Gazelles On Crack

Happy Christmas, every one!

Breakfast: Biegnets (2) with mimosas (2.5) and coffee (just the one)

Lunch/Dinner: 3/4 cup brown rice, turkey etouffee (yum), whole cranberry sauce, 2 pieces of cornbread with butter, blackeyed peas (see recipe below), 1 glass of wine (that glass lasted me for about 4 hours).

Dessert: 1 piece of pumpkin/pecan pie. (full confession: I also ate all the leftover pie crust [raw] that I cut off the edges of the pie. I love raw piecrust.)

Water: 32 oz (FAIL!)

Exercise: Does standing in kitchen for roughly 4 1/2 hours cooking count? How about a vigorous nap? No? Well, then, nothing, I guess.

Did you notice something missing? Is it even possible? I went a WHOLE DAY without cookies? That is just crazy! That is my goal for today, too. (Gotta reach for the sky!)

And the promised recipe:

Best blackeyed peas EVER! (recipe from recipezaar - although I made a few modifications)

Ingredients

• 5 slices of bacon (I used turkey), cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 1/2 cups of broth (I used chicken)
• 1 cup of dried black-eyed peas, sorted & rinse (mine were soaked overnight)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 1/2 TB chopped fresh savory (I didn’t have, but used a variety of dried herbs from my cubpboards [oregano, sage, parsley, basil] - since my fresh herbs were buried under a foot of snow)
• 1 large green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used medium cheddar)

Directions

• Cook bacon pieces in large skillet over medium heat (since I used low-fat turkey bacon, I cooked this in oil), until crsip. Remove & drain bacon. Reserve.
• Heat broth, peas, onion, garlic & herbs to boiling in same skillet.
• Boil uncovered for 2 minutes; reduce heat. Cover & simmer for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally until pease are almost tender (do not boil - peas will burst).
• Stir in pepper.
• Heat to simmering. Cover & simmer about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until pepper is tender.
• Sprinkle with cheese & bacon.

A couple of notes - if you pre-soak your peas, you will not need to cook for a full 40 minutes - nor will you need the full 2.5 cups of broth. My black-eyed peas were a little too liquidy. I solved that by lifting the pea & veggie mix out of the skillet with a slotted spoon before stirring in the bacon & cheese.

They were FANTASTIC, even with my modifications. I had leftovers of everything but the peas - and have enough black-eyed peas leftover that we’ll be having them for New Year’s Day, too (it’s lucky to eat BEP on New Year’s, of course).

I wish I’d gotten a better photo than this - to show their true bacony, cheesy deliciousness - but you’ll just have to imagine the wonderfulness.