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Saturday, January 2, 2010

New Year's Day Dinner


Are you superstitious? I am. My Dad says it's the "Gypsy Blood" I inherited from the Czechoslovakian side of the family. I also married a baseball player, so we don't open umbrellas inside, avoid breaking mirrors at all costs, and have the Christmas Decorations down before New Year's Day here at the Ferguson household.

The tradition of serving a special meal for New Year's day is said to help promote prosperity and money in the coming year. The greens, peas and copper penny salad all represent money, and serving pork is said to be good luck and will help move you forward since the Pig roots forward. If you eat Chicken or Lobster, which scratch or move backward it could bring bad fortune. We had traditional New Year's dinner with herb crusted pork tenderloin, hop n john, greens, copper penny salad, and cornbread. Shelly brought the pork, so I'll have to get the recipe from her to share later. Everything else is very easy and once you get it going you just leave it cook all day.

The black-eyed peas and collard greens are pretty similar to get started. Brown a bit of salt pork in the bottom of a big pot along with some onion and garlic. Once browned, add the greens to the pot with about 2 cups of water, salt and pepper. Do the same with the peas. I used frozen this time. Then just cook the greens and peas all day, stirring occasionally and adding water as needed. I cooked mine for about 4 1/2 hours.

The copper penny salad is something my Gramma used to make- so it's a memory dish for me. Peel 2 pounds of carrots and slice. Boil the "pennies" until tender. In a blender place 1 can of tomato soup, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of Olive oil, 1/2 cup of vinegar, 1/4 of an onion, 1 Tbs of Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 tsp dry mustard, salt, pepper and granulated garlic. The true recipe also calls for diced green peppers, but I HATE green peppers so I leave them out. Blend dressing and pour over cooked carrots. Stir to coat and leave in the refrigerator overnight to marinate.

Here's wishing everyone a healthy, prosperous New Year!

Hangover Casserole

I don't know about you, but eggs and grease sounded pretty good New Year's morning. Luckily, I had made this casserole the night before and I could manage turning on the oven even with a pounding headache. It feeds a crowd and is quite tasty, even if you managed to burn off most of your taste buds the night before with large quantities of Maker's Mark.

6 slices of bread
2 Cups of milk
2 packages of Jimmy Dean light sausage
1 tsp. of dry mustard
1 1/2 cups of grated sharp cheddar cheese
3 oz of Velveeta
5 eggs
1/2 stick of butter
salt
pepper
granulated garlic

Cook sausage thoroughly. Melt the butter and pour into the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish. Place the bread slices in the bottom of the pan to make the crust. Spoon crumbled browned sausage over the bread. Sprinkle with grated cheese and strategically place chunks of Velveeta. Beat the eggs, add milk, salt, pepper, garlic and dry mustard. Pour in egg mixture, cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Cut into squares and serve hot- preferably with a Bloody Mary or Mimosa.