Happy New Year!

If you are one of those people, like me, that don't like black eyed peas, what are you to do about eating them for that time old tradition at the New Year? Make it into something that taste good (Duh)! I feel like we've been making this recipe for a couple of years now for New Years Day because most of my family can't stand black eyed peas. It's so good!

Texas Caviar

2 cans black eyed peas, drained

1 can white hominy, drained

2 med sized tomatoes, chopped

4 green onions, chopped

1 med. size green bell pepper, chopped

1 jalepeno pepper, chopped

1/2 c. onion, chopped

1 bottle (light) Italian dressing

1/2 c. fresh parsley, chopped (I omitted this and other recipes use cilantro instead)

Mix together all ingredients and pour 2/3 bottle of Italian dressing over all the mixture. Stir and refrigerate for at least two hours. Drain off most, if not all, Italian dressing. Serve with tortilla chips. Makes 7 cups.

Such a good recipe! So easy you just dunk in a few cans...

Add your green bell pepper...

This is where I got scared: the jalepeno. As my family can tell you about the incident I had a year or two ago with a habanero pepper at the beach, I'm always a little weary of hot peppers. Let's just say that I cut the habanero and accidentally rubbed my nose and my face actually got burned. Trying to help, I put on Chapstick, which only spread the burn to my lips. Yes, I'm a smart one.

But, it went fine! Not without some fear, of course.

All together and chill!

What else is there to do on New Years? PUNKIN CHUNKIN'!

I know, we're a little late, but our pumpkins just now turned rotten. You can see our chunkin' from last year here.

This year, we had two pumpkins: one from my house and one from my parents' house. Mom was ready to go.

Toby was pretty intrigued as well.

Here's a video of my chunkin'. I took the first crack, so it didn't do much.

Once we were done with the pumpkins, we headed back inside and made the best jambalaya. My mom and I were talking about how we usually make it around New Years because its one of those flexible things you can do when you need to get rid of leftovers. We used leftover turkey (my mom bought a whole turkey breast when they went on sale after Christmas for next to nothing and it's already been used 3-4 different ways), leftover shrimp, and cajun sausage. It's so easy to make too.

Easy Jambalaya

1 lb. chicken (or turkey)

1 lb. Polk's Cajun sausage, sliced into coins

Shrimp

7 oz. jar sliced mushrooms

1 can Rotel tomatoes

1 can French Onion Soup

1 can beef broth

2 cups par-boiled rice

1/2 stick of butter (or 1/2 stick butt at our house)

In a dutch oven, brown chicken and sausage in butter. Add remaining ingredients, except shrimp. Bring to a boil and stick in to oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, add shrimp and bake for another 10 minutes (may need to add 1/4 cup of water the end if it looks dry). Let sit for 15 minutes before serving.