I am going to try this. Not today, but soon! I love chicken sausage. Yum yum yum. I am so happy to hear that you aren't going to let this blog die. I love it!

yummmmm! This looks soooo good!
congrats on your mission completed! I am sure you are ready for a little break, but I will be checking in everyday still!
Thanks for the inspiration...i have pulled out my crock pot waaaaay more often because of this blog!

On your recomendation I will try this. I've never had black eyed peas, I was sure I wouldn't like them. But I'm all about bean soups at the moment and I like that type of sausage. Looks pretty healthy and filling too. Thanks. Happy New Year.

Happy New Year! Thanks for all the post, it's been wonderful!

Thank you SO MUCH for your 366! days of CrockPotting! Happy New Year!

Congratulations on making it through the whole year. You rock in a huge way. I'm going to miss your daily recipe posts, though.

*mwah*

aka Cookie

Thanks for all the great recipes! I've tried many and have loved every one! I'm going to miss checking in here every day but can't wait for your other blog posts when you've had time to recover.

Thanks again!!

Congratulations--you made it! I am so happy that you were able to do a full year of crockpotting. I have been able to use so many of your recipes and I have really enjoyed following your experiment. Thank you so much, please keep posting when you can, I could always use another recipe! Thanks again.~ Kay~

Happy New Year to you and your family Stephanie! I discovered your blog in September when I purchased a 6.5 quart crock pot and was searching for recipes online, and have been loving it ever since. I'm glad to hear that you'll be keeping it going. A Year Of Crockpotting has become my go to website when I'm in the mood to cook something new. Thanks for a year of experimenting and for all of the tasting you and your family did, for good and for bad, on the behalf of all of your readers. :o)

Thank you for a great year of recipes and inspiration! You have been a godsend to this recently gluten-free cook!

I am so happy you are letting the blog live. Once you got to day 350, I had this mantra in my head: "do it again!"

no, that's not creepy AT ALL.

This sounds fabulous! Maybe this will make it up to my husband that I am not making the traditional pork and sauerkraut that no one but he eats.

Congrats! You've done a great job, and I admire your perseverance.

Farewell to the challenge, I can't believe it's over. You did an awesome job, I have enjoyed this blog and gotten some really terrific recipes. So glad that the blog will not die. Hope you do as well with 2009's New Years resolutions :)
Happy New Year!

Congratulations! And Happy New Year! You're blog has certainly been an asset and inspiration to my year. I am a grad student (read: poor) who is wheat-free but loves food, entertaining, and cooking with the crock pot. Your recipes and insights appealed to all of these factors.

Is there anything us readers can do to show our appreciation? Do you have a "donate" button, or a special request for the readers who have benefited from your blog all year for free?

Congrats on a great year of crockpot recipes. I puffy heart this blog.

Leah in NC

Congratulations on completing the year! I hope you love your crockpot even more than when you started. So many of us certainly do.

We are having split pea soup and a kraut dish tomorrow, but I am saving this recipe. I've never eaten black eyed peas.

Happy New Year!

Congratulations on making it through! I wonder how many Little Dippers you sold for Rival in the past year.

Congratulations for finishing the challenge, and THANK YOU for letting us all share in the journey this year! Looking forward to seeing what you're cookin' up in 2009. :) Happy New Year!

Congratulations on a full year of crockpotting! I've tried a ton of new recipes and love to giggle when you wrote about one that wasn't so great.

My favorite part?? The verdicts, where the kids refuse to try and eat spaghetti/sandwiches/bread instead...I can just see the disgusted look that you must get...probably pretty similar to the ones I get every night as well!

Happy New Years!

Congratulations on completing the year!!!!

Stephanie---Congratulations on your year of crockpotting! I haven't missed a day of it and I'm so glad to hear you will continue. Please go out to dinner, lol. Thanks for all your hard work and happy new year! LuAnn

Congratulations on making it a whole year!! Not only have you helped your family, you have helped so many of us (as well as the CrockPot company). You truly should be proud of yourself. I look forward to seeing what you have for 2009! And I'm so glad you didn't try the squirrel crockpot recipe on Allrecipes.com.

Congratulations on completing your resolution! thank you for the yummy recipes. here's to many more!

I cannot believe I am crying over a food blog. But, I am.

Happy New Year!

