Black-eyed Peas and Collard Greens for a Year of Good Luck

Yeah - I'm Southern all right. For me, the only proper way to start a new year is with plenty of black-eyed peas and collard greens, accompanied by corn bread, ham, white rice and pepper vinegar. You non-Southerners might doubt this recipe, but my good luck started January 1st, when I enjoyed this traditional spread at the home of friends. (How lucky is that? I didn't even have to cook!)

I picked up a tip for cooking collard greens that I'll be using from now on. If you aren't familiar with this food, collard greens are one of those vegetables that, candidly, don't smell so great when they're cooking. (Trust me - your kids will complain and your husband might grump about the odor, too.) They can taste bitter, too; however, when properly cooked with salt pork or a ham bone, they're quite yummy (nothing like the smell). I usually mask the bitterness with pepper vinegar, but the collard greenss Betsy prepared at the New Year's Day open house we attended were the best I've ever eaten and not bitter at all.

Betsy's secret: Adding sugar while the collard greens cook. It's a taste-as-you-go process for her and the goal isn't making the greens taste sweet, but simply to remove most of the bitterness. They were delicious and I'm adopting this trick in my kitchen!