Comfort food for the New Year!

We came from here... http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1060704/
It's been so fun and enlightening, I thought we'd keep it going!

Along with cooking up some black-eyed peas for tomorrow's New Year's Day dinner, I am going to try cooking up some of doc's corn meal mush/polenta! That really sounds good to me and I have never tried polenta before. I cannot find prepared polenta anywhere! Where is it in the stores??? The pineapple and coconut sounds really yummy... pina colada mush!

Our dinner tomorrow will be chicken in the crockpot with three kinds of squash, black-eyed peas, rice, spinach salad (in place of the greens I don't have the courage to try and cook!), and rolls! What else are you supposed to eat for good luck??? My daughters said pomegranates, but I couldn't find them at the grocery store this afternoon.

So, what are you making for New Year's? What's your family traditions?

I've gone through a phase of always making black eyed peas o f some kind for New Years Eve, or Hoppin John, . THis year has been sort of unorganized
8 ^]
and we went to Panera Bread this after noon around 2 30 so I am not hungry and don't feel like cooking! Nyah! Looks like leftovers for those who are sticking around. Part of the lack of enthusiasm is kids are getting to that age where you never know if they're going to fly out the door.

Tonight Holly had sushi (I had a Dr's appointment next door to Tokyo Diner) and I had a roast beef sub. Tomorrow I'm making the traditional roast pork loin with kraut and mashed potatoes. I have a 10# boneless loin to rub and braise in the morning. I mix seeds from coriander, caraway, celery , and cumin with cracked pepper and crush it to a powder for my rub. I lightly score the fat side of the loin, rub the whole thing, and then braise it on a large griddle till sealed and golden brown. Into the roaster it goes fat side up for a couple of hours. About an hour before it's done I add a bed of silver floss to the juices and let it brown. Pork has always been part of New Years as long as I can remember, It's supposed to be good luck, since pigs root forward while other animals scratch back.
Happy New Year and Bon Appetit! Ric

Ric, I go by the " It's supposed to be good luck, since pigs root forward while other animals scratch back." too.
I also put a $ bill under the door mat and bring it back in in the new year. It's to keep money coming into the house for the coming year.

Happy New Year everyone !!

How timely- I have a small pork loin in the freezer wondering when is a good day to get it out and how I'll cook it.

This is a farorite recipe, it is so moist ! And very easy to make. Hope you will try it.

Moist Chocolate Cake

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup hot coffee
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vinilla extract

Sift together all dry ingr. in large mixing bowl. Add oil, coffee & milk; mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs & vinilla, beat 2 minutes more. Pour into 2 greased & floured 9 inch pans (or two 8 inch & 6 muffin cups) Bake 325º for 25- 30 minutes. (till cake tester comes out clean)
Note: this batter is very thin.

Icing:
1 cup milk
5 talbespoons all purpose flour
1/2 cup butter-softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vinilla

Combine milk and flour in sauce pan; cook until thick, I stir with a wisk to get it smooth. Cover and refrigerate.
In medium bowl, beat butter, shortening, suger and vinilla until creamy. Add chilled milk/flour mixture and beat for 10 minutes. Frost Cooled cake.

That's an interesting icing recipe, Lady. I don't think I've ever made any icing with flour in it. I also never used shortening in an icing. Does it make the icing fluffier? Does this icing get very hard after it sets? Do you refrigerate the cake?

Stormy, I would discribe the icing as creamy, it offsets the chocolate flavor of the cake very nicely. It does not get hard, I let the cake set out on the counter in a cake carrier.

Since I am a chocoholic, I will definitely try this cake. It looks awesome!!

We are also having the roast pork with sauerkraut, apples and potatoes. Heyyyyy.... wait a minute....what happened to my new year's resolution. Oh well, I'll start tomorrow....maybe.

OOOOO, I am dying to bake a cake, but have no one else here to eat it. So, I'll have to be content to drool over everyone's. Chocolate cake with white icing is one of my favorites. My mother used to make one with an all buttercream icing, but I'd like to try this one, or maybe a marshmallow icing.

Stormy, Go ahead and bake it, you know you want to. LOL It's a good keeper too, just cover the cut sides with cling wrap.

No no no no!!!! It's New Year's, time for resolutions!!!

That cake really does sound good! Choc cake with white icing is one of my faves too! The cake recipe is similar, if not the same, as one I have for a cake I know as Texas Sheet Cake. The icing is not the same though. Sounds yummy!

