Happy New Year Black-Eyed Pea Soup

Happy New Year! I found this wonderful post from A YEAR OF SLOW COOKING's Blog! She is the BEST!!! If you have never visited her blog, you must this year! You can look at her posts from last year where she blogged a new Slow Cooker Recipe EVERY DAY!! If you like to use your slow cooker, or you are new to slow cooking and want some great ideas.... this is the blog for you. I don't know what she has planned for 2010, but you can still look at all the wonderful posts from her bloggy year challenge to find some great recipes! I made some black eyed pea soup yesterday, but I used the old method of a pot on the stove.. I WISH I had seen this first and used my slow cooker! This recipe looks DELISH! Happy New Year Friends.. here's to 2010 being the most amazing year ever!

Love and Hugs,
Tracey C.

THIS POST IS FROM A YEAR OF SLOW COOKING!!!
Go visit her blog HERE!
Thanks Stephanie!

From Her blog:

I'm excited about 2010 and all the fun and anticipation a New Year brings. It doesn't look like I'll be holding a baby on my lap while watching the ball drop, however. This new little one is not following the path my other two took of arriving at exactly 38 weeks, but instead is teasing with lots of contractions and then nothing for a few hours.

2010 may be the year I develop a great deal of patience.

or completely lose my marbles.

the jury's still deliberating.

I'm not bringing a slow cooker dish (shocking, I know!) to our friend's house tonight for New Years At 9 because I wasn't sure if we'd have a newborn or be in the hospital. Instead, the kids and I are going to make a fabulous apple pie thanks to the totally awesome gluten free pie shells from Whole Foods.

and tomorrow? Tomorrow we'll eat Black Eyed Pea soup. This is the recipe I used last year, and I'm looking forward to making it again. I'm going to re-print it the way it appeared a year ago.

Have an absolutely wonderful 2010 full of lots of love and hugs.

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CrockPot Black Eyed Pea Soup

Day 366.
because it's Leap Year.

Happy New Year's Eve! I made the most rockingest black eyed pea soup yesterday, and I take back everything I said last year about black eyed peas. They aren't gross. I just didn't know what I was doing.
And thank you also for all of the emails explaining pig anatomy. I get it now.

Although this is the end of my year-long challenge, the blog will not die, and I will not go hide in a corner in the fetal position. I promise.

Eating black eyed peas on New Years Day is good luck and is said to bring prosperity which can't be a bad thing. Ring in 2009 on the right note. Make this soup.

The Ingredients.

--1 pound dried black eyed peas
--1 pound spicy sausage (I used Aidells chicken habanero and green chile)
--6 cups chicken broth
--1 yellow onion, diced
--1 cup diced carrots
--1 cup diced celery
--4 cloves garlic, diced
--1/2 tsp Italian seasoning (not pictured. I didn't know I needed it at first. But I did.)
--1 tsp kosher salt
--1/2 tsp black pepper
--Tabasco sauce (to add at the end to taste)

The Directions.

Soak your beans overnight. Drain and pick out the undesirables (broken, discolored beans) in the morning.

Use a 5 to 6 quart crockpot. This will serve about 8 people. Dice the veggies, and dump them into your crockpot with the pre-soaked beans. Add sliced sausage. Pour in broth, and stir in Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for about 6. Before serving, use a stick blender to smash up about 1 cup of beans. If you don't have a stick blender, scoop out 1 cup of beans, blend them in a traditional blender, and add back to the soup. Don't blend too much---just enough to get the broth thicker and creamy-looking.

Ladle into bowls, and add Tabasco sauce to taste.

The Verdict.

This tastes amazing. I am so glad that I tried cooking black eyed peas again---they are earthier than other beans and make a fantastic soup base. I've got a few different tupperwares ready to go for lunches for the next few days. My brother and sister-in-law liked it too. The kids didn't taste it---they had spaghetti for dinner.