If you’ve been following my blog for any amount of time, you know how much I love Rattle’s Garden, the small-ish farm in Vilonia run by the Staintons. I’m a member of their summer Farmshare program, which I pick up every Saturday morning during the summertime at the Hillcrest Farmers Market. More recently, I also joined the fall Farmshare program. Over the past few weeks, I’ve received peppers, turnips, cucumbers, squash, and purple hull peas.

After living in Little Rock for the past five years, there is one culinary fact …  people go crazy over purple-hull peas. And for good reason, it’s simple comfort food that takes you back to a warm and fuzzy place. Just in case you’ve never cooked them at home, I wanted to share with you this very easy crockpot recipe that includes just a few ingredients.

Truth be told, I’ve really shied away from using the crockpot the past few years, especially as it pertains to meat recipes. The more I cook, the less enthused I am about overcooking meat. Granted, the slow cooker is a vessel of convenience, but nowadays I find that vegetable/bean-based recipes like the one below are better suited for 8 hours of low heat cooking. Enjoy!

Ingredients
-1 lb. purple-hull peas
-6 cups chicken stock
-slices of uncooked bacon (chopped)
-2 cups of frozen okra
-salt and pepper to taste

Place all of the ingredients in the slow cooker. Set on LOW for 8 hours. That’s it! And if you need a great mashed potatoes recipe, click here.

*Special thanks to my friend Paul Ward for donating the delicious homegrown okra used for this recipe.