Hoppin John over rice

This is a traditional New Years' recipe, & I'm a little early with it, but we are getting close! Hard to believe it's almost 2012, isn't it?

This recipe involves a lot of chopping, but the rest of it is very simple & fast. You can chop the onion and peppers earlier in the day to make it easier on yourself.

1 cup chopped onion
1 sweet red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 cup chopped cooked ham (sometimes you can find this already chopped in a vacuum packed bag in the meat department if you'd like a shortcut)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cans black-eye peas (I like Bush's brand best, but any brand works fine)
1/2-1 tsp hot pepper sauce (I have family members with extreme aversion to this. It is okay to leave it out or just put in a couple drops)

3 cups cooked rice. ( In general, that means to use 3 cups of water and 1-1/2 cups of dry rice. Use a ricemaker or cook your rice -- separately from the rest of this recipe! -- in a 2-quart size saucepan). If you need to know how to cook rice without a ricemaker, just let me know.

Salsa (optional)

Sour cream (optional)

In a large skillet, cook onion, peppers & ham in oil for 4 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Drain blackeye peas, reserving 1/2 cup of the liquid from the can. (I usually just drain the can into a measuring cup until I get the 1/2 cup, then drain the remainding liquid into the sink).

Add blackeye peas, reserved liquid, and hot pepper sauce (optional) to ham mixture. . .stir to combine. Spoon over rice. Top with salsa & sour cream if desired.

If you don't want rice, you can serve this over cornbread, or you can use cornbread as a side food.