Getting Social!

 

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Let's Get Social Sunday #2

New Year's Recipes

Every New Year's Day my Mom get's busy cooking Black Eye Peas and smothered Cabbage. It is a Cajun tradition in my family. Dad or I act as sous chefs helping chop, stir, taste for seasoning or just watch the pot. This is how I learned to make these traditional dishes. Eating these dishes are suppose to bring you good luck and fortune in the year to come. My dad says the peas bring coins and the cabbage folding money. So you can imagine; a year never, ever, goes by without observing this Cajun tradition.

New Year's Black Eye Peas(Traditional)

Source: Mom

1 lb dry Black Eye Peas

1 Onion, chopped

1/2 lb Ham, chopped

Salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, to taste

Parsley, chopped

Soak peas overnight or use fast soak method. Bring peas to a boil and when boiling turn off the heat and let sit covered for one hour. Drain and return to the pot.

Add water to just cover the peas, the onion and ham. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until tender and creamy. Season with salt and peppers to taste. Add parsley (optional). Serve over rice to bring coins in the New Year!

Note: You can use fresh or frozen peas, just omit the first step.

New Year's Cabbage(Traditional)

Source: Mom

2 lbs. Pork loin chops, sliced into large pieces

2 Onions, chopped

1 bunch Green Onions, sliced

3 heads of young Green Cabbage, chopped

Salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, to taste

Parsley, chopped

Heat olive oil in large pot. Season pork with salt and peppers, add to pot and cook until brown.

Add the onions, then green onions and finally the cabbage stirring until all cabbage it added. Add parsley (optional) if using. Cook until smothered well and cabbage is very soft. Serve over rice to bring folding money in the New Year!

My new tradition of spending New Year's with my favorite person in the world (FPITW) has giving way to a slight variation on Mom's Black Eye Peas.  We use bacon instead of ham and we skip the rice and eat with spoonfuls of cold Chow Chow. FPITW and his family have always served Chow Chow with their Black Eye Peas. This Chow Chow is not cabbage and green tomato, it is a savory, spicy, chunky, red tomato condiment. It is not hot or peppy it is just flavorful with warm spices like cinnamon and cloves. It is still a FPITW family canning secret, I will let you know if the secret gets out. I am just happy to have this new tradition, a blend of both families.

New Year's Black Eye Peas(New Tradition)

1 lb dry Black Eye Peas

1 Onion, chopped

1/2 package of Bacon, chopped

Salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, to taste
Tony Chachere's creole seasoning, to taste

Soak peas overnight or use fast soak method. Bring peas to a boil and when boiling turn off the heat and let sit covered for one hour. Drain and set aside.

Add bacon to a dutch oven and brown on medium low. When bacon it almost brown remove and drain on a paper towel. The bacon will continue to brown and crisp. Add onion to the bacon dripping and saute until they begin to soften. Add peas and just enough water to cover, bring to a boil lower heat and simmer covered until tender. Season with salt, peppers and Tony's to taste. Garnish with bacon and serve with Chow Chow for good luck in the New Year!

A New Year Tradition

It is tradition for me to ring in the New Year with my Favorite Person In The World, we will call him FPITW from now on. He will love that, he is the king of acronyms. We usually spend several days together here or there. We celebrate New Years Eve, cook, eat and laugh a lot. That is where I have been. I have a lot to share with you in the coming posts. I will start with a short list of what's been cooking.

Before I left for FPITW's I made a Pork Noodle Salad and Chicken Pho. Both were great but I want to make a few adjustments before I share the recipe. I want to use a larger rice noodle in the Pork Noodle Salad before taking it's glamour shot. I want to adjust the cooking time on the chicken in the Chicken Pho. I will post these recipes soon. Here is a sneak peek.

Then it was off to Central Texas to hang out with FPITW. He cooked dinner for me when I got there. The next day he took me to Deckhand's Oyster Bar for great oysters on the half shell. The owner who is from Laos makes this special green chili sauce called Deckhand sauce. It spicy and complements the oysters so well. If your ever in Austin go try it. We also did a good bit of cooking over the holiday. Poor FPITW made four or five trips to the store, I went on only two of those trips. He also took me to The Alamo Draft House. It is a great dine in movie theater, a real fun way to enjoy a movie. I am a lucky girl to know such a great guy. Here are some of the things we cooked together this week:

Black Eye Peas and Chow Chow
We make this every New Year's Day for luck and it is always accompanied by FPITW's family Chow Chow. It is a spicy not peppy tomato condiment. Sorry it is a family secret but I will share the Black Eye Pea recipe soon.
Click here for recipe.

Nick's Lasagna
This is a recipe from FPITW family friend. It is a huge, delicious, and easy lasagna casserole. I plan to try to make a smaller version with lighter ingredients real soon.

Shrimp and Noodles in Brown Garlic Sauce

A stir-fry FPITW and I created with a Brown Garlic Sauce from Food.com, veggies and Fresh Rice Noodles from a YouTube video. Click here for recipe.

