New Year's Dinner, January 1, 2011

Today is the first day of the year. More ironically, it is 1/1/11.

There are a few New Year's traditions out there. One of them is to eat pork, greens and black-eyed peas. It is said that the pork brings good luck, the black-eyed peas represent coins and the greens represent money for the new year. Another tradition is to ensure that a man is the first person to walk through the doors of your house. We aren't, by any means, superstitious but we still participate in these traditions.

Unfortunately, I didn't prepare very well for our meal. I should have bought a ham and some collards but I didn't, so we will improvise. I am making pork neckbones, spinach and black-eyed peas. I will add rice and dinner rolls to make the meal complete.

Slow-Cooker Neckbones
(care of Allrecipes.com)

3 lb neckbones	1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced (or to taste)	1 tsp salt, optional
1 tsp dried thyme leaves	1 TB distilled white vinegar
3 cups water

Place the neck bones into a slow cooker. Sprinkle in the onion, garlic, salt, and thyme leaves. Pour in the vinegar and water. Cover and cook on High until the meat is tender, about 4 hours.

Black-eyed Peas
(care of Mama Dip's Kitchen, with my alterations in brackets)

1 lb dried black-eyed peas	1 TB finely chopped onion
4 oz salt pork	1 tsp salt
2 quarts water	1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

Soak the black-eyed peas in warm water for at least 2 hours [I let mine sit overnight]. While the peas are soaking, put the salt pork into a pot with the water and let come to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 45 minutes. Add the peas, onion, salt, and, if you like, crushed red pepper. [Cover] and let cook for about 45 minutes, adding water if needed, until the peas are to your liking in tenderness. This will serve 6 to 8 people.

For the spinach I took three cloves of garlic and minced it. I put two tablespoons of olive oil in a pan on medium-high heat and cooked the garlic in it. I sauteed it until it was light brown. I then added frozen spinach, two teaspoons of sugar, a dash of salt and a dash of pepper in the pan. Simply cook the spinach until it is wilted and hot. You can grate some parmesan on top if you choose to do so.

Oh, and my husband was the first to enter the house after the new year. :-)