Thank you so much for your wonderful website! I just got a CrockPot for Christmas, and I made a 15-bean soup with ham that is very similar to this recipe. I ended up not blending any of it, because I still wanted there to be a little bit of liquid to go along with all of the beans. Thank you so much for your awesome website, which has inspired me to eat in a more healthy, thrifty way!

Thanks for a wonderful blog....I have made a few of your things and will find it very hard not to keep checking each day to find out what you will make next. Have a great New years!!

Happy New Year! Congrats - you are like the only person I know that has actually completed their new years resolution!

Although I will miss reading your blog daily - you have given us SO many recipes to try that I didn't get to just yet...

I think what I'll miss most is just your witty cute comments that you make about the food and the prep, etc.

Thanks for a great year of crockpotting - and looking forward to becoming a "totally together" reader!

Hi there Steph! Just wanted to say THANK YOU for sharing all your wisdom on this blog! Have a great New Years & I look forward to your next project and the new book!! (squealing with joy!!) Take care & talk to you soon!

Kim in WI (your crockpot groupie!)

P.S. I dont know if I shared with you but I DID try tofu. Sorry, this butcher's daughter just didn't enjoy the texture much but it WAS an experience! Thanks for everything! LOL

mom never could get me to eat bep's either. grandma made them and i would down bowls full. lol

i love them now and this recipe may be just the ticket to convert my husband.

Happy New Year almost! Thanks for this amazing site and fun for the past year. I only caught up with you starting in July (and immediately made the cheesecake), so I think I will go back and catch up on the first part of the year.

Did you mention in one of your posts that you have a book coming out. Something about home organization and your house "never being more than 30 minutes away from clean"?

If there is indeed such a publication about to be launched, please share the details. I know I need the advice contained within.

Looking forward to reading updates on this blog in 2009! -- Sandee

I can't believe you are ending this amazing year with black eyed peas. I have nothing but ick in my mind. I will give it a shot for my hubby who thinks we must have black eyed peas on New Year's day. My idea in the past is to drown these dirt tasting peas with enough salsa to cover up the taste followed by yummy tamales.

Congratulations! I've been reading your blog since February and I can't believe how quickly the year has gone by! You have inspired me to use my crockpot more and more and I'm loving it! My husband loves when I make something he likes a lot because he knows there will be plenty of leftovers in the freezer :)

Congratulations, Steph! You are truly inspiring! You really deserve a pat on the back for sticking with this the whole year! Can you believe that it's over? You can now breathe a sigh of relief and take a much needed break. ~ Jen

I never knew people ate black eyed peas on NYE until I got into food blogs. The local Polish-food-based tradition I grew up with in southwestern Pennsylvania was pork and/or kielbasa in sauerkraut! My boyfriend requested it the other day when I mentioned it, and it turned out great - and super easy.

4ish lb. pork
1 jar sauerkraut (with liquid)
1 cored/quartered granny smith apple
3-4 T brown sugar or maple syrup.

Stir 2T maple syrup into kraut in crockpot, place apples on top. Cut pork to fit in if necessary, rub down roast with the maple syrup, low for 8-10 hours.

"Although this is the end of my year-long challenge, the blog will not die, and I will not go hide in a corner in the fetal position. I promise."

SO GLAD to hear this! Your blog has some awesome recipes when I'm looking for something that's a little different to go in my slow cooker, but not something over the top "funky" (as in a kid might conceivably try it!). Thanks for a year of inspiration! I'd try the black eye peas for New Year's day, but I'm putting a split pea soup into the pot tonight to use up the last of the Christmas ham on the bone!

Congratulations on making it a whole year! I never could have done it! I've been with you since January, and have tried tons of your recipes. Thanks so much! Good luck in the new year!

I used to eat black eye peas regularly, but its been awhile. I cooked them with cumin...very good! I'm going to try this recipe for New Year's Day...I'm off to the supermarket to get some black eye peas right now.

I only found your blog about a month ago, but I'm excited about looking back though the year for recipes...and for more to come. Thanks so much! : )

To add to what I wrote earlier - my family now knows you as "the crockpot lady" because I reference you, on average, once a day. You have totally reinvented the way I cook - as a new mom, I can't thank you enough for teaching me "how" to use a crockpot to my advantage. And, I get so darn proud everytime I come up with something on my own! My favorite was the Pasta Fagioli - I've passed the recipe onto numerous folks!

