On New Year’s Day many people believe you should eat greens, black-eyed peas, long noodles, pork and fish. Collard greens are suppose to bring you lots of money in the new year. So many people dislike collards and dread eating them. Most are smothered in vinegar and hard to choke down.

Try this recipe and I think you will want to have collards throughout the year and not just January 1st.

Directions

1) Mince 2 or 3 cloves of garlic. Melt butter in a large pot and sauté the garlic until you can smell the sweet aroma. Add the washed and chopped collards.I use 2 bundles of collards since they reduce in size so much as they cook.

2) When the collards are a bright green color, add the quart of chicken stock, 2 pinches of Fleur de Sel, and the smoked turkey legs.

3) Bring to a boil and then simmer for 1 hour. These will be incredibly tender. Add Fleur de Sel if needed. Enjoy!

I want to thank Terrence Shepherd for sharing this recipe with me. He was so excited about it I had to try them today and they really are amazing.

I have not posted the black-eyed peas and cornbread yet but in case you need them today, here are the recipes I am using. The cornbread is eggless and vegan but after reading all the reviews you can use dairy milk or almond as well as coconut or olive oil instead of canola which is what I will do since I avoid canola oil. Happy New Year!!!

DANA SLY?S BLUE RIBBON VEGAN CORNBREAD (Blue Ribbon winner at Iowa State Fair)

Serves 9

2 Tbsp. ground flax seed
6 Tbsp. water
1 C all-purpose flour
1 C cornmeal
1/4 C sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. table salt
1 C soy milk
1/4 C canola oil

Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray 8-inch-square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the ground flax seed, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer the ground flax seed in the water for 3 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt until well-combined.
Add the ground flax seed mixture, soy milk, and canola oil to the flour mixture. Beat just until smooth (do not overbeat.)
Turn into prepared baking pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Cool on wire rack 10 minutes; invert cornbread onto wire rack, then turn right side up and continue to cool until warm, about 10 minutes longer. Cut into pieces and serve.
UPDATE ? 10-Mar-05
The ?secret? to the recipe is a mysterious ingredient I?ve never worked with before: ground flaxseed, or ?flaxseed meal?. When cooked briefly with hot water, it gets very thick and gummy and adds body to the cornbread that more fat or a dairy product otherwise would. Even better, a mere two tablespoons of ground flaxseed contains four grams of fiber and three grams of protein, plus other random healthful things that ward off cancer and decrease cholesterol. A wonder food, indeed, and it makes a very moist, pareve cornbread.

Okra and Black-Eye Pea Saute
Recipe courtesy Tanya Holland

Prep Time:40 minInactive Prep Time:12 minCook Time:7 hr 15 min
Level:
Easy
Serves:
4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
1/4 pound strip bacon, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 cup yellow onion, diced
1 1/2 tablespoon garlic, chopped
3 cups fresh okra, cut into rounds
2 cups fresh corn kernels
2 fresh small red hot chiles, chopped
2 cups cooked black-eyed peas, recipe follows
1 cup green onion, diced
Oven dried cherry tomatoes, recipe follows
Salt
Pepper
Freshly chopped parsley and Italian parsley leaves, for garnish
Directions
In a large saute pan, cook bacon until fat is rendered. Remove bacon with slotted spoon and set aside. Saute yellow onion andgarlic in bacon drippings until soft. Add okra, corn, and chile pepper and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Add black-eyed peas, green onion, and cherry tomatoes and cook an additional 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and chopped parsley and toss in reserved bacon.

Black-Eye Peas:
2 cups black-eye peas
Water, to cover
1 onion, quartered, with a bay leaf attached with a clove
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Salt
Soak 2 cups beans overnight in water to cover. Rinse the beans and place in a pot with enough water to cover the beans. Add the onion and the black pepper. Over high heat, allow to come to boil then reduce to simmer and cook for about 45 minutes or until beans are firm but cooked. Season with salt. Let the peas sit in this liquid for 15 minutes before draining.

Oven-dried Tomatoes:
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sprinkle brown sugar
6 or 7 thyme sprigs
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Place the cut cherry tomatoes on a sheet pan, cut side up. Season with salt, pepper, brown sugar, and sprigs of thyme. Dry in the oven for 4 to 6 hours. Check periodically to make sure they don’t burn.

(I am slowly cooking the tomatoes in olive oil, salt, coconut sugar, and thyme for 2 hours at 250 degrees stirring occasionally)