New Year's Traditions

There are many traditions and superstitions or "wives tales" as my mom calls them.  Some of the more known ones are eating Pork and Kraut and Black Eye Peas for New Years Day, as well as kissing your partner at the stroke of midnight.  There are many others... most of which make sense to me!

Pork and Kraut - The significance of eating pork is the fact that pigs root forward for their food (opposed to chickens who scratch for their food or cows that stand still).  Kraut signifies greenery or money.

Black-Eyed Peas - These symbolize coins.

Kissing your Partner - This means you'll have a happy new year with that person.

Some of the additional traditions that we follow include eating 12 grapes at midnight (within the 12 strokes of the clock), airing out our house and making noise to clear out any bad vibes, not cleaning the house on New Year's Day - because who wants to clean all year?!, and not washing any laundry, because that will wash away a loved one.  You're also not supposed to spend money on New Year's Day, a tradition that we failed this year.  We'll see how that goes.  We spent money on food...so I'm hoping that only means we'll eat out a lot this year.

Every year I make way too much pork and kraut.  This year we had my mom, step-dad, and sister to help us out, and we were still left with enough to last us the entire week.  This creates an opportunity to get creative and come up with some use for the leftovers other than just pork and kraut because that gets a bit old after about the third time you eat it.

First off, I guess I should share the initial recipe.

Pork and Kraut

4 Pork chops (preferably bone in, because they have much more flavor)
1 Bag of Kraut (drained and rinsed)
1/4 cup Sugar or Splenda
1 tsp Celery Seed
1 tsp Paprika

Mix sugar or splenda with the kraut, layer pork and kraut in a crockpot and top with celery seed and paprika.  Cook on high for one hour and low for 3-4 or until kraut is bubbly and pork temperature reads done with a thermometer.  Truth be told I think I made 8 chops and they were boneless.  That was too many, and without the bone, they were less tasty than bone-in.

I like my pork and kraut with applesauce and fried potatoes.  Delicious!

So after the third day of forcing down plain ole pork and kraut, I decided we needed a switch up...and so did Matt.  We each spiced up our leftovers in our own way.

I chose to add roasted grapes and mustard to mine.  Matt chose to add mustard and soy sauce to his.

Roasted Grapes (on top of leftover Pork, Kraut, and Applesauce)

Grapes
Cooking Spray
Thyme

Heat oven to 450.  Spray pan. Pull stems from grape and place in pan.  Spray, sprinkle with thyme and salt.  Roast until they soften, approximately 10-15 minutes.

I shredded the pork, mixed with the kraut, topped with 1 tsp horseradish mustard, applesauce, and grapes.  It was the perfect mix of sweet, sour, spice, and savory.  The first step may be to employ the Just Keep Tasting method and give the roasted grapes a try - that was a leap for me, but I was pleasantly surprised!

Matt's leftover makeover included adding 1 tbsp of soy sauce and 1 tbsp of horseradish mustard to the shredded pork and kraut.

Tonight, we made a huge leap and decided to make a stoup of leftover pork and kraut, mushrooms, and onions over noodles. *miracle noodles*

Porkabella Stoup

1 1/2 Pork Chops, shredded
1/2 cup Kraut
2 cups Mushroom Soup (we had a portabella mushroom soup)
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tbsp Red Wine
1 White Onion, chopped
5 Baby Portabellas, chopped small
4 Garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp Horseradish 
2 tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tbsp Salt
Noodles (of your choice, optional)

This is going to be soup-like, so choose an appropriate pan/pot. Saute mushrooms and onions (sprinkle with 1 tbsp garlic powder) until onions are transparent, add garlic.  Cook for another minute, stirring so garlic doesn't burn. Add Worcestershire Sauce and red wine.  Cook another minute. Add salt. Add mushroom soup (if using condensed, add a bit of milk or chicken stock).  Stir in horseradish, remaining garlic powder, and pepper.  I also added diced jalapenos, but that is totally optional.

Let this come to a boil and then simmer for 5-10 minutes on low.  We used miracle noodles (zero calorie, zero carb noodles) and spooned the stoup over the noodles. The noodles are optional, because we went back for seconds and ate it plain and then broke down and put pieces of homemade rolls my mom had left, which tasted like dumplings.  This mixture then tasted like chicken pot pie filling...weird but delicious!  This could also be turned into a casserole - just throw the mixture in a dish and add some breadcrumbs on top. 

These recipes are definitely creative and you will have Just Keep Tasting to see if you like these ideas!

Happy 2012!
 
I am planning to do a lot of reading this year...so I will be posting about recently read books in addition to recipes.  My most recent adventure was "Sister of Silence" by Daleen Berry.  A wonderfully easy read, that was intriguing, revealing, and inspiring.  I give this book 5 stars... and another one to boot because you can snag it on Amazon for $2.99!!  Happy Reading!

Just Keep Tasting in 2012 - it will be a journey!!

P.S. Sometimes the pictures simply do NOT do the food justice.  Don't let that scare you off... I won't post any recipes that we do not require seconds on.