Probably be pulled pork BBQ, some kind of taters, and a veggie. Bachelor night,LOL. Holly's off to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, with her daughter and a couple of grand kids. She was a volunteer diver there, so she knows where the treasures are buried. Ric

VWR, Sometimes the prepared polenta is in the refrigerated sections, like dairy, cured meats or produce. Other times it's over with the pasta or soup mixes. It generally comes in a tube shaped like Oscar Meyer Liverwurst.

Came home hungry for country cookin', ask Holly what? she says whatever. Fried up a skillet of home-fries, a skillet of calves liver both with a little bacon, and GG niblets in butter sauce. Almost Heaven not West Virginia, LOL Ric

Talk about stupid!!! I made a large pot of Chili on Saturday night. As it was late when it finished cooking, I took the entire pot and sat it outside on the side section of the grill. It's a large pot that wouldn't fit into my fridge and I didn't want to start fooling with breaking it down into smaller containers that late at night.

Last night, I went out to get it to put it into freezer containers and have some for dinner. I have a 12 quart frozen solid mass. I had some split pea soup for dinner and put the pot back out there. I brought the pot inside first thing this morning, around 7. It has not begun to thaw even one bit. I may get some Chili by Wednesday. What do you think???

Stormy, I did the same thing with my stock pot, must have had 3 gallons of chicken stock in it. I use to get 40# cases of chicken breast and fillet them to freeze. Then I would cook the bones, skin, and fat with onion, celery, salt, and pepper for stock. Well, I never got to it, so the whole mess froze, the birds and foxes never saw such a suet cake in their lives. LOL Ric

Stormy, I though you were going to say that some raccoons had chilli for a night snack.

Chris, I rarely have creatures bother food that I put out there. I usually will put them inside the grill and put the lid down, but this pot won't fit inside the grill. There are no little hand or feet prints on it.

LOLOLOL!!!!

I really didn't think it was THAT cold out. I remember thinking that the hot peppers would keep it from freezing.

ROTF Stormy, I had to stop and pick Holly up before I could answer that. Holly said the only way those hot peppers would prevent freezing was if they were alcohol infused. LOL Ric

Oh what a shame! Hate to waste food and to have done the work on the chili, or stock, and lose it. arrrrrggggg Even smaller batches--I find I wish I had frozen soup or stock in a one-two cup portions instead of a quart container from the deli, say.

Oh stormyla--keep checking--I'm hoping it may not have totally frozen through the middle but that you may break through to a less hard center and be able to pack up broken frosty chunks, My son goes in the yard to look for buckets of ice to break and will find a five gal bucket with inches thick ice but a liquid center. Thats water that sat out and chilled first.

Alton Brown's idea--wash off soda bottles and fill and freeze, Then immerse those in your big pot of food for chilling.

Making beef veg soup today. Last night simple hotdogs helped out a lot by 'scratch' mac and cheese and applesauce.

Last night I decided to put the pot on one of the burners on the "Warm" setting. I checked on it when I got up and again just now. The ice is breaking up. Haven't been able to stir it yet to check the texture or taste. I like to get the freezer pretty loaded up with soups and stews because my really busy time at work is coming up. In February & March and April, I pretty much live on those soups and stews at work, often eating 1 kind for lunch and another for dinner. Beats eating junky fast food.

Its seems like so much of what I eat is soupy. I'm a big one for smoothies in the morning. I'll pair them with a hard boiled egg or some cold shrimp or tuna.

The last few weeks, I've actually cooked real meals at night. Always have lots of leftovers, which is fine for 2 nights, but can get tiresome for 4 or 5. Many nights I'm cooking for 1 as DSO often has eating issues. He is a colon cancer survivor and sometime he is digestively challenged and doesn't want to eat.

Boy it really was frozen!!

problems here--can't figure out how to cook more than one meal worth, with three teenagers at home. Two pounds of italian sausage, in sauce, is about one and a half family meals. My three quart saucepan, of chili, same. Guess I have to really multiply and use a bigger pot. Duh.

Broiled center cut boneless chops(23 herbs and spices LOL), au gratin potatoes, southwestern corn, and crecent rolls. Sounds like supper to me. Yum! Ric

Grilled Pork chops here too. Leftover Spaetzle, Limas, Roasted Onions and southern style green beans with bacon & onions. Sliced fresh mango for dessert. No rolls (I can only wish).

