Hoppin' John

In our small town, we are blessed with one of the best pharmacists!  She is always looking for ways to save my family money on prescriptions, since we have always had a high deductible insurance.  They also have the cutest gift shop where you can find some of the best wedding and baby gifts as well and a selection of seasonal items.  If you are ever traveling Highway 75 through Neodesha, I highly recommend a stop to check out the gift selection.  They carry some great items to keep kids of all ages busy that I have used during meeting season with my kids. I highly recommend the Porter Drugs Facebook Page for timely information or just health information in general. 

If you stop at the right time in the morning, you can grab a cup of coffee or a coke in the back of the store and catch up on all the news in town. 

Just a quick tidbit about the store's history. The building was originally a theater which had the red arrows pointing toward the door.  A few years back the sidewalk had to be replaced and Paula had the arrows replaced. Not with a regular sidewalk but she paid to have the arrows put back in!  The community loved that she kept the name of the owner before her for the store when she purchased the store as well.  :)

Hoppin' John

1 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound of cooked ham
1 can black eyed peas, well rinsed and drained or small box of steamed black eyed peas 
                from the produce aisle
1 can diced tomatoes and green chilies
3 cups cooked rice

Cook rice according to package or use Paula's suggestion of using leftover beef broth for most of the water and don't add any salt or butter/oil.

Saute chopped onion in the butter.  After about two minutes, add in the ham pieces and continue to saute on medium/high heat for another five minutes.  Lower heat to medium and add black eyed peas and Ro-tel.  Simmer together for five minutes or until rice is done.

Beer Batter Onion Rings and Okra

I have found over the years that some of the best recipes are the simplest recipes.  Sometimes, I think I give a recipe a better rating than my family because it is easier for me to prepare, but this one everyone gives 2 thumbs up.  In fact, my youngest son turned down onion rings at my mom’s a while back because it wasn’t my batter on them.  That is a first.  My kids are always telling my mom how she is a better cook than I am and she really is.

When the boys and I were in San Antonio on the Riverwalk this winter we enjoyed the best onion rings with one of our friends.  We do enjoy onion rings from time to time, but these were amazing.  One night I decided to look a bit online to see if I could find a new onion ring batter that I actually had the ingredients to make right then.  I stumbled across this recipe in different forms and I thought it can’t be that easy, but it really is.

Beer Batter

Equal parts beer and flour, mix together.

 For best results let them sit for an hour or more, but I have made it and started dipping immediately and it works, too.

This summer, we used it recently for okra from the garden as well.  The boys were eating the okra like crazy, but the hubs wouldn’t touch it until the 3^rd time I fried it.  Suddenly, he wouldn’t stop eating it and I asked why he suddenly was eating the okra.  The response?  It doesn’t taste like that stuff I have had other places, this is actually good.  There you have it, the beer batter even makes okra taste good to someone who doesn’t love it.   I wonder what I else I should try it on?

- A Kansas Farm Mom