Drop Biscuits
We made drop biscuits twice. I made an adaptation of Mom's recipe first. We did not have baking powder so I used Bisquick. Basically I made "Rocks" and Gravy. Right then I made the resolution to learn how to make great biscuits in 2013. We were watching Cook's Country at the time and I said show us biscuits. 


Then it happened the host started singing a song about biscuits and they aired a piece about Cat Head Biscuits. We made two trips to the store to get the ingredients. But is was so worth it. They are PERFECT!!! They are light as air, soft in the center, they have a crisp exterior and great flavor. I am ahead of schedule on that resolution.

Goldenland Thai Spring Rolls


Linking to:
Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo

Asparagus Frittata

Mom loves her frittata pans from William Sonoma. She has two, a small set and a large set. For Christmas she put the large set to good use. This Asparagus Frittata is made with thin asparagus and both Gouda and Parmesan cheeses. It was the perfect addition to our Christmas Brunch.

 

Asparagus Frittata

Adapted from: Southern Living APRIL 2012

Yield: Makes 6 servings

 

Ingredients

1 pound fresh thin asparagus

2 tablespoons butter

1 small onion, coarsely chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

12 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup (4 oz.) shredded Gouda cheese

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Snap off and discard tough ends of asparagus. Cut asparagus diagonally into 1-inch pieces. Melt butter in the bottom skillet over medium-high heat; add onion, and sauté 3 to 4 minutes or until onion is tender. Add asparagus; sauté 3 to 4 minutes or until tender. Add garlic, and sauté 1 minute.

Whisk together eggs and next 3 ingredients until well blended. Stir in 3/4 cup Gouda cheese. Fold egg mixture into vegetable mixture in skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, 2 to 3 minutes or until almost set. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and remaining 1/4 cup Gouda cheese. Add the top skillet and flip cooking another 8 minutes or until set.

Scalloped Potatoes

These potatoes are so so good. This is a recipe revived from my childhood. My sister kept asking me to make those Scalloped Potatoes like Mom use to make them. Finally I asked Mom to show me how to make them. They couldn't be easier. You don't have to make a sauce. You just layer the ingredients and bake. The recipe comes from an old Betty Crocker's Cookbook. This is the book at my Mom's that is stained, pages falling out and the binding or cover is separate from the pages. It is Mom's go to cookbook. I am so happy to have this recipe to share.

Christmas Brunch plate, Scalloped Potatoes in the foreground.



Scalloped Potatoes

Source: Betty Crocker's Cookbook 1969; 12^th Printing 1972

Serves: 4 to 6

2 pounds potatoes (about 6 medium)

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

3 Tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup butter or margarine

2-1/2 cups milk

Heat oven to 350. Wash potatoes; pare thinly and remove eyes. Cut potatoes into thin slices to measure about 4 cups.

In a greased 2-quart casserole, arrange potatoes in 4 layers, sprinkling each of the first 3 layers with 1 tablespoon onion, 1 tablespoon flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, dash pepper and dotting each with 1 tablespoon butter. Sprinkle top with remaining onion, salt and pepper ant dot with remaining butter. Heat milk just to scalding; pour over potatoes. Cover; bake 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 60 to 70 minutes longer or until potatoes are tender. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Baked Ham

This ham is usually on the table at Easter. But because we were having a Christmas Brunch it seemed the perfect solution for Christmas this year. It is easy and so good. The orange glaze is sweet and spicy from the mustard. The thyme is just a hint of herb, not enough to bother those who do not like herbs. Lets put it this way, it passes the Dad test. He really likes this recipe. If you line the pan with foil it is easy clean up.

Baked Ham

Source: Southern Living 2009 Annual Recipes

Makes 16 Servings

1 (10 lb) smoked ham

1 (13 oz) jar orange marmalade

1/4 cup stone ground mustard

1 Tbsp fresh thyme, chopped

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Wrap ham in aluminum foil, and place in a slightly greased 13 x 9 inch pan; bake at 300 for 2 hours.

Remove ham from oven, and unwrap. Remove skin and excess fat from ham. Score fat on ham in a diamond pattern.

Stir together marmalade and remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Spoon glaze over ham, and bake 1 hour, basting every 15 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest portion registers 140. Let stand 15 minutes before slicing.

Linking to:

Carole's Chatter: Food on Friday - Easter Foods

Fruit Salad

This Fruit Salad is the brain child of my Mother. I am not sure where she came up with it. But it sure was good. You can find the jars of fruit in the refrigerated section near the bags of salad greens and jar salad dressings. The fruit juice from the jar fruit keeps the bananas from browning. Genius! And the coconut, well it was delicious. I think this salad should be called a Tropical Fruit Salad.

Fruit Salad

Serves: 6 to 8

Ingredients

1 jar mixed fruit, drained

1 jar mandarin oranges, drained

2 banana, peeled and sliced

Sweetened flake coconut

Directions

Drain almost all liquid from jar fruit. Slice one banana in a serving bowl, top with one jar of fruit. Sprinkle fruit with some coconut. Slice second banana, top with other jar of fruit and more coconut. Toss salad to combine just before serving.