Well honey, you know perfectly well what you have to serve on New Years Day.

Hoppin' John & collards, it is the LAW. Even though they're supposed to bring you money and I do it religiously every year and yet I do not get richer. Still. Imagine how poor I might be if I didn't eat hoppin' john & collards every New Years. Hey! I started to write the recipe down & then thought, this seems vaguely familiar, and indeed, here it is. However before I found that I found this nifty link for pickapeppa sauce which is vital although possibly hard to come by in Greece, what about worcestershire & tabasco instead? As for collards, I heat up olive oil in a big pot, throw in some garlic, then toss the greens in there bit by bit, stirring them down & down & down & then when everything is about to burn I put in a bunch of chicken broth & some tamari and bring it all to a boil & turn it down low & leave it the hell alone for at least 20 minutes or as long, actually, as one pleases. But you know how to make collards, so that's just for the benighted yankees who may not. ;-)

Oh yum, yum, yum, MGL!

I just make a couple breakfast casseroles. One with ham, cheese and eggs with biscuits on the top and another with french toast and cream cheese. Tres WASPy.

Maude's Suffing Balls:

Buy two loaves of stale bread TODAY. Rip them apart and place in a large roasting pan to dry out. Rip that bread up by hand. This will take a few days. Until it's breadcrumbs. No, unseasoned bread crumbs will not work.

Then, add rubbed sage, salt & pepper. Add some chopped celery and onions.

Melt half a stick of butter. Pour over bread. Add one raw egg and a quarter cup of milk (or less).

Roll up your sleeves, and get everything all gooey.

Form into balls about 2 inches in diameter.

Place balls on aluminum foil, in like a pyramid. Close up foil. Place in a large pan with a little bit of water in the bottom. Place in the oven with whatever else you are cooking for about 1/2 an hour.

Even better cold! (You can also add dried parsley and or thyme if you wish).

New Year's Eve we make a bunch of hors d oeuvres and try new wines. Here are three of them. All freeze very well.

Artichoke Squares

12 ounces marinated artichoke hearts
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
4 whole eggs
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese,
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons parsley
dash of oregano
salt, pepper, Cayenne pepper to taste

Drain marinade from artichokes saving 1/2 of the liquid. Chop artichokes and set aside. Heat marinade over medium heat; add onion and garlic and cook until onion is soft and translucent. Let cool. Combine eggs, bread crumbs, cheese and spices. Add artichoke mixture. Add to greased 9" square baking dish. Bake at 325F until set when touched in center. About 30 mins. Let cool a bit and cut into squares.

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

1 (8 1/2 oz.) can water chestnuts, drained
Bacon slices cut half length
soy sauce
2 cloves garlic and equivalent amount of ginger

Finally chop ginger and garlic. Wrap each water chestnut in bacon and secure with a toothpick. Add everything to a bowl and add soy sauce to cover. Marinate overnight. Drain marinade and spread chestnuts on a large cookie sheet. Preheat oven to 350. Back for about 30 mins. (until bacon in a nice consistency)(if soy sauce is too salty for your taste use Aroma sauce)

Baked Brie or Camembert in Phyllo snackers

2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pecans
Shot of olive oil
1/4 parmesan cheese
1/4 drained oil-packed sundried tomatoes
1/2 cup basil leaves

Combine all in a food processor and process until smooth.

6 sheets prepared phyllo dough
1/4 cup melted butter
12 to 14 ounces Brie or Camembert


Lay out one sheet of phyllo and brush with butter. Place a dollops of cheese evenly around the dough as if you were making ravioli. Top cheese with some of the pesto. Cover with another sheet of pastry and press down between the dollops of cheese to make little cells. Cut into individual bits and brush each one with butter. pierce lightly with a fork Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake on a lightly greased baking sheet for about 25 minutes, until golden brown. (you can also cut the pastry into squares, circles or triangles first and make them much nicer in appearance)

On New Year's Day my parents, sister and cousin are coming to Toronto so we can all go to an afternoon "Tribute to Vienna" concert at Roy Thomson Hall. Then we're all going back to Swan's End, where I'm to make everyone supper.

I figure everyone will feel sated with all the holiday food, and besides my Dad has chewing issues due to problems with his teeth, so I'm going to keep it simple. I think I'll serve this stew with cornbread biscuits. I haven't decided on a dessert yet. We might have maple apple cake, which is this recipe minus the nuts and plus two peeled and diced apples.

Oh, god. I think this was a mistake. Why did I ask this question when all I have in the house is eggs, and plan on a plain omelet and salad for supper? WHY?

*drools pools*

Mmm, tis the season for deviled eggs, as long as there's NO CELERY and LOTS OF PAPRIKA.

sorry.
1/4 parmesan cheese
1/4 drained oil-packed sundried tomatoes
should be 1/4 cup

I am making a vegetable curry, using cauliflower, potato, chickpeas and various delicious spices. I'm also making crispy roast potatoes, and Yorkshire Pudding, to go with the ham. The curry is for Jared, who's vegetarian.

I'm also making trifle, which is difficult without Bird's Custard, but vanilla pudding will do just as well, I hope.

Yesterday I had my very first ever visit to a Trader Joe's. What a great store! I'm hooked. I wish we had them in England, although I cannot imagine what the prices would be if they opened in the UK.

Jon's uncle puts out a HUGE feast Christmas day... turkey, two kinds of stuffing (sausage and Irish potato stuffing), REAL mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, one of those ultra yummy glazed pre-spiral-sliced honey baked hams (one of THE best things I've ever tasted), and enough cake, cookies, and candy (about a HUNDRED different boxes of chocolate, etc.) to put everyone into a diabetic coma... It's quite a beautiful house, too, way out in the woods, with deer and wild turkeys in the backyard, a skylight in the bathroom, and a big screen TV in the den. I love Christmas.

