Allow me a moment today if you will before I get to the recipe for Peas and Greens Soup. Sometimes I just enjoy rambling a bit :-)
Facebook is such an incredible thing. The brainchild of some wonderfully bright college students, it has grown in a relatively short time into the major social media site on the internet today.
Facebook is great for keeping up with all the comings and goings of your family and friends, but what I like best is the awesome ability it gives to re-connect with people. I’ve found lots of my old high school friends, some previous co-workers and other people I had known and almost forgotten over the years. It’s so nice to be able to rekindle friendships and to find out where people are and what they’ve been doing.
My high school classmates had a little gathering last Spring. Not an actual reunion – that’s coming up this year – but just a get-together over dinner at one of the restaurants in my little home town. And the organizers primarily used Facebook to communicate the details to all of us. Of course, not every one of my classmates are on Facebook, but those of us who are really enjoy it as a way to keep in touch.
I’ve written before about my home town and what a special place it is to those of us who grew up there. That tiny little town tucked away in the southwestern corner of Georgia. Almost in Florida, almost in Alabama, but Georgians to the core.
It’s a town so small that when I was a child, there were only two schools – the elementary school and the high school. We went to elementary school through sixth grade and then on to high school for seventh. Each grade in elementary school had only two teachers with about 25 students. And no assistants! The teachers did it all in the classroom. Including making us mind our manners. And you’d better believe that if you misbehaved in school, your mama would know about it before you got home.
My classmates and I, for the most part, went all the way through school together. First grade through graduation.
It was really rare for there to be a new kid in school. Usually the only new kids we ever had were when the town got a new “Georgia Power man” or one of the churches changed pastors. We were a pretty close-knit bunch and many of us have stayed in touch through the years. Lots of us even went on to college together.
However, there were a few who were more adventurous, more inquisitive, more restless than the others. They struck out on their own to explore the wider world.
Sometime last year I reconnected with one of my more adventurous classmates, Michael, with the help of Facebook. I’m not sure of all the paths Michael’s journey has taken leading him to the place where he is now. I’m just content to have reconnected and to know that another of my childhood friends is leading a happy and fulfilled life.
Just after New Year’s Day, Michael posted on Facebook about a recipe that he and his wife had enjoyed and which, as he said, nourished his Southern roots. With his permission, I took the recipe, added a bit to it and came up with my own version – this Peas and Greens Soup. It’s all the best elements of the classic Southern Hoppin’ John with a few greens thrown in for good measure. I think you’ll really enjoy this one!
Peas and Greens Soup - a soup that combines the classic elements of Southern Hoppin' John with lots of fresh spinach. Click To Tweet
How to Make Peas and Greens Soup
Heat a large deep skillet over medium high heat. Crumble a pound of bulk pork sausage with sage into the skillet and cook it until all traces of pink are gone. Then add a cup chicken stock, some chopped celery, chopped sweet red pepper and onion. Stir it well, scraping the bottom of the pan to release any cooked on bits. Reduce the heat, cover the pan, and cook until the vegetables are just crisp-tender.
Meanwhile, in a large soup or stock pot set over medium-high heat, place three cups of chicken stock, the rice mix with its seasoning packet and the drained black eyed peas. Bring to a boil.
Add in the sausage and vegetable mixture along with tomatoes, water, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes. Bring back to the boil, then reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the rice is done.
Add the spinach and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
Serve the soup garnished with shaved Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes and sliced green onion. Cornbread makes a fine accompaniment.
Enjoy!
Peas and Greens Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb. bulk pork sausage with sage
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 1/2 sweet red pepper, chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 4 cups chicken stock, divided
- 1 pkg. brown and wild rice seasoned mix (recommend Zatarain)
- 2 cans black eyed peas, drained
- 2 cans diced tomatoes with liquid
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
- 6 oz. baby spinach
- Parmesan cheese, shaved, optional
- Sliced green onions, optional
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Crumble the sausage into the skillet and cook until all traces of pink are gone.
- Add 1 cup chicken stock, celery, sweet red pepper and onion.
- Stir well, scraping the bottom to release any cooked on bits.
- Cook until the vegetables are crisp-tender.
- Meanwhile, in a large soup or stock pot set over medium-high heat, add the remaining 3 cups of chicken stock, the rice mix with its seasoning packet and the black eyed peas.
- Bring to a boil.
