Happy New Year!!

I'm feeling a little "off kilter" today. It's January 2nd and I haven't set my New Year's resolutions. I'm pretty good about it and usually follow through. I think what I'm going to do this year is based on Cheri's year of kindness. I'm going to try to be more aware and do good works! I'm already off to a good start. I posted this on Facebook and already have 10 people on my list:

This world needs as much kindness as it can get- I'm participating in the 'Pay it Forward' initiative: The FIRST FIVE people who comment on this status with "I'm in" will receive a surprise from me at some point during this next calendar year - anything from a book, a ticket, something homemade, a postcard, absolutely any surprise! There will be no warning and it will happen when the mood comes over me and I find something that I believe would suit you and make you happy. These five people must make the same offer on their Facebook status. Once my first five have commented "I'm in" I will forward this message privately, so that you can copy and paste it, and put it on your status, (don't share it) so that we can form a web of connection of kindness.

I'm anxious to get started! 

Today, I have the girls coming over again to continue with the closet clean out. We'll do the mud-room and the three closets in the back hallway. I'll feel really good when we get those done. Next on my list will be to defrost the freezer. It wouldn't have needed it if "someone" (me) had closed the door completely over the holidays. Now it's all frosty. I'll be making a concerted effort to start using up what's in there. I don't really like doing it, but do love it when it's done. Hmmm. That's how it is with most jobs---I love the end result. Actually, I like some of the work too. I'm weird like that. I find organizing very satisfying. Case in point---rather than scrapbooking yesterday, I ended up cleaning out and organizing. Now I'm on a roll! I'm heading back up there when I finish this post.

Now, I leave you with a new recipe from Mindy. She's becoming quite the cook---errr, I should say she's quite the "helper." Her boyfriend is the chef!!

First I should say, there's some superstition here in the south about having black-eyed peas on New Years Day to bring good luck for the year. Not only had I never heard of that, I never  even had a black-eyed pea until we moved here 30 years ago. Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I had a black-eyed pea. But, I'm going to make this next week.

Spicy Black-eyed Pea and Andouille Soup
It's perfect for New Year's Day because of the black-eyed peas (based on the superstition that eating them will bring you good fortune in the new year), but is an easy, hearty, healthy soup that we'll definitely be making again this winter.

Ingredients:

1 lb. dried black eyed peas

1 lb. spicy sausage (the original recipe used polish sausage. I substituted spicy andouille sausage. It was VERY spicy so I would recommend regular or medium andouille sausage to try at first)

5 cups chicken broth (we used 4 cups--which is one carton--of Swanson's Cajun-infused chicken broth and 1 cup of regular chicken broth but you can use all regular chicken broth if you can't find the cajun-infused)

1 yellow onion- diced

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup diced celery

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp italian seasoning

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

tabasco to taste (our sausage was so spicy that we didn't need tabasco, but if you use mild sausage of some kind, then the tabasco may be necessary)

Instructions:

soak beans overnight and drain in the morning.

dice the veggies and put them in the crockpot with the beans.

slice the sausage and add to crockpot.

Add in the broth, garlic, italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Cook on high for 6 hours (ours was really ready in about 5, but I guess cooking temps can vary).

Add tabasco to taste. We also ate ours with crunched up saltine crackers to help cut the heat and to add texture to the soup… kind of like how our family eats saltines with tomato soup :)

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Oh yeah, eating healthy is an ongoing resolution for me. Why is it that all the good stuff is so unhealthy?

What are your New Year's resolutions?