New Year's Chili

There's apparently a butt-ton of superstitions concerning foods you're supposed to eat or not eat on the first day of the year.  Seems that spinach, pork and black-eyed peas will give you the wealth of Bill Gates, the drive of Donald Trump and the looks of Fergie or Will.I.Am.  Conversely, if you eat lobster, crayfish or anything with wings, your house will catch fire and your cat will die.  Or something like that.

Anyway, my lovely bride insisted that we get with the good-luck foods for our New Years' dinner.  Not to distrust that the Lord has things well in hand, but I figured both we and America needed all the luck we could get this year, so I agreed.

Luck was with us in the taste department at least, as we found a great recipe for Black-Eyed Pea Chili.  Modifications were necessary, both for the availablity--or lack thereof--of ingredients and the fact that I can't stop tweaking every recipe I find.  I'm weird like that.

Black-Eyed Pea Chili

1 tb. olive oil
1 large onion,  diced
3 small sweet peppers, diced (I used one yellow, one orange and one red to add a splash of color, but if you don't care, neither do I)
1 lb. lean ground pork
1 jalapeno pepper, diced(or one small can of pre-diced jalapenos)
2 cloves minced garlic (or two tb. pre-minced garlic)
1 tb. chili powder
1-15oz. can of black-eyed peas(drained)
1-28oz. can crushed tomatoes(with juice)
1/2 c. chicken broth

Heat the oil in a large pot at med-high.  Add the onion and saute until soft(@ 3min.).  Add garlic and cook about one minute.  Break up and add the pork, cooking for 4-5minutes until cooked through.  Stir in peppers and chili powder and cook about 1 minute more.  Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer (stirring occasionally) for 20-25 minutes.

Don't forget the shredded cheese, sour cream and other garnishes that enhance chili of every kind.

Good luck, and good eating!