Lucky Soup

Eating black eyed peas at New Years is a tradition in the south.  Sharing in a meal of black eyed peas traditionally brings a year of luck and prosperity.  This tradition dates back to the Civil War and folklore has it that this bean plant, along with collards, were the only foods left behind by Sherman’s troops.  Confederate soldiers and slaves survived on these simple foods.

Since I grew up west of the Mississippi, I only occasionally had seen or ate this unique bean.  After spending a year in the south, I found these beans at potlucks, celebrations, and learned about the tradition of eating it at the New Year.

This year, my family celebrated the New Year and my son’s birthday with a hearty soup of black eyed peas, corn bread, and wedge salad. 

Lucky Soup

2 cups of dried black eyed peas soaked overnight in 4 quarts of water with 1 teaspoon of salt.

Or

3 cans of black eyed peas drained and rinsed.

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced

1 TBSP olive oil

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper

3 cups broth

1 16 oz. bag of frozen okra (or fresh)

greens are great in soup

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 can of sweet corn, drained

2 cups of chopped collard greens, chard, or kale.

Sauté onion, garlic, and ginger until soft in olive oil.   Add dried spices and quickly stir for 30 seconds to temper spices.  Add beans and 3 cups of chicken/vegetable broth.  Add tomato, okra, and corn. Simmer for one hour.

Toppings: fresh cilantro, diced green onion, sliced radishes, cooked chicken, Tabasco

Happy Birthday!

Like a mentioned earlier, we had cornbread and wedge salad.  Our cornbread is a Krusteaz mix that substitutes the egg with a flax egg. A wedge of iceberg lettuce is my son's favorite salad and since it was his birthday, I was happy to oblige. He chose homemade cookies for dessert and I made the recipe from this blog, Chocolate Chip Cookies+.