In the south, eating black-eyed peas, collards, and cornbread on New Year's Day is supposed to bring a prosperous new year. The collards represent paper money, the peas are for coins and cornbread is for gold. Tradition states that the more you eat of these foods, the more you will have in the coming year!
Evidently, I don't eat enough, but since it's one of our favorite meals, I pair it with a sliced ham and keep trying every year!
Southern Black-eyed Peas
- 3 slices of bacon cut into 1/2 inches pieces
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 cans black-eyed peas, slightly drained
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- salt and pepper to taste
In a large saucepan over medium heat, sauté bacon until crisp and remove with a slotted spoon to drain on a paper towel. Add onion to the grease and sauté until translucent
. Add black-eyed peas, tomatoes and salt & pepper, then simmer for 10 minutes. Top with bacon and serve immediately.
Collard Greens
- 1 large bunch of collard greens, washed and chopped
- 1 large smoked ham hock or smoked bacon
- 3 Tabs of red wine vinegar
- salt
Place ham hocks in a large stock pot, cover with water, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. Add salt, vinegar, and collards and bring to a boil again. Reduce heat and simmer for several hours until the meat falls from the bones. Remove the bones, shred the meat, and add it back to the collards before serving with hot pepper sauce.
Corn Bread
- 2 cups self-rising cornmeal mix
- 1/4 cup corn oil
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
Grease a cast iron skillet, place in oven, then preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix all ingredients well, then thin with hot water to the consistency of thick pancake batter. Remove hot skillet from oven and fill with the cornbread batter. Cook for 20 minutes or until brown on top. Serve hot with butter.
Happy (Prosperous) New Year!!
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