Lucky New Year Hobo Skillet Mess

Everybody knows Hoppin John is a good luck New Years Day meal, just try to find any black eyed peas to cook with on New Year's Eve...ain't gonna happen.  But here's a little known New Year's Day luck food I got from my Aunt Jo and Uncle John; lentils!  Supposedly every lentil you eat on New Year's Day equals a dollar you'll make in the New Year.  Must have been a depression era thing or something from the Old Country because these days you could eat triple your body weight in lentils and still be poor, maybe even as poor as the hobo chef!  Hopefully there was an inflation factor or cost of living allowance applied to lentils somewhere along the way...

Anyhow,  this recipe is cheap, simple and uses both lentils and black eyed peas to up the luck ante.   Feel free to throw in some old lottery tickets if you think it'll help...

Ingredients:

2 tbs vegetable oil

1 small onion chopped

2 small/regular carrots cut into coins

1 small green pepper chopped

1/2 cup lentils

1/2 cup rice

1 15 oz can of broth (whatever is on sale) or water (you're the the one that's gotta eat it!)

A generous pinch, palmful, fistful of cayenne powder

A generous pinch, palmful, fistful of garlic powder

1 15 oz can (drained) of black eyed peas

Making the Mess:

Heat oil in a regulation sized skillet.  Dump in everything but the broth and beans.  Cook/sweat over medium high heat until veggies start to soften, somewhere in the 5 minute neighborhood.  Stir it around now and then so the rice and lentils don't stick, means more work and less food if they do.  Toss in the broth and magic beans (black eyed peas, dummy; pay attention!).  Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a rice cookin' simmer for about 25 minutes.  

Put this stuff in bowls and add hot sauce.  I like Tabasco.  Eat like it's a free meal and/or your future depends on it 

Here's hopin' ya get lucky!