Quick Hoppin' John

This recipe was modified (barely) from the back of the very Goya Blackeye Pea can you see in the above picture. Looks like a lovely bunch of ingredients, does it not? Well don't get excited...


We're only eating this much of it... But it will be filling and rather delicious, I promise!


Start out by putting the water for the rice on to boil. If you start there, it will only take 15-20 minutes to make this meal. Once that is going, put one serving of kielbasa in a pan and cook it up. You can use bacon, but that is a slippery slope. I can resist kielbasa. Bacon? No...


Once you get a little kielbasa grease going (I know, sounds gross, but tough...) throw in your onion and let it cook a couple minutes.


Then you add your red peppers. You don't have to make a pretty arrangement in your pan, like Starbuck painting the Eye of Jupiter, but I find it ever so rewarding to do so.


Add your can of Goya Blackeye Peas. After you dump it in, you are going to think, "Damn, should I have drained those?" But don't second guess yourself. It looks icky now, but some of that juice will cook off and some will be absorbed by the rice.


And see, isn't it prettier once you add the Sauzon Goya and the optional Frank's Red Hot Sauce - or other hot sauce of your choice?


Once you plop in the cooked rice and stir it around, it looks downright palatable. Although a little light on the meat. (I didn't notice while I was eating it, though. Yummy!)


Split it into 4 servings right away lest you be temped to spoon a little extra into your prettiest bowl. Once your extra bowls cool down, put them in tupperwear in individual serving sizes to take for lunch. Or you can feed them to your family if you do that sort of thing. (My family had the rest of the kielbasa, rice pilaf and pumpernickel bread. They run on carbs...)


The prettiest bowl is the one you eat out of. And if you use chopsticks, you can't shovel too much into your mouth at once. Some people have that problem. Not me, of course. No siree, Bob! And at 357 calories, 6.8 g of fat and 12.4 g of protein a serving, you can splurge and have a beer with it!

I used to think that the secret to eating healthfully was not to think too much about food. But I now realize that the secret for ME to eat healthfully is to plan ahead and think A LOT about every bite I take. I think that the fun of documenting my meals may help me out!

Here is the recipe for your cooking pleasure!

Quick Hoppin' John

* 1 serving kielbasa

* One 15.5 oz can of blackeye peas

* one envelope sazon goya

* 1 stalk medium celery (which I leave out because I never remember to buy celery)

* 1 small onion, chopped

* 1/2 cup chopped green pepper

* 3 cups long grain brown rice

Directions

1. In non-stick pan, cook kielbasa until a little grease comes out (sorry...).

2. Add onion, pepper and celery (if you must), cook until onion is tender. Add blackye peas, undrained. Really, undrained.

3. Stir in Sazon Goya packet. You can add a little salt, pepper and/or hot sauce if you like.

4. Reduce heat and summer 5 minutes.

5. Serve over brown rice.