My, my, it has been a while, no? Rest assured I have not been idle. In addition to improving my running with crosstraining, intervals, and rigorous record keeping (nutrition, calories burned, heart rate, etc), the huge influx of summer produce has induced a euphoria of kitchen activity. Mind you I haven’t spoiled this fun with all the little details I usually bother with—namely, photographing and journaling for posterity—BUT, today I decided, “Why not?” That is my Jekyll (or Bertha?) personality peeking through the curtains. I am not ordinarily the most whimsical person, but this site is nothing but the indulgence of a whim.

While restraining myself from utterly devouring sweet, luscious white nectarines, peaches, and cherries, my recent flirtations have been with grain berries and ovo-lacto vegetarianism.

Mind you, I am not dedicated to becoming a vegetarian (as we clearly see in the black eyed pea soup). Rather, I have noticed that most of my protein comes from plants and dairy anyway, so I have simply opted to boot out the normal mandate for a mainly-meat dish at dinner. Out with the stereotypical grill food! Out, out, I say! I want no more ads for the 4th of July hot dog or rib eye steak! And as for the so called “health risks” of vegetarianism—well, I suppose if you aren’t taking a multivitamin containing iron, or tracking over 20 nutrients on SparkPeople, or eating a spectrum of complete proteins (ie amino acids) from a variety of sources, or you haven’t even heard of the notion of a complete protein, well then you might worry a little or bother to investigate. But, alas, such is not my case. ;)

For reference, the black eyed pea soup utilizes the smoked ham stock we’ve already discussed. It is a delicious base for the black eyed peas—not exactly classic summer fare, but utterly superb. One other note: these two pictures are not how shall we say?—beautiful, clean, wonderfully lit—but as I hadn’t originally intended on posting these recipes to CCC, photography was an afterthought. (The bread I actually stole from my husband, who was quite disconcerted to see part of his dinner be hijacked for my camera.) Do take a look at the enlarged photo of the bread. You will see the delicious flaxseeds, the whole rye berries, and the darker speckling of the buckwheat flour.

453 grams black eyed peas, raw
1 quart (approximately) smoked ham stock
1243 grams roma tomato
222 grams red onion, diced*
314 grams green bell pepper, diced
218 grams smoked (not cured) turkey bacon, diced
1 jalapeno, deseeded, deveined, and finely diced
2 cloves garlic, through a garlic press
66 grams tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped

*I would prefer white, but had none in the pantry.

1. Prepare the black eyed peas in your crockpot using a quart of smoked ham stock and additional water as necessary. Note: do not add more than one full quart of additional water.
2. When the beans are done, but not soft, drain them, reserving the liquid and the beans separately. Chill the beans in the fridge or cool to room temperature immediately.
3. Prepare tomato concasse from the roma tomatoes. Set aside.
4. Preheat a large six quart dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook for 1-2 minutes. Then add the bell pepper and the turkey bacon. Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, mixing in the jalapeno and garlic during the last minute. Season with salt and pepper as appropriate.
5. Add the tomato, the reserved liquid from the second step, and the tomato paste. Add additional salt and pepper if necessary. (Remember: smoked ham stock is naturally salty on its own.) Cover the dutch oven and allow the contents to simmer for 15 minutes.
6. If you have refrigerated the black eyed peas, return them to the dutch oven now. Otherwise, wait five minutes (with the heat turned off and the cover removed), then add the peas. Finish with fresh parsley.
7. Serve with a slice of buckwheat multigrain bread.

Nutrition. Serving Size: 100 grams. Calories: 72. Total Fat: 0.7 g. Saturated Fat: 0.1 g. Trans Fat: 0. Potassium: 287 mg. Total Carbohydrate: 11.9 g. Dietary Fiber: 2.4 g. Sugars: 2.9 g. Protein: 5.6 g.

131 grams cooked rye berries
41 grams flaxseed
98 grams buckwheat flour
9 grams salt
335 grams white whole wheat bread flour
8 grams yeast
14 grams honey
14 grams vegetable oil

The formula for this recipe is adapted from Peter Reinhart’s Multigrain Hearth Bread on page 158 of Whole Grain Breads. Replace the flour in the soaker with 57 grams buckwheat flour. Use the rye berries and flaxseed in the soaker as described. Mix 56 grams of whole wheat flour with 52 grams buckwheat flour and use as much of this mixture as necessary to achieve the right profile for your final dough. I used all of it.

The amounts listed here will yield one hefty batard or boule (838 grams, baked).

Nutrition. Serving Size: 100 grams. Calories: 245. Total Fat: 4.9 g. Saturated Fat: 0.5 g. Trans Fat: 0. Sodium: 420 mg. Potassium: 293 mg. Total Carbohydrate: 40.3 g. Dietary Fiber: 7.8 g. Sugars: 3.1 g. Protein: 8.8 g.

Future modifications: the black eyed pea soup is scrumptious and flavorful. You could use white onion (as I mentioned earlier) or, for a more meaty dish, introduce a favorite sausage (e.g. andouille). As for the bread, consider sweetening with cranberries!