Even if you aren’t from the South, you still may want to go all-in on eating black-eyed peas for good luck on New Year’s Day, because who couldn’t use a little good luck in life? To really get revved up for the New Year, serve these black-eyed peas with cooked greens to represent money and cornbread which represents gold and you’ll have plenty of good fortune headed your way in 2020.
This 30 minute recipe, that I developed for Country Crock, is super easy and starts with canned beans, so even if you haven’t planned ahead you can have these ready in no time for New Year’s Day. I used ham in this recipe since it’s a great way to use up any leftover ham if you’ve cooked one over the holidays. If you don’t have leftover ham, you can use a ham steak or, if you prefer, swap cooked bacon for the ham. Either way, the meat gives this dish a nice smokey flavor. If you want to make it meatless, skip the ham and add about 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika.
- 2 Tbsp. Country Crock® Spread
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 8 ounces ham, diced
- 1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
- 2 15 oz. cans black eyed peas, rinsed and drained
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/8 to ¼ tsp. ground red pepper
- 1 bay leaf
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Melt Country Crock® Spread in 3-quart saucepot. Add onion, pepper and garlic and cook about 6 minutes or until vegetables are tender-crisp. Add ham and cook 2 minutes.
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Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer 10 minutes. Serve over rice if desired.
