HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Pieces of Time

New years come and new years go,

Pieces of time all in a row.

As we live our life, each second and minute,

We know we’re privileged to have you in it.

Our appreciation never ends

For our greatest blessings: our family and friends.

Happy New Year!

~By Joanna Fuchs 

  This has been such a challenging year. 2011 was a year of loss for many around here. The floods were of biblical  and record proportions, changing the lives of many and affecting everyone, whether directly or indirectly. Crops and gardens and animals all suffered right along with their human counterparts. As I write this, we still have not had hard winter freezing yet, and the ground is still wet and mushy. 

So for 2012, I ask for just normal rain amounts, good gardens  and crops with high yields, healthy animals, and for nature to take pity on us and give us all a rest. I gain new hope daily as my favorite seed catalogs have started arriving, and I and others start eagerly planning gardens and hoping for a far better year. I have really enjoyed starting to explore heirloom seeds and am getting away from commercial seed. Lots of good outlets and nice to know I am not contributing to further GMO problems.

The new year also brings it's own rituals. Tonight, our family will have surf and turf at home, with new york strips, lobster and scallops, goopy potatoes (very cheesy yummy mashed taters) and a variety of salads and veggies. We usually also have a clam dip that I make that i will share here.

New year's day brings another tradition here, pork and sauerkraut. The reason we all eat pork on new year's day is because pigs root ahead, and we want good luck in "rooting ahead" into the New Year! The dinner is usually accompanied by mashed taters, corn, pepper cabbage, and dumplings. We always look forward to pigging out before being good in the New Year!

CLAM DIP

This is pretty common, but yummy!

• 2 small packages (6 ounces total) cream cheese
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 small clove of garlic, crushed and finely minced
• 1 can (7 oz) minced clams, drained
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• dash ground cayenne pepper or hot pepper sauce
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Preparation:

Clam dip directions
Mix the cream cheese, mayonnaise, and garlic together until smooth. Add minced clams and blend in with remaining seasonings. Chill clam dip thoroughly. Serve clam dip with chips, crackers, or vegetable dippers.

PORK and SAUERKRAUT DINNER--Crockpot Version

4 lbs pork roast, browned first with a little chicken montreal seasoning in butter

Put the roast in the crockpot and cover with roughly 2 lbs. of sauerkraut and then cover in chicken broth. Use silver floss brand for the kraut.

cook on low for roughly 10 hrs or until tender

For the dumplings, mix  two cups of bisquick with 3/4 cup of milk until there's a soft dough. Spoon the dough onto the pork and sauerkraut when it's done. Let it cook for about 15 minutes, and then put the crock pot (minus the heating unit, of course) in the oven at 450 for five minutes, until the tops get crusty and lightly brown. Make mashed taters and corn as sides, and further in my blog is the recipe for pepper cabbage.

ENJOY and HAPPY NEW YEAR!