I was really stumped on what to post during New Year’s week this year!
I polled our SIMPLE moms on what might be a great recipe to real foodify for New Years week, and it was mentioned that black eyed pea dishes were a common around the New Year!
I had never heard of this tradition, and the bookworm in me just loved researching it!
From what I learned, the black eyed peas are typically served with ham and a winter green like kale or collards. They are said to bring good luck and prosperity for the year to come! It was a neat tradition to learn about, and I will most likely be putting this on our menu during the last week or so of the year from now on! The whole family loved it, and I gave some away as gifts.
I sprouted my black eyed peas for more nourishment and to make them digest better. They sprouted really quickly and easily, but you could just soak them over night if you don’t wish to sprout them.
I decided to create a soup using the black eyed peas. Mostly because I wanted to get some homemade stock down my family since there is a lot of colds and flu floating around. I used bacon (you could do ham but bacon was what I had around), and for the greens I used spinach since I didn’t have access to organic collards or kale right now. Greens are pretty pesticided so this is one produce item I buy organically only.
Happy New Year from my family to yours! I hope you will try this as a healthy start to your new year!
a simple real food recipe :: sprouted black eyed pea soup
Author: Renee - www.theSIMPLEmoms.com
Ingredients
- 1-1 ½ lbs dry black eyed peas
- 1 lb pastured bacon, chopped
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 4-5 carrots, chopped
- 4-5 stalks of celery, chopped
- 5 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 3-4 quarts beef stock (chicken or vegetable stock would work too. Homemade preferable to avoid BPA and preservatives, and for more nourishment)
- 2 TB all purpose season
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 box organic spinach
- Sea salt/pepper to taste
Instructions
- A day or so before you want to make the soup, put the dry beans in a large bowl with water to cover a good 3 inches above the beans. Let the beans sit under the light in your oven overnight, then drain and rinse the beans. Put the rinsed beans back in the bowl and back under the light in your oven without water to sprout. Should take about 24 hours or less to sprout – these sprouted fast! Rinse the beans a few times during the day.
- In a large stock pot fry the bacon and scoop out with a slotted spoon to set aside. LEAVE THE BACON GREASE BEHIND to cook the veggies in – FLAVOR!!
- Saute the onion, carrot, and celery in the bacon grease with large pinches of salt over medium high heat for about 10 minutes or longer. The salt draws out their moisture and sweetens the veggies.
- Add the garlic and cook for a minute.
- Add the stock and seasoning and bring to a boil.
- Add the beans and bacon and cook until the beans are bite tender – about 30 or so minutes.
- Take out about ⅓ to ½ of the soup and into a large mixing bowl. Use an immersion blender to blend that portion of the soup and return it to the pot. This gives the soup a creamy texture. You can skip this part if you don’t want that. You could use a regular blender for this step too.
- Add the spinach in at the end and cook at medium heat until the spinach wilts.
Kitchen Tips:
- This made 7 quarts of soup. It was even better the next day as it sat and married flavors! Freeze it up or give away as gifts!
- Make your own bone broth! It is crazy full of nourishment and very healing.
- Read THIS on why pastured pig products like the ham or bacon is superior to conventional, and is actually full of nourishment.
- If you don’t have an immersion blender
…oh you *must* gift yourself with one! I use it nearly every day!
YOUR TURN!
So tell me how you like your black eyed peas prepared! What meal do you serve to ring in the new year?
This post was shared at Fat Tuesday!
David
December 31, 2013 at 4:46 pmWe used to eat black eyed peas all the time when I was a kid, but I bet I haven’t seen one in 15 years. I had no idea there was a New Years tradition associated with them either.