Black Eyed Pea Soup

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 .

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Black Eyed Pea Soup (Crockpot)

Course Appetizer, dinner

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 10 hours

Total Time 10 hours 15 minutes

Servings 8 -12

Author Amanda

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

1. Soak your beans overnight. Drain and pick out the undesirables (i.e., discolored beans) in the morning.
2. Use a 5- to 6- quart crockpot. (I used my 6-quart oval programmable crockpot.)
3. Dice the veggies, and add them to the crockpot with the black-eyed peas that have been soaked and drained.
4. Pour in broth, and stir in Italian seasoning and salt.
5. Add ham bone. You can also add the sausage at this point.
6. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for about 6.
7. 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.
8. This will thicken the soup.
9. Serve