I've been reading other people's posts about New Year's traditions, including black-eyed peas, greens, pork, sauerkraut, and others. In my family, we have no particular tradition, though New Year's Eve usually calls for another round of Taco Soup or for a generic collection of party food.
New Year's has been pretty quiet for us this year. We got together with friends for an early supper of Papa Murphy's pizza last night before the toddlers forced us all apart at bedtime. We managed to make it to about 10:30 and then rolled over at midnight when the fireworks went off in the street. Thankfully, the toddler didn't seem to be disturbed.
This morning we spent in the offices, preparing for the rush of January term that begins tomorrow (!), and this afternoon we came home for naps and for me to nurse a cold that I hope is at its worst and will be shortly improving (see aforementioned rush of January term).
But I still wanted to mark the holiday somehow with food, even if not traditional. Compiling a few of the traditions mentioned above, we had egg scramble with ham, mushrooms, and kale for lunch (pork and greens) and will have Green Chile Stew for dinner tonight (also because I saw a picture of snowy Santa Fe in this morning's newspaper, and it made me a little wistful for the two years I spent there).
And now that everyone else is napping, I decided I needed something to go with my afternoon tea, so spice cookies are in the oven. We'll see if any of them make it over to the neighbor who shoveled our driveway while we were away.
It's not traditional, perhaps, but on a cold and grey January day, a little spice is called for.
Happy New Year!
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Green Chile Stew
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic
pork roast (I use pork tenderloin, about 2 lbs.)
(I cook mine whole and shred or cube later, since loin can dry out so easily; if you use pork
butt/shoulder, you could cube it before cooking)
6-8 whole green chiles, roasted and peeled (mine are frozen from summer) or 2-3 small cans of green chile
1 1/2 lbs. potatoes (I had baby yukon golds)
Salt and pepper the pork to taste. Combine everything in the slow cooker on high for 4 hours. Cube or shred pork prior to serving.
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Spice Cookies
1/2 C. Butter
1 1/3 C. Brown Sugar
2 C. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cardamom
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4-1/3 C. water
Cream butter and sugar; add dry ingredients (through pepper) and combine as thoroughly as you can (mixture will be quite dry). Add vanilla and water (1-2 Tb. at a time) until mixture comes together. Form into balls and press lightly onto baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. Cool slightly on sheets and then remove to racks. Don't overbake.
