Southern New Years Day Meal

Happy New Year! I'm not sure what my objective here is. I'm not an experienced blogger and not a very entertaining writer either. What I am is a stressed wife and mother who uses cooking as an escape mechanism. I've always enjoyed food and cooking. I love how it brings people together. There's nothing like a family gathering, that always ends up in the kitchen, with lots of good food and good humor. Most of my family lives out of state, so I miss those gatherings a lot. My husbands family isn't close and we rarely see them, let alone eat with them. How sad is it to have family in the same town and only see them once or twice a year? Well, thats all another story. I'll stick to the cooking purpose. Since it's New Years day, I'm making a southern dish (thats where most of my family lives) and will be preparing the traditional "good luck" black eyed peas along with fried chicken, fried okra, green beans, corn bread and cole slaw. Not the most healthy meal, but all homemade none the less. Anything to keep my mind busy in the kitchen rather than thinking about the economy and how it's seriously effecting us. Hence....my purpose for cooking.

When I figure this blogging stuff out a little more, maybe I'll start posting pictures of what I'm doing in the kitchen. 

Well, I figured out how to post a picture. I forgot to put the okra on my plate, but I did make it. Ironically I'm the least pleased with the okra. I cooked it in regular vegetable oil instead of the bacon fat I usually use. As bad as it is for you, bacon grease truely makes a huge difference in the flavor. The okra wasn't horrible by any means but it could've better. The recipes are very basic. I used Paula Deens fried chicken recipe, for the most part. I didn't deep fry it. I heated about 1 - 2 inches of veggie oil and cooked the chicken in that, turning once, until a nice golden brown. Then I put it in the oven with the corn bread for 30 minutes. When I made the black eyed peas and green beans, I cooked both of them with chopped onions, salt pork, salt and pepper. The okra was also a Paula Deens recipe. The cole slaw was just cabbage mixed with mayo, salt, pepper and a tiny bit of chopped onions. Albers brand corn meal has a great recipe for corn bread. And that was about it. Filling, comforting and very fattening. One more thing...when working with all that hot oil be careful, you don't want to burn yourself like I did. Makes for a very crabby cook. But I suppose that's allowed, since the "peace" in my title is a mental and emotional reference...not a physical one. Not that I've gotten there, but a few minutes in the kitchen is better than nothing.