It is 2020!

How are you? How did you spend your New Years Day?

Did you set any goals?

On New Year’s Eve, I spent the day at work and I came home when I was done. If I was in Nigeria, I would have gone to church to pray in the New Year. Did you do that? Since being in the States, I noticed that some people go to church and some do not.

With time, I have come to notice that some people cook special dishes for the New Year to bring them good luck, wealth and good health. The older I am getting, I would like to set traditions for my younger one to keep and this is one I might be adapting- the cooking of black-eyed peas!

In Nigeria, black-eyed peas are the last thing I would want on my plate for New Year! It was (in my house) considered food you got that was healthy, filling and nutritious but something you cooked when there was nothing in the house. However, here in the States, it is cooked at New Year because it is said to bring in prosperity! Most people who ate black-eyed peas at New Year believed that these seeds (black-eyed peas) looked a bit like money, and the amount cooked almost always doubled or multiplied when you cooked them. The hope was that on cooking and eating black-eyed peas; one would get good luck and prosperous in the new year!

I like black-eyed peas and it is in very many dishes we make in Nigeria, some of the dishes are Moi Moi, Ewa & dodo, beans and garri (this I love), beans and rice to name a few dishes.

This year, I decided to make rice and stew and black-eyed peas and I enjoyed it!

So I will ask you, do you have a special meal you prepare for New Year’s day?

You might be thinking that New Year means setting goals and such and I would say to you yes and no!

Yes, it is time to start anew and No because if you have not and are yet to finish what you started then finish that first!

I choose two things to do this year:

Eat what I cook and make
Increase exercise- walk more, dance more and laugh more!

I will end with this.

I planted black-eyed peas when I lived in Florida; one seed produced at least 5 pods which gave me about 1/4 of a cup of black-eyed peas. All I did was water it, place it out in the sun and the seed grew

What about if we set simple goals and work to achieve them? Just like the bean seed I planted, I would say set your goals/dreams/vision (s) and work on them. Pray over them and watch them grow. You would be surprised at what the harvest would be!

If you want a recipe for how I cook my black-eyed peas, email me below 😊

Happy New Year Friends!