A New Year’s Tradition

I had to laugh when I looked through Yahoo!’s top searches for today. Check out number 3, “Pork and Sauerkraut”. I have to admit being one of the people who contributed to its position on that list.

Yahoo! Today’s Top Searches
1. Tournament of Roses
2. Bowl Games
3. Pork and Sauerkraut
4. Captain America
5. Saoirse Ronan

I couldn’t remember why a lot of people cook up the combination each New Year.

sauerkraut.com reports:

“As the Germans and Dutch began colonizing America, they brought along their
taste for sauerkraut, an ability to make it and an evergreen New Year’s meal
tradition: Families enjoying pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day will have
good fortune all year because pigs root forward signifying the coming year, and
green cabbage leaves indicate money.”

I love pork and sauerkraut. So much so, I once made it in the middle of the year. Go figure!

Today, I put 2 two pound bags of sauerkraut in with my pork and cooked it for four hours to make my favorite New Year’s Day dinner. My mother only used a two pound bag of kraut in hers. I need more I guess. She also put an apple in the dish. She claims it takes away some of the bitter taste. I think it was my sister’s suggestion. One recipe I found online called applesauce. Call me a traditionalist but I like things the way I’m used to them being.

This year my mother made her Christmas cutout cookies but didn’t make them the regular way (with the added lemon extract in the frosting). Don’t get me wrong, they were still great but I keep telling her don’t mess with perfection. I guess I’ll always love Mom’s cooking, the old fashioned way. Mom, remember no green beans in the casseroles (Chicken Pot Pie or Tator Tot). I still don’t like the taste. I like green beans but just not in casseroles.

Since I’m on a role with the topic of food, I just downed some pistachio pudding. I’ve always liked it the best of any pudding (including chocolate). My parents would bring it home when they used to work at Nabisco. The plant where they worked made Royal Brand. Nabisco has since sold that brand off to another company.

I recently got a recipe from one of my friend’s mother for pistachio cake. I had it over the summer and it’s great. Maybe I’ll think about posting it here on the blog.

I’m hungry…