Soup's On!

Several of you have asked me about my soup recipe. I'm not much of a cook -- been there, done that, you know -- since I was 11. But there are two things I like to make: this soup and cornbread salad.

Now, I'm posting the recipe from Clean Eating, but of course, how I actually make it is different:)

First of all, I don't use canned black-eyed peas. I cook up a couple cups of dried black-eyed peas. Simply my personal preference. Second, I don't use collards; I'm sure they would be great, but I prefer kale. I have read from different sources that kale is close to being the perfect food -- that's how rich in nutrition it is. Also, I do add meat to my soup. I sauteed some Italian sausage along with chopped up onion, celery and carrots. But you get the idea! Make it a time or two and then start playing with your own substitutions. As for the cornbread salad, I don't have a recipe for that. I make it so rarely (2-3 times a year) that I always have to "google" it and I never seem to use the same recipe twice. Cornbread salad makes me think of my momma. She "discovered" cornbread salad from I don't know where and though it sounds strange, it tastes great. It's kinda like cornbread dressing but instead of baking it, you just toss everything together as in a salad: crumbled up corn bread, sliced boiled eggs, celery, onion. I also add crumbled up bacon bits and sliced cherry tomatoes. Green bell pepper, too. Yeah, it starts to look like Christmas with the red and green. Sometimes I throw in some whole kernel corn. So make the soup and a pan of cornbread. Then a day or two later, use your leftover cornbread to make cornbread salad. That's what I'm gonna do. Happy eating!