bell pepper, sun-dried tomatoes, green onions, and garlic.  Cover tightly and place in the oven.

Bake 15 minutes, until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.

Fluff the rice with a fork.  Stir in the feta cheese, olives, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste.  Dry the pot lid.  Drape a tea towel over the rice.  Cover with the dried lid and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

I learned two things when I made this recipe for roasted beets in sour cream. (I got the recipe out of Recipes from the Root Cellar.) Number one was how to roast whole beets in the oven just like baking potatoes.  Number two, while I like beets, my family wants nothing to do with them.  *Sigh*

Now just because I had to eat this recipe all by myself doesn't mean it wasn't a very good recipe.  (If I only posted the foods that my family liked most, this food blog would have ceased publishing after the first year.)  Anyhoo.  I think beets are just one of those vegetables that folks either like or they don't.  What about you?  Do you like green eggs and ham?

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 1 pound whole beets (get beets about 2-inches in diameter)
• 3 tablespoons minced purple onion
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 cup sour cream
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oven to 350ºF

Wash, dry, and hand coat each whole beet with a little oil and place on a cookie sheet.  Roast for 45 to 60 minutes, until you can push a fork through to the center of the beet.  Allow them to cool enough to handle.

In a small bowl, whisk the vinegar and sour cream together.

Peel the beets and cut into bite size chunks (think potato salad chunks).  Toss into a medium bowl with the onion.  Add in the sour cream sauce and toss until the beets are well coated.  Salt and pepper to your taste.  You can eat them right away or stick them in the icebox for up to half the day before serving.

Sometimes all that's needed to make a satisfying dinner is a plateful of roasted vegetables.  Seriously!  Think about it.  Rinse a few vegetables, chop'em up, drizzle them with oil on a half sheet pan, season with spices, and throw'em in the oven for 20 minutes or so.  Dinner is on!

If you absolutely have to have a meat on the side, then toss a couple of seasoned chicken boobs on the gas grill.  They'll be done in the same time it takes to roast the vegetables.  A tender medium-rare rib-eye cooks quick, too.  Just saying.

HERE'S WHAT I LIKE TO TOSS TOGETHER

• red potatoes
• red onion
• golden zucchini
• broccoli
• olive oil
• Italian seasoning
• coarse salt
• fresh ground pepper

The trick is to cut the potatoes into small chunks (1-inch) and cut the zucchini and broccoli into big chunks (2-inches).  That way the potatoes cook tender in the same time as the broccoli and zucchini.

HEAT THE OVEN 400ºF.

BAKE 20 TO 25 MINUTES.  Keep watch over the broccoli making sure it doesn't burn.  I've been known to keep the broccoli separated from the other veggies while roasting, then scrap the broccoli off the pan to a bowl with a lid.  I return the rest of the veggies back to the oven to finish roasting and keep the broccoli warm while I wait.  When everything is cooked, I toss all the vegetables together and serve them up.