Luck. Some folks believe you make your own; others think it’s out of their hands. I do believe there is a magic — call it luck, fate, what-have-you — beyond our control, a force and a direction that determines what will be. That being said, I also think you have a lot of power in your own outcomes. It’s knowing when to take the reigns and knowing when to let them go that is tricky. You have to do both for what I consider luck.
I believe I am a lucky person, and on my best days, I believe all things that have happened to me – both fortunate and unfortunate — have been blessings. For those of you who feel you are being held hostage by misfortune and misery at every turn, know this: you are what you believe you are; you receive more of what you fixate upon (good or bad). Luck is a mind thing.
But superstition, and a good luck charm or two, never hurt anybody. As we enter a brand new year (I like the way 2012 looks printed…maybe it’s a good thing), I begin with some traditions that I believe bring me luck, or, at least, route my mind into believing in luck, thus possibly generating good vibes that will draw in more good vibes, and so forth. I begin the New Year not with a “Happy New Year,†but with a “Rabbit! Rabbit!â€, an old English (and even early American) superstition, that also encourages saying this term as the first utterances on the first day of each month for luck. Why not?
Now, to lucky foods. On New Year’s Day for the last, oh, many years, I have made a blackeyed pea soup and some sort of green (a sautéed collard, a leafy spinach salad) because I have believed health, luck and fortune could be brought upon by these things.
Blackeyed peas, long a Southern traditional food, originated in Africa. They are a tart, tender bean, creamy white with a black dot at their little waistlines. They are often eaten at New Year’s, whether prepared as a main dish like Hoppin’ John (a rice, meat and bean concoction) or stewed as a side dish or salad. Why are they considered lucky? One theory is that they kept the South alive when Union soldiers burned all other crops during the Civil War. Somewhere I read (or did I imagine this?) that the “eyes†of these beans looked forward, and eating them would bring you the clarity to move boldly into the New Year. Whatever the case, eating them yearly in my Smoky Blackeyed Pea Soup (a recipe found through my grocery store Raley’s website), has not only provided me with a nutritious, delicious and comforting meal to kick off my year, but some instinctual sense that things will be all right. I’ve been one lucky person in more ways than anyone would believe.
The soup is a spot-on recipe. It comes together with a little bit of chopping and simmering and stunningly, never requires seasoning adjustment upon tasting at the end of the cooking process. Turkey ham (or turkey kielbasa or smoked sausage) and onions are cooked in chicken broth alongside the revered blackeyes to render a full base flavor. Then diced canned tomatoes, celery, Cajun and cayenne seasonings are added for a bolder top note. Chopped red bell pepper is added toward the end of the cooking time to keep it firm, crisp and flavorful. I’ve made this soup many times (even at other times in the year), and it never disappoints.
This year, I was inspired to incorporate my greens into the soup rather than beside it, adding some dark Swiss chard when I mixed in the bell pepper (Is it greens for money and blackeyed peas for luck or the other way around? No matter – eat them both to cover all your bases). Since “greens and beans†is an oft-visited Southern delicacy, why not have a soup in the same vein?
The greens make a good companion with the beans and the smoky meat of the soup. And they jack up the nutritional quotient of the pot, as well. I may end up making the greens a regular addition – I’m sure one could stir in kale, mustard, turnip or collard greens and they would work well here.
So I leave you with this as you ponder the year ahead: you can believe small or dream big. It’s up to you – luck and the whole damn business, and you know it. Eat your soup. Be healthy. Be happy and count your blessings. And dream a little…you never know what might happen.
Soup’s on!
Smoky Black-Eyed Pea Soup
(From Raley’s www.raleys.com)

2 (32-oz.) containers chicken stock 
6 oz. dried black-eyed peas 
2 cups diced smoked turkey ham 
1 cup chopped onion 
1 (14.5-oz.) can diced tomatoes 
1/2 cup chopped celery 
2 tsp. Cajun seasoning 
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper 
1 cup chopped bell pepper
Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 1 hour, 15 minutes Combine stock, black-eyed peas, turkey ham and onion in a large pot. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes. Add tomatoes, celery and seasonings; simmer for 30 more minutes, adding bell pepper during the last minutes of cooking. Makes 10 servings. Tip! Substitute no-added-salt Health Valley Chicken Stock from our Natural Foods Department. to reduce the sodium.
Nutritional Information:
130 calories, 10 g protein, 3.5 g total fat (1 g sat., 0 g trans), 14 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 6 g sugar, 20 mg cholesterol, 730 mg sodium, 3 points
Bloggers note: I added approximately 3 cups chopped Swiss chard (stems removed) during the final five minutes of cooking time.