Hoppin' Johns

This southern recipe from Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking by Kelli and Pete Bronski, had a lot of potential!  But I should start by saying, I did not follow the recipe to the letter, like I have been trying to do.  It is actually a black-eyed pea recipe.  I do not black-eyed peas.  I should have just tried it, but last night, when I was trying to come up with something to cook, that I could also blog about, I didn't have anything except some things for this recipe.  I had bought most of the ingredients last time I was in the store, but they had been used up.  No more tomatoes for garnish, but the green onions were still there!  So I did it anyway.

The aroma that filled the air made for great expectations for this dish.  But when it came right down to it, the flavor was every where but IN the dish.  But, in the recipe's defense, here is where I went wrong:
1. Pinto beans, not black-eyed peas.  I am not sure, but I would venture to guess that black-eyed peas are more flavorful in general, compared to the good old pinto bean.
2. It called for bacon, and I thought I had bacon, but it turned out I had CANADIAN bacon.  Still yummy, but not grease.  I was supposed to saute some onion and bell pepper in the drippings.
3. It called for regular rice.  I had found some organic, brown, Jasmine rice at the store, and I was itching to try it.  It was very disappointing.  I could smell the Jasmine rice cooking, but it did not have that real flavor, like the Jasmine rice I had tried before.
4. I just went through the recipe again, and see now that I missed salt.  A whole 1 1/2 teaspoons! Which, I actually tripled the recipe on accident!  I cooked the whole pound of beans, rather than just a cup.  So that is 4 1/2 teaspoons salt!

In conclusion, the disaster that this recipe was, really can be linked to me, and not the recipe. (Disaster is a bit strong.  Josh liked it, and I did too, it just needed a tortilla wrapped around it, and some DF sour cream, and salsa.)  So I am not going to rate it.  I don't think it would be fair.  But I will tell you the amount of calories, and the difficulty of the recipe.

Difficulty: It was super easy.  Add this, add that, let cook, add some more.  Wa-la!  :)
Calories: 198 for one cup.  A little towards the high side, but very filling.   If you are eating just this, maybe not worth it, but if you are adding the tortillas, sour cream, and salsa, it climbs pretty quick.  I don't think I would waste it on this meal; at least not the way I made it.