New Year's Dinner

We're in the South. We have traditions. And for every year of my life, all I can remember eating for dinner for New Year's Day is black-eyed peas (for luck) and cole slaw (green, for money). My black-eyed pea recipe comes from Jim's mom and while I usually make cole slaw, my personal favorite is KFC's cole slaw, so I picked up a couple of sides yesterday. And being the good Southerner's we are, you must have cornbread. I used my recipe for Jim's favorite, from a Cooking Light book. Here are the recipes for the black-eyed peas (serve on rice so you can call them Hoppin' Johns) and the cornbread:

BLACK-EYED PEAS

1 lb dried black-eyed peas (do not soak)

Put in roaster pan or I used a 9x13 glass dish

Cover w/water

Add one medium onion, cut into 8 wedges

2 whole jalapeno pepper

2 ham hocks (this time I used about 1/2 cup+ of leftover honeybaked ham)

S&P

Cook at 250 (covered) for about 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Check at about 2 hours to see if it needs more water.

CALICO CORNBREAD

1 cup flour

2/3 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

2/3 cup buttermilk

1 (7-oz) can Mexicorn
1/2 cup chopped onion

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1 egg, lightly beaten (or 1/4 cup Egg Beaters)

Place a 9" cast-iron skillet in a 450 oven for 5 minutes.

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl.; make a well in the center of mixture. Combine buttermilk and next 4 ingredients; add to dry ingredients, stirring until just moistened.

Coat skillet w/cooking spray; immediately pour batter into hot skillet. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes or until golden.

10 servings.