New Year's Black-Eyed Pea Soup

New Year's Black-Eyed Pea Soup

3 rounded cups dried black-eyed peas
Ham born with meat or ham hocks
3 cups celery
3 cups minced onion
3 cups minced carrot
2 lb. smoked sausage
2 tbsp. chili powder

Please peas in 3 quarts water with ham bone and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until peas are soft, about two hours. (No need to soak peas.) Discard bone, leaving bits of ham in soup. Add celery, onion and carrots and cook for another hour. Add diced smoked sausage and simmer 30 minutes. Add chili powder. If needed, and more water, salt or black pepper. Serve with corn bread. Makes about a gallon.

-- Dottie and Joe Wilkinson, as published in the Austin American-Statesman

Chicken and White Bean Chili

I don't have the reference for this recipe, unfortunately. It was some kind of dutch oven cookbook and uses that in the recipe, but I usually use a crockpot or stove pot.

Serves 8 to 10
2 tbs. olive oil
4 onions, chopped (I usually use less)
6 garlic cloves, chopped
4 (4 oz) cans chopped mild green chiles, drained
1 (12 oz) bottle regular (not dark) beer
2 cups chicken stock
3 tbl chili powder
2 tbl ground cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and black pepper
6 boneless, skinless chiken thighs, but into 1-inch cubes (I used canned chix at campout for ease.)
1 (15.4 oz) cans white northern beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15.5 oz) can chickpease, rinsed and drained
1 (15.5 oz) can cream-style corn
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup lime juice

Optional toppings
Grated cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses
Sour cream
Chopped green onions
Chopped tomatoes
Sliced jalapenos
Tortilla chips

LIghtly coat a 5 1/2-quart Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray. Over medium-high heat, add the olive oil, onions, garlic and cook until soft. Add the green chiles, beer, chicken stock, chili powder, cumin and red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to tase. Stir in the chicken. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for about 45 minutes, or until the mixture is nicely thickened and the chicken is cooked (I always cook the chicken first anyway.)

Stir in the northern beans, chickpeas and creamed corn. (I usually dump it all together in the beginning, to be honest.) Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking. Stir in cilandro and lime juice and mix very well. Serve in large bowls, garnished with the optional toppings.

Easy Dutch Oven Cobbler/Pie

I make this cobbler at Cub Scout campouts, and it goes fast. Of course it goes best with french vanilla ice cream, so I usually serve it the first night of a campout before the ice cream melts in the cooler.

For each 10-in dutch oven:

Ahead of time:
In a zip lock bag, put:
1 1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla

In a small zip lock bag
* cinnamon & sugar mixture

Also bring:
1 stick butter (or squeeze Parkay)
1 package rolled pie dough (2 crusts). Found in the dairy aisle.
1 1/2 package frozen fruit (or about 4 cups?)

Assembly:
Get your coals going. A chimney worth of coals is more than enough for two cobblers. They don't have to be totally ashed to use (in fact, that's too late.) They just need to be well lit. So, get your fire started, mix your fruit into your sugar mixture, drink another beer (unless at a scout campout), then start assembling.

If you haven't already, put your fruit in your zip lock with the sugar mixture. It's good to get that mixed up and melding for 15 minutes or so. Unroll one of the crusts and center it at the bottom of the dutch oven. The edges should walk up the sides to make a bowl inside. Pour your fruit and sugar mixture in this bowl, but don't let it overflow. In fact leave a little room at the top. Unroll the other crust and lay it centered on top, and try to tuck in/squeeze together the crust edges to kind of seal them as best you can. It won't be perfect. Put some slits in the top crust for ventilation, cover with the cinnamon & sugar mixture, then drop cut 1/2 teaspoons of butter bits on top of the crust. (Or squeeze a bunch of Parkay in a nice criss-cross pattern.)

Cover the dutch oven. Put 6-7 coals on the bottom of the oven, and 14 or so on the top. It takes about 45 minutes to cook.

--
Christian McDonald