New Year's Day tradition

It seems that many of our traditions revolve around food, and it is usually food we only make on those occasions. We have our favorite Thanksgiving items, our Christmas fare and then our New Year's Day menu.

January 1st is a fun, casual day when we watch football, and entertain friends who drop by for a traditional meal.  The core fare includes ham, greens, hopping john (black-eyed peas and rice), corn pone and curried fruit. This year we opted for spoon bread (a sweet corn bread recipe) instead of corn pone and added some macaroni and cheese, pasta salad and a green salad.

Several of the dishes have traditional meanings and we insist everyone at least have a bite! Greens signify prosperity, hopping john for good luck and corn bread (or something gold like macaroni and cheese) for lots of money in the coming year. It is always delicious and the symbolism of the food is always a great topic of conversation for our northern friends (haven't served grits yet.)




Amazing Collard Greens


Bunch Collard Greens
6 slices bacon
1/2 cup onions
2 cloves garlic
olive oil (1/4 cup)
brown sugar (To taste. 1/4 cup very sweet. 2 tablespoons to cut bitterness)

Cook bacon in large dutch oven. Don't overcook. Remove before done. Wash greens, pat dry, tear into small pieces. Add to bacon drippings. Drizzle olive oil onto greens. Add bacon and sugar. Saute greens. Cover and let cook for up to 1 hour or until tender. Yummy! Enjoy!

greens for green

                                         

mac n cheese for gold