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Recipe Box: Hoppin' John

Eating this Southern dish on New Year's Day is said to bring a prosperous year.

By Kyrie Collins, Highlands Ranch-Parker-Castle Rock Publisher December 19, 2020

Growing up in Texas, I recall eating black-eyed peas and keeping a penny in my pocket on New Year's Day. Both were supposed to bring a prosperous year. It so happens that the Southern dish Hoppin' John is the perfect dish for watching College Football Bowl Games too!

Leave three black-eyed peas in your bowl to bring about luck, fortune, and romance. Eat it with cornbread (the color of gold) and/or collard greens (the color of paper money) to further increase your abundance.

Hoppin' John

  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 1 cup ham, diced
  • 2 cans black-eyed peas, slightly drained
  • ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 3 cups hot cooked brown rice
  • Salt to taste

In a large saucepan over medium heat, sauté onion in a small amount of oil (use leftover bacon grease to be truly Southern). Add ham, black-eyed peas, and cayenne pepper; simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in rice and salt and cook till heated through. Serve immediately.