What will you be eating on New Year's Day?!

I have spent the day getting ready for my New Years Day Meal.

I am not superstitious,  but why take a chance~wink wink~

I am sure the tradition of eating certain foods isn't only a Southern "Thang", but I do imagine the foods are different in other areas of the country, and, yes, the world.

At my house, Momma always made turnip greens, black eyed peas, hog jowl and cornbread.

A few years back, I was astonished to find that cabbage was an acceptable alternative to turnip greens after all those years of chocking down those yucky greens!

So, can someone explain to me WHY I cooked turnip greens, today!! 🤤

I did buy a head of cabbage,  you know, just in case!

While I don't like turnip greens, I do love cooked turnips, and I cooked some today as my treat!  That is another of those food memories for me.

Surprise,  surprise, right??😉

I cooked a big pan of hog jowl to add to my turnip greens and to the black eyed peas.

On New Year's Day, I will make a skillet of cornbread, and maybe yellow rice to make my peas into hoppin' john...oh yum!!!

I also cooked a few apples, cause Aunt Sybil said to always have apples with Pork, so, I most always do! 😁

I thought I would share a bit of the history of these foods, in case you wondered why these foods are often eaten on January 1.

The tradition of black-eyed peas for Southerners is believed to have originated back during Civil War times when Sherman's soldiers raided Southern homes, taking virtually all of the food and burning the crops, but mostly ignoring the fields of black-eyed peas, because they thought them to be food for the livestock and of no value otherwise. As one of the few food sources left to sustain the people and the southern soldiers, those black-eyed peas came to represent good fortune.

The black eyed peas (any cowpeas, really) represent coins. In olden days 😁😂🤣, a coin was placed in the peas to be found. I don 't think that would be a good idea, in this day and age.

The greens represent paper money, and the cornbread represents gold. Eating these foods is thought to bring prosperity for the year.

I need to see why pork is eaten--maybe another symbol of wealth??...

Y'all hum the JEOPARDY theme while I go look...

Dum dum dum dum....

Ok...pork is thought to symbolize posperiety, because pigs root forward!

Who knew!

But, don't eat chicken, cause they scratch backwards! 😲

Yes, this is fun, and I know we all need some fun in our lives.

Logically, this can't work, but there is, in my opinion, some truth to this belief.

I believe in the power of positive thinking.

I know the feeling of hopelessness.

If eating a certain food can make one BELIEVE something good is going to happen, what does it hurt??

I believe we find what we seek.

So, Y'all know what I will be eating on New Year's Day!

Also, know that I am claiming every blessing that will come my way in 2018.

I wish, for us all, that we will CELEBRATE each day as it comes, and to cherish the moments and the people in our lives.

I hope we will CELEBRATE the things we have in common.

May we offer the same grace that we will be given.

Let's laugh more and whine less.

Let's accept the flaws in others, cause, honey, we ain't no perfect specimen!

Let's help others when we get a chance.

Listen to that small, still voice.

God has given most of us good sense, so Let's use it! We will help the others the best we can --bless their heart! 😉

Let's make time for each other...for the things that matter.

Wipe from your vocabulary, "I don't have time." We do EXACTLY what we want to do!

Practice Random Acts of Kindness.

Think of others and practice kindness and hospitality.

LOVE yourself.

LOVE yourself!!

LOVE yourself, so you can love others!!

You are an awesome creation  molded in the image of God.  That is how special you are.

You ARE LOVED.

Thank YOU for crossing my path. Maybe we don't see eye-to-eye on things, but we can learn from each other...maybe to just cross the street, but that is ok, too. 😉

Thank you for the words of encouragement you have given to me. I hope you know how much it means to me.

I hope to be better, because of YOU.

Now, Let's CELEBRATE LIFE!

Happy New Year!

I am simply blessed to create~charlotte♡

Comfort Food, Tuesday, October 27, 2015

It is a rainy fall day in Middle Tennessee...the kind of day made for sleeping and for being lazy and for eating COMFORT FOOD.

Yesterday, a college friend posted asking what COMFORT FOOD her friends suggested for a horrible day she had experienced...she decided on Mexican and who can blame her~~ooey gooey cheesy goodness and warm tortillas!  yummmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeee!

Don't think for a second that Charcoal doesn't know what a buzzer in the kitchen means!  He is on the move!!

At my house, Potato Soup was the cure all for just about anything~~to heal an upset tummy...to nourish a hungry soul...to prepare when nothing sounded good or a run to the store was badly needed....ANY TIME.

Now, when I share with you HOW we made our Potato Soup, most of you will YAWN!!

The way it came about was quite out of necessity.

Although we lived on a Dairy Farm, no one in my family really liked milk...to this day, I do not like the taste of MILK, but if you put some chocolate in it, I'm good with it...Mother was allergic to dairy products.  Luckily, we were able to support the industry through the cheese and the ice cream that Daddy ate~~cheese could NOT be cut too thick for my daddy!

I NOSE you have something I WANT...I can smell it AND I can SEE it!

Mother would start to save some of the potato soup without milk for her.  Since she couldn't taste ours to season it as well as she seasoned all of our food, I could taste the milk and did not like that at all.  I would ask her to set some aside for me without milk and one day, Mother asked if Daddy wanted milk in his and he said NOT NECESSARILY...so Potato soup became:

1 onion, chopped finely
LOTS of cubed Potatoes
Water/Salt/Pepper

Place the top on the pan and bring to a boil, turn to low as soon as it boils and cook for 10 minutes!!

OH MY GOODNESS...the thought of that with a pan of crunchy hot cornbread cooked in a skillet makes my mouth water now!!

Don't hate me because I live such a FLAVORFUL EXCITING LIFE!! ;)

As I got older, I discovered this soup was the basis for lots of other additions~~a frozen bag of California Veggie...replace the water with chicken broth...add some peas and carrots...how about noodles...AND might as well throw in some chicken...(Isn't this called Chicken Noodle Soup??)

Tonight, I wanted potato soup for my comfort food, but then I thought some chicken broth would make it homier...then of course, I added some chicken and threw in some tortillas for some added depth...I almost had chicken and dumplings!  

This made me want an open-faced cheese sandwich~~another childhood memory.

Mother "got" to take Sunday Night off from cooking...EACH of us usually made ourselves an opened faced cheese sandwich~~slather it with Salad dressing and chop off some American Cheese from the 5 pound block that was always in our refrigerator.  We would sit around and see the first one who went to the kitchen to get the cheese, and of course, that person "got" to cut a slice for everyone...it was quite a strategic operation to wait until just the right moment!

Yep, Charcoal gets his own sammie...and look at that yummy cheese melted onto the pan~~perfection!!

I have discovered that most any food becomes comforting when you are sharing with those you love!  I am so thankful that I was raised around a table that expected us to be present and to participate each and every night...We didn't eat before we said our blessing, and I believe to this day, I am receiving blessings because of those said by my parents...HOW BLESSED I AM...I send blessings to YOU...~charlotte