Sally, I can't imagine making a 3 quart pot of soup. Buy the time that I chopped an onion, celery rib, carrot, leek, parsnip and pepper, there would only be room for broth and not any meat, beans, barley or whatever. You definitely need to start with a bigger pot. The other ingredients will follow.

The same is true with your stews and casseroles. Use larger dishes and pans and fill them, or use two smaller ones. You'll pick up a lot more time in your schedule if you can pull a main dish from the freezer and just add some veggies or a salad. I intentionally always cook for two meals from one entree. I get home so late from work, that I can't often cook at night and have to have something good ready or I eat junk. Learn to buy bigger food portions, which are cheaper per pound.

Most American breakfast food, while delicious, is unhealthy for me, so I often eat leftover veggies and meals for breakfast as well as lunch. i have a microwave and toaster oven at work, so heating things up is easy. Now, if I could just remember to get off the phone and go get it....

Looks like salmon loaf, baked potatoes, and Brussels sprouts tonight. I may do a walnut and cheese sauce for the salmon. I love walnuts with fish, when I broil trout I like to use orange slices and ground black walnut, it imparts a smokey flavor. Ric

Sounds great, Ric! I'm having CHILI with a salad and Spanakopita.

I tried a different reciep for the salmon, it was good but I will go back to my old one. It just wasn't there. Ric

I've pretty much stopped making sauces for my foods. It's just more calories that I don't need. I do remember them with fondness though.

Yum O---Have you tried fresh VS frozen Brussels? Our Weis started selling big packs of fresh, they were a whole dfferent 'anmal' than frozen, so tasty. Probably said this before. I am going to look into growing my own. But the cabbage butterflies will love them to death, arg.

Doubled the amount of taco meat last night--'Customers' almost doubled their intake. LOL More rice and beans!! And winter squash. Those two items seemed the perfect sides for a taco dinner; may try carnitas recipe, with them. More economical and just as nutritious without the meat tho.

Aldi has huge bags of potatos for about 15 cents a POUND. Sizes all mixed, and some had brown streaks inside. Do you just cut out the brown streaks? Well, I did and nobody got sick or said they tasted funny. OK for mash and casserole but not for baked, eh?

OMG! Y'all are making me hungry!

Goin' to visit my Mom for her 80th birthday this weekend!
She is making her homemade skillet spaghetti for me!
Talk about comfort food! Mmmmmmm!!!!

VWR, you'll have to describe that dish to us. Sounds good!

Sally, I've never seen brown streaks in potatos. I find myself stopping in Aldi more and more. They are growing on me, especially for soup fixings.

That's too funny about bigger servings equaling bigger appetites.

The only thing I don't like about the fresh Brussel Sprouts is that they are always giant sized. Among the frozen ones, I prefer the petite ones. Their is much better flavor and texture from the fresh ones.

My menu tonight was Roasted Split Chicken Breast with Provencal Herbs, Saffroned Rice, Broccoli and Brussel Sprouts. Grapes for dessert.

Maybe I boiled my frozen sprouts too long. I cut the X on the fresh.
I have Roasting bag with Seasoning from Aldi--for chicken parts. I'll let ya know how it was. Loaded with salt I imagine.

Does bean soup freeze well? I have a big ham bone. Should I make a huge pot of bean soup, or cook the bone for broth and meat, then divide that to make more reasonable size pots of soup. Of course either way I will cool it on the deck overnightLOLLOL

This message was edited Jan 16, 2010 9:31 AM

Sally, Isn't the purpose of the X so that they won't pop open like in the microwave? I've never done that.

Most of the time if I'm cooking for just myself and maybe DSO, I don't use the regular oven. I have a combo toaster/ baking and convection oven with a nice sized cavity on the counter top. I use it almost every day. It can accomodate a 12" pizza and small roasts. But using roasting bags in it is a no no. The height of the interior cavity is only about 10" and it's possible that it could hit the heating element on the top and catch fire. I have to be really careful with foil too. Foil touching the element could cause a short.

I think that it saves a good bit of enegy over using the big oven, but maybe not. It certainly is not as well insulated.

I would go ahead and use the ham bone to make a big pot of soup. Just undercook the beans if you are going to freeze it. Don't add them to the soup right from the beginning if they are canned beans. Freezing does break down the texture of the beans somewhat.

I think the X is to get the stem/ inside to cook more easily.

I use dried beans, simmer them with the bone several hours, then add onion, carrot and celery later. And try hard not to stuff myself with nice tender ham while picking it off the bone....