New Years will be here this weekend, and if you are looking for a way to get those Black Eyed Peas in here is a great recipe. Here is a fun fact about why Black Eyed Peas are so important on New Years.
Why Black Eyed Peas?
The practice of eating black-eyed peas for luck is generally believed to date back to the Civil War. At first planted as food for livestock, and later a food staple for slaves in the South, the fields of black-eyed peas were ignored as Sherman's troops destroyed or stole other crops, thereby giving the humble, but nourishing, black-eyed pea an important role as a major food source for surviving Confederates.
Today, the tradition of eating black-eyed peas for the New Year has evolved into a number of variations and embellishments of the luck and prosperity theme .
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried black-eyed peas
- 1 ham bone (with some meat)
- 1 lb sliced Italian sausage (cooked)
- 2 diced onions
- 2 cups diced or sliced carrots
- 1 cup diced celery
- 6 cloves garlic (I used 3 tbsp minced garlic)
- 6 – 8 cups of chicken broth
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Soak your beans overnight. Drain and pick out the undesirables (i.e., discolored beans) in the morning.
- Use a 5- to 6- quart crockpot. (I used my 6-quart oval programmable crockpot.)
- Dice the veggies, and add them to the crockpot with the black-eyed peas that have been soaked and drained.
- Pour in broth, and stir in Italian seasoning and salt.
- Add ham bone. You can also add the sausage at this point.
- Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for about 6.
- About a half hour to an hour before serving,remove one cup of beans and puree with blender and return to slow cooker. Stir after pureeing.
- This will thicken the soup.
- Serve
Questions? Comments?