nnFor Christmas this year, five fabulous vegan cookbooks lay beautifully wrapped under my tree. Or maybe they just sat in Amazon boxes on my dining room table. However they arrived, I’ve been having a ball with them. Starting a relationship with a new cookbook is always such a treat.nnPaging through ‘Cooking Crunk: Eating Vegan in the Dirty South’, the Garlicky Black Eyed Pea Hummus recipe stopped me immediately. I decided to have some ready for New Year’s. Black eyed peas, good luck in the New Year, I live in Vegas, you get it.nnThe recipe is just your standard hummus procedure with black eyeds swapped in. Can of the peas (though I cooked my fresh from dried), 1/4c tahini, 3TBs of olive oil (I omitted & didn’t miss), 1TB lemon juice, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/4tsp salt, & 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water. Process. Plus some paprika to pretty it up.nnThe rich smokey flavor the peas brought has me hooked. It was so, so, so good. So good, I’ve made two more batches in the last month!nn