Chasing Cheerios

Friday, January 2, 2009

Gathering Collards from the Garden

Guh-guh and M planted collard greens a few months ago, so we'd have them to eat on New Year's Day. Yesterday afternoon, O, M, and Guh-guh picked the collards. M was thrilled to help pick them since she planted them, and then she got to eat them. Yummy! I was actually surprised that both girls enjoyed the collards. We eat collards for wealth in the new year and black eyed peas for good luck :) What traditional foods do you eat on New Year's Day?



10 comments:

  1. Every New Years Day we have a meatball party. My Grandma Anne's recipe for meatballs and marinara passed down generations from Italy. We usually make about 200 meatballs about the size of a baseball. Then we have all of our family and friends over for a open house on the 1st. This way we start off the new year with our loved ones. It is a lot of work but very tasty.

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  2. I have just started a chocolate cake tradition this year. I guess it is pretty much the only time during the year that we eat it. Happy New Year!

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  3. My husband's family eats lasagna for New Years. I've adopted it for our household, too.

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  4. I just have to say how utterly pretty it looks at your home in January! Here in Vermont we are blanketed by a thick layer of snow. I am looking at my "white" covered garden and so wanting to be out in the soil. I love Vermont but when I think of actually picking something delicious to eat in January, I think I long for a warmer climate. You must be down south. I love your tradition...just another reason why I find you so thought-provoking, Melissa. Thank you for the glimpse of springtime!

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  5. I'm with you - black eyed peas and collard (although I was told peas were for money and collards for health). This year I substituted collards with kale salad, which everyone loves and mixed with the peas, it was delicious!

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  6. I grew up in Ohio, in a family of German descent. New Year's Day, my family ate pork and sauerkraut for good luck. Hubby doesn't eat pork, and we didn't make dinner last night (I might have had potato chips and orange sherbet for dinner...), but we did buy some (beef) sausages and sauerkraut for dinner one night.

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  7. We do the pork and sauerkraut thing too along with kielbasa. Although I grew up in the south, my family is from Pennsylvania. When we do New Years with my husband's family though we do collards and black eyed peas.We have a blend of north and south for most holidays. I like having the mix of traditions.

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  8. I read somewhere awhile back that if you eat a pomegranate in the New Year you will bear a child that year. Apparently, the fruit is a symbol of fertility given its many, many seeds. It worked for me once, so I tried it again this year as I am hoping to conceive baby #2.

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  9. Collards, Pork, and Hoppin John (Black eye peas & rice) We had a hard time finding the type of pork we like out here in CA, and we got the last bag of black eyed peas in the store. Growing up we had peas or green beans b/c Mom didn't eat collards! Pork and Hoppin John for luck and Collards for money.

    Zach also used a Paula Deen Recipe for pound cake. I am retiring from the kitchen! It was all really good.

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  10. Thanks for all of the comments, everyone!

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