Hoppin' John turns into Skippin' Jenny

I hope you all had a lovely New Year's Eve and Day. We celebrated with family and friends and shared this flavorful dish called Hoppin' John. Cheers!

"Hoppin' John is found in most states of the South, but it is mainly associated with the Carolinas. Gullah or Low Country cuisine reflects the cooking of the Carolinas, especially the Sea islands (a cluster of islands stretching along the coats of south Carolina and northern Georgia). Black-eyed peas, also called cow peas, are thought to have been introduced to America by African slaves who worked the rice plantations. Hoppin' John is a rich bean dish made of black-eyed peas simmered with spicy sausages, ham hocks, or fat pork, rice, and tomato sauce. This African-American dish is traditionally a high point of New Year's Day, when a shiny dime is often buried among the black-eyed peas before serving. whoever get the coin in his or her portion is assured good luck throughout the year. For maximum good luck in the new year, the first thing that should be eaten on New year's Day is Hoppin' John." (What's Cooking America).

According to Wikipedia, on the day after New Year's Day, leftover "Hoppin' John" is called "Skippin' Jenny," and further demonstrates one's frugality. Oh, and we got frugal! It's so much better when you wait anyhow, the tastes have time to marry.

Hoppin' John
The dressing idea came from this recipe, the rest of the recipe is kind of a hodge podge of a bunch of recipes.

dressing:
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil

2 ribs of celery, copped
2 onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
2 bags of frozen black eyed peas
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 pork hocks

In a large bowl, whisk olive oil, molasses and apple cider vinegar. Saute onion, celery and bell pepper in 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of canola oil until tender. Add minced garlic, saute one minute more. Pour into the bowl with the dressing. In the same pot, boil beans with ham hock and bay leaf until beans are tender. (If you are using dried beans, this will take some time but you could do it this way.) The frozen beans should be ready in twenty minutes. Drain and place drained beans into bowl with the celery, bell pepper and onion. Place the ham hocks in the pot again with about 4 cups of water and cook until falling apart- this will take a good hour or more on a low simmer. When finished, falling off the bone, remove and discard the fat. Shred the meat with a fork and add to the bean mixture. Cover and chill for 24 hours for maximum flavor.

*If I had okra on hand I would have thrown this in as well.

Serve with pickled jalapenos and rice.