BLACK EYED PEAS-----MY SOUTHERN YEARS

In honor of my many years of living in the The South, I always fix Black Eyed Peas with Ham for New Year's Day. This year, I strayed a bit from creating a purely Southern dish.

I started with 3 1 lb. packages of frozen blacked peas (you can also use the dried kind) I love the flavor of the frozen peas.

Then I started adding a bit here and there.

SOUTHERN BLACK EYED PEAS ......(A La Mary)

3- 1 lb. packages frozen Black Eyed Peas

1- cup chopped left over smoked bone-in ham (make sure to use enough of the fat for flavor)

1/2 cup chopped sweet or red onion

4 long stalks celery (de-stringed) chopped med-fine

2-3 large cloves garlic chopped fine

1 piece fresh ginger (1" x 1.5") cut into v. fine strips

8 whole cloves

1/4 t. fennel seeds

2 bay leaves

Black pepper

4 oz. mixed organic baby greens (spinach, kale, etc.)

Put peas and ham in soup pot, add water to cover plus 1 inch.

Add cloves, fennel, bay leaves and black pepper

Saute onions, celery, garlic and ginger in olive oil and add to soup.

Bring soup to full boil; turn heat down to quite low and simmer for about 45 -60 min. or until the peas are soft, but not mushy.

When the soup is ready bring it to almost a full boil.

Turn off the heat and add 4 oz. mixed baby greens; stir.

Cover and let sit for about 5 mins.

And serve------

The addition of the fennel, cloves and ginger gives a little sparkle to the peas. And deepens the flavor without making the peas spicy. Notice--I didn't add any salt.

Jones loves them, too. My boy is much much better--still haven't made it to the park as it is quite chilly here--Yeah! Finally a few days of winter. WE have even had snow in the Orange County mountains!!

Sending New Year's Blessings to all. I just read the latest post of The Paris Apartment. Claudia's study of Coco Chanel is inspiring me to shape things up a bit. I love many of Chanel's quotes--what a lady.

Joy.

Mary & Jones & Cole

****I appropriated the photos from Google Images.