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Happy New Year! It feels like the holidays came and went like a flash...bittersweet for me, because I'm such a sucker for holiday traditions. So if you don't mind, I'm just going to keep them going into 2015!

My family's tradition in New Orleans was always to eat Black-Eyed Peas on New Years' Day. My momma said for every pea you ate you'd have a day full of luck in the new year. So my brother and I would count out 365 of them as we ate. That memory still makes me laugh!

I thought I'd share a recipe to make this holiday meal one you might like to try for the first time, or maybe to put a new twist on an old favorite. Here we go!

You will need:

1 lb black-eyed peas

2 quarts water

1 bay leaf

1/4 cup olive oil

1-1/2 cup chopped onions

1 finely chopped bell pepper

3/4 cup chopped green onions

1 tbsp minced garlic

1/4 tsp each white pepper, black pepper, cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp each sage and thyme

3 stalks celery, thinly sliced

1/2 lb carrots, thinly sliced

1 tsp salt or to taste

hot sauce or vinegar to taste

Directions:

Rinse and sort through the peas, removing any foreign objects. Cover with water and soak overnight in the fridge.

Set the beans in a pot over medium heat with the bay leaf to boil, then reduce to simmer. Meanwhile, in a skillet heat the olive oil and add the onions, peppers, garlic and saute until browned. Add the peppers, sage, thyme, celery and carrots and saute another 5 minutes. Stir all your sauteed ingredients into the peas and continue cooking until the vegetables are tender.

Season with salt, hot sauce and/or vinegar and serve over steamed rice. Remember, a minimum of 365 peas! Or 366 if it's a Leap Year :-)