Happy New Year 2012!

Hope you all had a fun and safe new year's eve.  I am not the type to go out and party to ring in the new year.  Too many crazies on the road after all the celebrations.  I'm more of a make the party at home type of person.  Make lots of great food, great drink, and great friends and family.  Turn on a little Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year with Ryan Seacrest, a few bottle rockets and sparklers, and try to keep your eyes open long enough to see the ball drop. 

I wanted to share an easy recipe I whipped up yesterday that came out awesome.  If I do say so myself.  You may have to adjust the ingredients slightly, since I sometimes tend to cook by instinct and feel.  I can give you rough amounts of what I put in, but I don't always measure with measuring spoons for spices and stuff like that.  Yesterday, I wanted to make some black eyed peas to bring some good luck for 2012, but just winged it on the recipe.  I already had a feel for what basically should go in and just went for it with a few healthy additions.  It does have a little kick from the chilies in the Rotel, so taste it before adding the pepper.  Here it is:


Hoppin’ John (Black Eyed Pea Soup)

1 - 16oz. bag of dried Black Eyed Peas
1 smoked ham bone (I had frozen the ham shank bone from Christmas dinner)
Filtered Water
1 Large Onion – diced – I used a yellow onion, but any kind will do
1 - 10 oz. can Original Rotel or other similar diced tomato and chili mix
Leftover smoked ham, diced (I used roughly 2 cups of ham)
2 large hand-fulls of roughly chopped fresh kale
Pink Himalayan Sea Salt to taste depending on saltiness of ham (I used about 2 teaspoons)
Pepper to taste (I added about a ¼ tsp.)
1 large bay leaf

Soak dried black eyed peas in 8 cups cool filtered water min. 8 hours or overnight. Drain and rinse beans well.

In a large crock pot, add 6 cups of filtered water to beans, add ham bone, and set crock pot on low. After beans soften, in about 2-3 hours, remove the bones and any chunks from the bone that aren't good to eat, add the remaining ingredients. Cook on low for an additional couple hours, or until flavors are blended nicely. Check for taste before serving to adjust salt and pepper.

I just realized I forgot to snap a photo.  I'll add one after I warm up a bowl of left overs. :o)  Enjoy!

Hope you all have a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2012!!

As promised... Here's the pic.  It's even better the next day!  Yummy, yummy! :o)