Crowder Pea Hummus

The winter before last, our tractor "died" before we could till in our cover crop, so our field peas made peas instead of packing all of that good nitrogen into the soil.  But you know what they say; when life feeds you lemons, make lemonade.  In this case, I've been finding new ways to prepare crowder peas.  And after the drought of last summer, I have a new appreciation and respect for crowder peas.  All over our crop field, even where we don't irrigate (and our corn shriveled up and died), crowder peas grew, bloomed, and made peas. 
I have eaten more beef since moving to Oklahoma and raising our own cattle than at any other time in my life, but I still love vegetarian dishes.  I have learned to make hummus from all sorts of lovely legumes, and crowder peas are any easy hit:
Soak crowder peas (a double handful - 1-1.5 cups) in at least that much water, overnight.
The next day, drain and rinse the peas.  Match the volume of peas with salted water and cook about 45 minutes.  Add desired seasonings (bay leaf, thyme, oregano, pepper, cumin, etc.)
 Drain peas and add to blender with hummus ingredients: 2 Tbsp. tahini paste and/or toasted seasame oil, 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, cumin, and any other seasonings you like.  You could add some pesto or cilantro.  Parsley is not too strong in flavor, and is refreshing.  I almost always add fresh raw or dried granulated garlic.  Blend, adding liquid to desired consistency (water, vegetable broth, lemon juice - not too much, oil, etc.). 

Warm Winter Rumblings

This has been an unseasonably warm and thus fruitful winter for us.  We are still harvesting beets, carrots, and many greens.  We butchered one of our steers, which took two entire days, and a third pair of adult hands (thanks, Cagney!).  Karen extracted the tongue and marinated it in a brine, and later made slided sandwich meat - yummy!  Johnny built a frame so we could stretch and tan the hide.  We spent Christmas trampoline jumping on the skin.  And we are celebrating that we are officially organic now with the Oklahoma Dept. of Ag, Food & Forestry!  And our first farm workshop will be coming up at the end of March. 

Johnny has been busy building raised beds in our personal garden.  Our dairy goats are busy growing babies.  And Karen is expanding her list of things to cook from the farm, which include: beef, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, greens, and some frozen and canned ingredients: bell peppers, broccoli, snow peas, tomatoes, tomato-basil sauce, dehydrated green beans (these are awesome), and pear pie filling. 

In addition to endless stew concoctions (including a Moroccan stew inspired by "Girl Hunter"), there is the obvious spaghetti, chili, burgers and baked sweet potatoes, but other goodies like Potato-Carrot-Root Soup with baked wheat rolls, and "Snoopy Wellington", which has beef, potatoes, carrots, and greens wrapped in puff pastry and baked - YUM! 
When time and internet access allows, I'll add recipes.  Until then... The Barefoot Farmers