Their seems to be an old tradition that if one eats “Black Eye Peas” on New Years day it will bring them luck throughout the  new year. Personally I don’t believe that eating something on a certain day can give such luck; but this year it was a great reason to put a pot on the stove and do them my way! My mother used to make a pot of these occasionally while I was growing up,(not for a New Year meal, but because she seemed to enjoy them. I figured it was an “Oklahoma”, or Southern thing).  Although I didn’t hate them, they always tasted a bit like dirt to me and much ketchup was applied. I’m not saying she cooked them wrong, after all my pallet has changed as I have grown older, and I have made them myself as an adult and liked them quite a bit. But I sure don’t remember them being as delicious as they were when I made them to bring in 2011!! Now, like I said, I have made them before but this time I did my own thing,(no recipe), and they came out down right GREAT!! So, with that being said here is my own version or recipe for cooking up these controversial peas, beans ,or whatever they are! Try them out and enjoy.

P.S. I hope they bring you much luck!  Ha Ha…

Ingredients:

1 large onion, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

3 large cloves garlic, minced

22 ounce fresh black-eye peas, or 16 ounce dry, (I used fresh but I’m sure dry will do)

1 med. to large smoked ham hock

8 to 12 ounce thawed, water squeezed out, frozen chopped spinach (better yet 11/2 pds. fresh)

1 tsp, garlic powder

3/4 tsp. garlic salt

1 Tbl. salt or to taste

2 tsp, pepper or to taste

1 blackened Pasilla pepper, seeds and skin removed, chopped

1 tsp. dry oregano

2 cayenne pepper pods,( like you get in spicy Chinese / Thai food)

1 quart low sodium chicken broth

10 ounce Lit’l Smokey sausages, cut in half

* fresh chopped cilantro or parsley to top peas for garnish. * optional*

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Directions:

Heat some oil (2-3 Tbl,) in a large soup pot. Sauté the onion, celery and carrots for about 8 minutes, add the garlic and cook a couple of more minutes. Now add the peas, spinach , pasilla chili, and seasonings and cook another couple of minutes. Now add the broth. Bring to a boil reduce the heat to low or simmer, cover and cook till peas are done, about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, (it depends on the peas, shouldn’t be any more then 2 hours).  Remove ham hock and chop any meat you can get off of it, hock the rest in the garbage can. Add the sausages along with meat from ham hock and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes. Check seasonings and adjust salt and pepper to your liking. Add chopped cilantro or parsley on top of individual serving if desired,(I like doing this for some extra freshness).

Serve with cornbread or biscuits.