Congratulations! I have never followed through for more than a week on a new year's resolution, and am in absolute awe of you for sticking with this for an entire year. I've loved reading your posts everyday. Thanks for a great crockpotting year!

Happy New Year! I wish you and your family all the best in 2009, with lots of fun and a ton of great recipes!

Thanks for a wonderful year of great reading and recipes!!

Erin

Alas!
Sigh!
My "inbox" will be a little sadder and quieter beginning Jan. 1, 2009. I've been a fan since April or May and was won over quickly. I do look forward to seeing a post from you once a week and wish you well in all that you chose to do and try in the future.

I have enjoyed your site soooo much and your recipes. I'm sorry that I didn't find it until recently. It's hard for me to understand if you are going to continue a daily posting (saw something about "weekly") so I'm confused; hope you continue with a daily menu and "talk" because you have helped soooo many of us; I'm 66 so that means alot coming from an older person who has had a crockpot for years and years but is now really enjoying it "thanks to you"...patty

Congratulations, Stephanie! It's awesome to come here and see the COMPLETED banner. :-)

I have always been crazy about black-eyed peas. Tomorrow I will do the easy route and just get some when I visit my mom and dad, but I'll try this soup in the future as all of us in our family love black-eyed peas.

BTW, I just started a new blog, GFE--Gluten Free Easily, glutenfreeeasily.com, and have linked to you. Because the blogroll is alphabetical, you're the first one!

Enjoy your vacation and hope to see you refreshed in the near future. Last, but not least, I did cook in my crock pot today. Not your fave, pulled pork, but it rocked!!

Yay! I'm so glad you gave black eyed peas another try. I've got my beans soaking right now. (Though I'll be using pork shanks instead of sausages.) I'll also be making a big pot of mixed greens (a mix of collard, mustard and turnip), some steamed rice and a nice side of cornbread. This is my favorite meal of the year!

Thank you for taking on this endeavor. My crockpot thanks you too. It's not in the corner collecting dust any longer.

I wish you and your family a fantastic New Year and I look forward to more recipes.

Steph, in case you're reading this en route to Disneyland, I have to say that this Crockpot Black-Eyed Pea Soup is delicious! Both DH and I loved it. I'm linking to this on my blog. I didn't use the sausage (we're vegetarian) but substituted MorningStar's vegetarian bacon strips instead by crumbling them on each bowl of soup.

Thanks again for a great year!

I made this soup today, except I used Tofurkey Italian sausage because we're vegetarian. Being Southern, we eat black eyed peas and stewed tomatoes on New Year's Day for good luck, so I served it with your stewed tomatoes. We loved it!

Made this today and it is fabulous! Thanks for a different spin on an old tradition!

Ok, I went and looked at the comments on the previous black eyed peas and found this recipe for Hoppin John and tried it out . . . sort of . . . enough to know I want to try it and follow the recipe closer. (I accidently used too much cayenne -- way too much cayenne, so had to modify it alot in order to fix it.)

Either way, thanks for the inspiration!!

Have fun!! Hint; Those of us who used to bite our fingernails cannot stand to have any roughness. We will pick and chew down to nothing again. Look for a good nail file and keep it with you always. Margaret - the voice of experience.

I have a question about the Black Eyed Pea Soup recipe.

So, do I cook the sausage first (or brown it), or do I just slice it uncooked and add to the pot?

Also, if you don't have Italian seasoning, what would be an acceptable substitute for this recipe?

Finally, I obviously have not made the recipe yet, but my family used to have black eyed pea soup and we would always garnish it with sour cream and Worcestershire Sauce. I'll try it with this batch and report back.

I made this last weekend and it was great. The leftovers were even better. I ended up not using any Tabasco because it was spicy enough for my wife and I without it.

Will definitely be making this again.

yea for the soup!!! i made it yesterday and the sausage was so tender and the soup itself really flavorful. this was my second attempt at making dried beans and a much better outcome from the first shot.

i'm curious though...could this soup be frozen? i've never frozen bean soups before and am curious about the outcome.

thanks for getting me interested in my crock pot again!!

Hi rocknrolla,
I haven't frozen this particular soup, but have frozen bean soups in the past. The outer shell part of the bean sometimes comes off in the thawing and reheating process, but otherwise it's just as good as fresh.

xox
steph

Are you serious! A blog about crockpotting! I love cooking in the crock pot! I'm excited to browse your sight!

