HEARTY- MEATY BLACK EYE PEA SOUP FOR A CROWD

Steps:

• 1. You will need a huge pot to make this amount of soup, but you can cut back on most of the ingredients, and still enjoy a great soup. Add the ham chunks to the pot, along with the Rough chopped garlic and a few peppers gives the soup a head start in flavor. Add enough water to cover. I like to cook the Ham chunks about and hour, before adding in the dried peas and other veggies.
• 2. These are some of the ingredients I used to create the soup. I did not use the extra canned Black Eye peas. Pick through the dry peas for pebbles and grit, and discolored beans, then wash and add to the pot. Pour in the stock, and cover pot with lid while you prep the other veggies. Heat over medium low heat.
• 3. I like to cut the veggies into large pieces and add them after about the first hour of cooking, so they flavor the broth in the soup peppers, onions,& celery. Don't forget to add the Bay leaves.
• 4. That's a lot of onions but you are making a large pot of soup, and the onions and garlic adds lots of flavor especially when combined with the granulated onion and garlic and other herbs and spices.
• 5. This is a partial pix of the canned items. Open all the canned veggies & tomato paste and pour them into a large bowl,that way they can all go into the pot at the same time. I add them about half way through cooking time, after checking the peas to see if they are somewhat tender.
• 6. Allow them to cook over medium high heat. Adding the spices about midway through cooking. I prefer adding all of the spices into a medium size bowl and then adding them all at once into the soup, then stirring them thoroughly to blend together. NOTE: I PURPOSELY DID NOT ADD SALT TO THE RECIPE, it had enough salt for us FROM THE HAM & OTHER INGREDIENTS.
• 7. Cut the smoked Sausage on the bias to get more meat per serving. Then add to the pot.
• 8. The baby spinach only takes a few minutes to wilt into the hot soup broth. So add it during the final 10 minutes of cooking, and stir to blend into the soup.
• 9. This is what the soup looked like after cooking. So serve with your favorite bread and enjoy. I made a Southern Style corn Bread with corn and chopped green chilis. My daughter who does not care for Black Eyed peas, ate 2 bowls full, as did my husband, and I only had one bowl but had 2 pieces of corn Bread. It was great on a day when the temperature was in the teens.
• 10. This is the Corn Bread I served with it. Recipe is from a Watkins Keepsake Cookbook, and was a perfect accompaniment.