Thanks for your post of the Black-eyed Pea Dip. It was a nice twist on a New Year's tradition.We had a pre-New Year's celebration here with two of our best friends last night.I made 1/2 the recipe, wanting to include some "New Year's Luck" in the menu! One of our guests was a vegetarian, so I replaced the chicken boullion cubes with some soy sauce and left out the 1/2 cup bacon drippings.I didn't even bother to thicken it with the flour, as it cooked a bit longer than 30 minutes on the stove and reduced down to a good thickness on it's own. We were out of Rotel tomatoes so substituted some stewed tomatoes and part of a can of green chilies, diced up. It was wonderful and a big hit. We ate it with Frito Scoops. The cinnamon and nutmeg really added something.We also had spinach/two mushroom lasagna, rustic bread (from the grocery) with Spanish olive oil and balasamic vinegar for dipping, a tossed salad & Kalamata olives. For desert I made Lemon Bars and Lowfat('bout time!) Hint-of-Orange Chocolate Brownies I sent some of the left-over dip home with our guests to enjoy tonight, and ate some of what we kept this morning! Fritos and beans for breakfast!. Happy, Happy New Year to you!! Keep up the great posts!-Micha