Good Luck Dish

I don't like black eyed peas. I never really have, but I'm going to eat them this year. Maybe that's what has been my problem- I never ate them in the past. Every year on New Years Day, my MIL makes this nasty cold black eyed peas salad. (Can you tell I don't like them?) Everyone eats them but me. I pass. Last week I made our neighbors some cream cheese pumpkin bread. (Don't ask for the recipe, cause I made it up and I don't even know if it tasted good.) She returned the favor by bringing us a rice dish. I thought "Great, now I don't have to cook dinner." Then I took a closer look and saw it was black eyed peas and rice. Um, no thanks. I read the card she sent along with the dish and it said to eat on New Years Day, but I tasted it first. It was good! I am surprised. That doesn't mean I'm going to start eating them on a regular basis, but maybe this year I'll give them a try. I don't think my life can get any worse, so black eyed peas and rice is what I will be eatin'. We'll see if they bring me luck. Charlseton Hopping John by Martha S.

• 1 c. rice, cooked
• 1 can field peas or black eyed peas
• 2 slices bacon (crumbled)
• 1/4 c. onions
• Dash of soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp. thyme
• 1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning
• Salt and pepper to taste

Cook rice. While rice is cooking, fry the bacon. Pour off some of the grease. Add onions, saute with bacon. You may use some pea juice from the peas to cook onions. Add soy sauce, thyme poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper. Add peas, then fold in rice. Serve on New Year's Day for good luck!

Mr. H's Specialty

Mr. H is not a cook, but every once in a while he gets in the kitchen and makes me breakfast. He makes great cinnamon toast and scrambled eggs. I can't watch him make eggs, because his cooking method is completely opposite from mine (he cooks them on super high heat and I always think he's going to burn them or they're going to be rubbery), but I am impressed everytime by how good they are. Anyway, I never had cinnamon toast (besides cinnamon toast crunch) before I met him and now we have it about once a week. It's so good and easy. This would be good on Christmas morning because it feeds as little or as many as you need it to. I hope you make this, because it's the best!

Cinnamon Toast

• sliced bread (white, wheat or whatever you like)
• butter, softened
• ground cinnamon
• granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place slices of bread on cookie sheet and spread with softened butter. Use as much or as little as you want but make sure to cover the entire slice evenly. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of cinnamon sugar over each slice evenly. Bake for 14-15 minutes until bread is lightly toasted. Enjoy warm with a cup of coffee or a side of salty bacon!

NOTE: We sometimes use salted butter, because I like the saltiness with the sweet, but use whatever you have on hand. I've tried margarine and it works fine, but you don't get the crunchiness of the sugar like you do with butter.

I've made this in the toaster oven and it works well too, but check them at about 12 minutes, because they tend to cook faster than a conventional oven.

For the cinnamon sugar, add as much cinnamon to the sugar as you like. You can also buy premixed cinnamon sugar in a shaker can at the grocery store in the baking aisle. I've also made this with brown sugar mixed in and it's good too. It gives it a more caramel-ly flavor.

Recipe Card

Nanny gave me this idea. Wanna make one of your own?