Just wanted to let you know that your spiced nuts were the hit of my holidays, and I love the crockpot diet idea, I love your blog.

I made this yesterday and let me tell you... It's the best soup ever! My neighbor even came over to see what I made since it smelled so good. I have a huge container in the freezer for another meal or two. So yummy!

Oh man! I am having this for dinner tonight, and I cannot wait! It tastes soo, soo good, and I love black eyed peas! I would totally make this again!

We had this for dinner tonight, loved it!!! In fact I am posting this on my blog, will link to you here. Thanks for the great recipe.

I have some sweet Italian sausage - do you think it would work in this soup?

Sorry for being so dense - I am fighting a flu/cold and my brain can be muddled from Multiple Sclerosis - I don't have the skill right now to think this thru! Thanks for the input.

Made this yesterday and am still slurping the leftovers! Thank goodness, I had botched the first recipe of yours I tried: pesto spinach lasagna. I think it was the low-fat mozzarella that turned to absolute shoe leather. *hangs head in shame*

I'm so glad I kept looking and gave it another try. I am equally addicted to my crock pot and thankful for any recipe that cooks 10 hours.

Thanks for keeping the blog up! I learn so much from your commentary, it's ridiculous. Kudos to you.

Just wanted to say thanks! I've made this numerous times in the last year, and I recently brought a batch of it into a potluck at work. It was loved by all. I passed this link around to those who asked.

Hi Stephanie,

I had to post another love note to the last few days.

I finished 2008 finally. I got your book last Christmas and read it cover-to-cover and then started reading the blog. I've also re-read the book many times (while watching foodnetwork, of course). I have read the blog on many days, some days for hours but it's taken a year to finish!

I read all the comments. They are part of the fun. Your posts are great. Your recipes are great. But, if I read the comments I meet the community. I also learn why you don't eat pork. Why you eat GF. How to avoid mac and cheese disasters. And so much more. I shake my head when people ask the same questions over and over - read the comments!

I've made many of your recipes with success. I guess this blog/book is about recipes, and I have enjoyed them. But for me, the community is big too. And I haven't even started reading about what happens after your book....surely your community grows. Can't wait to read 2009 and 2010.

I have two more years ahead of me. Lucky me.
On the one hand, I want to catch up to today but on the other, I'll only get to read one day at a time. Or, I can hit your other blog and forum.

Dee

Dee,

Thank you so much for your note---it really made my evening. I'm so glad you enjoyed the book and the archives. "meeting" people is truly the best part of this whole adventure.
xoxo steph

Yay! I came onto the site today to look up this recipe, and I saw you have a new book. Congratulations! I'll have to go get a copy. And I was excited because that last post had a link right to the recipe I was looking for. I need something to bring to a NYE party, and I was thinking this would be good, though I realize now this is supposed to be eaten on New Years Day. Maybe I'll still make it for the party, or maybe I'll just make it at home. We'll see. Either way I'm making it. Congratulations also on the new baby. Have a wonderful 2011!

Awesome! Made this today. Used recipe exact except for the sausage. I used my husband's pork and venison sausage. It was soooo good!! Didn't taste at all like the usual black eyed peas. Yay! It's going to be a good year!

This recipe was my first introduction to Blackeye peas. I'm not a big fan of beans so this was a pretty big leap of faith for me. I wrote about making this recipe on my blog here. Thank you for the recipe. It's definately a keeper!

I used this recipe for the first time last year on the eve of the Lunar New Year. (We are westerners living in Asia, so kinda' liked the idea of combining the western black eyed pea history with the Chinese New Year.) Anyway, this soup was such a hit, that when discussing what to do for the same holiday this time around, my husband and I immediately concluded that black eyed pea soup, it'd be. He makes the sausage, I put it in the soup. Love it. And can't wait to consume several bowlfuls (oh yes, and share it with our friends too) tomorrow evening! Thanks for the new tradition!

i love using black eye beans but i can not alwasy find them did not find many recipes to use them in but here it looks like i will find a lot of good resipes

I've made this twice now, and not only is it simple, but I LOVE it! Thanks for the great recipe! :)

This was INCREDIBLE!! Thanks for the recipe!!

Stef, I tied your black eyed pea soup recipe for New Year’s day. Think I’ll do it every year for good luck. I used Andouille sausage, it was what I had on hand. My husband is sad to see it go. OMG! It’s a keeper.