Greens and Beans Soup

I know I just recently posted a soup recipe. But the weather has been rainy, and I’ve still been battling headaches. So soup sounded warm and comforting and perfect again. This soup is packed full of veggies that makes it taste wholesome and healthy. Plus it has black eyed peas, and the meat makes it hearty and satisfying. The cayenne adds just a enough heat to let you know it’s there and warms you up a bit.

So how did this deliciously perfect soup come into my life? My dad and step-mom invited us over a few weekends ago to celebrate Easter and my brother’s birthday. There is one thing you can always count on when Brenda is going to be cooking. Whatever she makes is going to be good. Like really good. The hubs and I loved it. So she was nice enough to send us home with the recipe.

I, however, seem to be unable to simply follow a recipe. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Brenda’s recipe. I just adjusted it to use what we already had at home. The differences were that she used ham, and I used smoked sausage. She soaked and used dry black eyed peas, and I used canned. She used fresh collard greens, and I used frozen spinach. The overall flavors of both versions were comparable though.

Greens and Beans Soup

Ingredients

– 2 carrots chopped

-1 small onion chopped

-1 can black eyed peas

-2 cloves minced garlic

-2 celery stalks chopped

-2 cups chopped greens (leaves only, fresh or frozen)

-1 1/2 cups of cooked chopped ham or smoked sausage

-¼ cup olive oil

-6 cups chicken stock

-Salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste (start small and add more as needed)

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in large pot over medium heat. Add carrots, onion, garlic, and celery. Cook until soft, stirring occasionally.

2. Add black eyed peas, greens, meat, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes. Season to taste.