- Add in the sausage and vegetable mixture along with the tomatoes, water, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes.
- Bring back to the boil, then reduce the heat to low.
- Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the rice is done.
- Add the spinach and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
- Garnish with shaved Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes and sliced green onion. Serve with cornbread.
Notes
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8Amount Per Serving: Calories: 370 Total Fat: 21g Saturated Fat: 7g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 12g Cholesterol: 63mg Sodium: 1375mg Carbohydrates: 24g Fiber: 5g Sugar: 6g Protein: 22g
More Soup Recipes from Never Enough Thyme
black eyed pea recipes from Other Bloggers
- Steamy Kitchen’s Black Eyed Peas with Ham
- Black Eyed Pea Salsa from The Pioneer Woman
- Indian Spiced Black Eyed Peas from Kalyn’s Kitchen
- Black Eyed Pea Soup from Lisa’s Kitchen
I am sure Micheal is very happy to see your version of the soup, and yes you all look adorable, like little angels :) Thanks for sharing the recipe with us.
Michael actually messaged me on Facebook to tell me he enjoyed the post :-)
What a great story! It’s so rare to remain with the same exact group of people from K through HS and sometimes college. I was a new kid in town at 9, from NYC into the suburbs, which had 4 elementary schools, all which merged into one for Middle School, so loads of new people, and THEN, a town without a HS merged with us for HS, so more new people! Then there were always new kids moving in. Your formative years were so cozy and familiar – I kind of wish I experienced really small town living where everyone knows everyone!
OK..I wrote a novel here! Sorry! LOVE that you got this delicious looking soup recipe from one of your friends who took a few steps off the beaten path in small town GA, to ride out the adventure wave. It looks to be a perfect cold weather comfort soup. Looking forward to trying it!
Our experience was not so unusual for small towns during that time, but I think it’s probably the exception now. That tiny little town was such a special place to grow up in. Everybody knew everybody else – their family histories, their triumphs and tragedies and some of their secrets :-)
Okay…. I know which one you are in the picture, I know exactly who is seated next to you, I know exactly which person you are talking about when you speak of Michael, and where he is in the photo. Tell him I said hello.
It really was pretty special to grow up like that. You have maintained contact with your friends from school much better than I.
Miss P
ps – do you have the photos of my classes growing up? I don’t have any of those.
I
Miss P – you *have* to get on Facebook! If you don’t find your classmates on there, they’ll find you. Believe me.
Sorry, I don’t have your class photos. Mama probably does :-)
Hi Lana! I love the sweet photo of you and your 2nd grade pals :) Connecting on FB is a wonderful thing. Such a comforting soup recipe :)
Thanks, Marla!
The soup looks delicious and comforting.
That photo of you and your classmates is priceless.
Angie – I’m so glad that I saved those class photos for all these years. We had one made every year in elementary school and I think I still have all from 1st through 6th grade!
Your soup looks delicious! I know exactly what you mean about Facebook, although I find it’s nice once in a while and not every day all the time, otherwise I waste too much time on it! How awesome about your class! I only keep in touch with a few people from all my school years combined. It’s kind of sad actually.
You never told us which one of those second grade students is you Lana! I’m going to take a guess…Middle row, second from the left?
Anyway, this soup looks and sounds very tasty! I love sausage in soup!
:-)
This looks like a hearty dish indeed. I’m not really a soup lover but who can resist something that screams of comfort? :D
wow i am going to have to give this a try
Isn’t Facebook amazing? I recently reconnected with some high school pals – w/o facebook it probably wouldn’t have happened! Love this soup Lana – so perfect for cold winter days (hoping we are gonna get some of those!) and easy enough for a weeknight!
I think I could have written your story! The picture made me smile because it was so very similar to one that one of my old grade school friends posted on FB. And of YES – I too come from the time when, if you didn’t mind your manners in the classroom your mama heard about it! :) Love the peas and greens recipe. Looks like the Hoppin Johns I made for New Years which ended up with some Swiss chard in it because the chard just happen to be in the fridge and needed to be used. Really enjoyed this post!
I love how Facebook has connected me with friends I lost touch with so long ago:-) The beauty of social media for sure! Your recipe looks and sounds wonderful! I don’t eat black eyed peas enough, but I do adore them:-) Take care, Hugs, Terra
This looks great. I will have to try this. Love the picture.