(Course, last year was a sad occasion... Jon's uncle Vinnie was too sick with cancer to attend, and we got the call during dinner that he'd passed away. He was a very sweet man; looked a little like Danny Devito, with big dreamy dark eyes. He will certainly be missed.)

Sounds delish, pips. One question though:

REAL mashed potatoes

Huh? What other kind are there?

Going out for New Year's, I think.

Christmas main dish will be lamb shanks marinated in garlic and rosemary and then roasted. Probably mashed potato side, and last year I did "garlicky greens" which was, I think, arugula, endive, and radicchio, maybe?, sauteed with olive oil, garlic, and dried red pepper flakes. But since I did do that last year, I might try something new for this year.

gaspode - instant (powdered) mashed potatoes... just add water! They don't taste like mashed potatoes, but I used to kind of like their weird flavor sometimes - especially with something else weird, like fishsticks.

(ps, I found out I still have some feta, so at least I can put that into tonight's plain omelete - yay!)

Yay Feta! Now it's a party.

I haven't had the opportunity to cook two holiday meals in one year in ages, but we visited relatives this year the day after Thanksgiving, so I've already done the traditional thing once this year. That was a big bunch of mock chicken and mock duck from the Asian market , plus mashed Yukon gold potatoes, sweet potatoes the way my mom used to make them (mashed with orange juice and nutmeg in them and pecans on top), green beans with mushrooms and marsala, cornbread dressing and pumpkin pie.

For Christmas dinner I can't cook too much as my husband and son are leaving the day after to go camping for a week (while I work beaucoups overtime), and I don't want leftovers. I want to make a big homemade seitan loaf as an experiment, and I think I'm going to have more mashed potatoes, artichokes and a spinach salad with them. I'm going to make carrot cake for dessert, because I can freeze the rest until everyone comes back home.

I have no idea what I'm doing for new years, but I'm making notes from this thread.

I made collards last night. You cook them for hours with a ham hock. I froze them and will throw them into a cast iron skillet to fry up, chopping them with a hand chopper while they cook. Mmmmm...

I am making a chicken-spinach alfredo casserole to stash in the fridge for warm-up purposes (recipe to be determined tomorrow when I hit the produce section), however our plan is to hit a holiday buffet.

As for New Year's Eve, we don't plan that far ahead. heheh

@essexjan: Veggie curry is the ONLY way I get my son to eat vegetables.

Once when he was visiting, I made him his favorite sausage-mushroom marinara, and veggie curry for myself. He gave my meal the evil eye at first, but after a bit, he asked for a taste (which surprised the living hell out of me, he has such a conservative palate).

Well, he ended up eating the rest of the curry in the pan and asking when I was cooking it again.

Collards are probably my favorite green... but I don't even know if we have them here, actually. Check this out: some of the most bizarre aspects of living in another country are things like greens; they all have different names, and unless you were paying a lot of attention to exact physical characteristics of the greens you were used to cooking at home (or unless they look rather distinctive) you can't tell what the greens are. (and internet pics don't really seem to help that much.)

When I shop for greens now, I'm like, "oh those are the curly ones - I'm not that crazy about those," "those are the ones with the little leaves - not my favorites," "ooh, those ones called Vlitsa or something, yeah, I like those". :)

The first time we had cilantro, my mom had picked it up thinking it was watercress. That was a surprise.

The last time I made collards, they were bitter, but it was a couple of months ago, so maybe the heat got to them. I have some purple hull peas in the freezer - I wonder if those are good luck the way black-eyed peas are? I guess they are if I think they are.

I found this site of "weird and different recipes" by some guy named Bert.

taz, I'm still kinda like that about California produce!

ooooh, bunnyfire, you can freeze greens? It never occurred to me to even try - wow, that would make life so much easier.

I'm not making this, but I would if I could.

Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta, Chestnuts, and Spiced Cider Glaze

(All measurements are highly approximate)

1 lb Brussels sprouts, cleaned, trimmed, and quartered
Some chopped pancetta
2 shallots, chopped
1T Olive oil or butter
Salt
1/3c (?) (8-12) water-packed chestnuts, broken up into pieces
1/2c Trader Joe's Spiced Apple Cider (ish)

Melt the butter or oil in a pan. Add the shallots and caramelize slowly. Toss in the pancetta and saute until browned slightly. Add the Brussels sprouts, saute for a few minutes, then try to arrange so that each has a flat side facing the pan. Add about half the spiced cider, COVER IMMEDIATELY, and turn down heat to low. The cider will 1) deglaze the pan, and 2) steam the sprouts. Start checking the sprouts for doneness after about 10-12 minutes; you should be able to pierce them easily with a fork. You will want to stir things around every so often (but not too often) while they're steaming. Once the sprouts are done, add the rest of the cider to the pan with the chestnuts and turn the heat up just a bit. This will finish deglazing the pan. Sprinkle with salt to taste (but you won't need much; the pancetta will add its own salt). Let the newly-added cider cook down to a glaze and turn the whole thing out into a bowl.

Soooooo good.

Drat! I forgot you were in Greece.

In that case, look for a recipe for spiced cider, make that, then make the Brussels sprouts :)

Spiced cider is also excellent when mixed 1 (cider):3 (cranberry) with pure cranberry juice (not cocktail).

Heh. Even cider and cranberry are hard to come by. I do have a place where I can get them, but they are expensive. I don't know why we don't really have cranberry juice here... we have pretty much every other kind of juice.

I think cranberries are pretty peculiarly American, aren't they? I'm not sure they grow all that many places.

Ha! I made that for Thanksgiving, Fuzzbean. Except with oyster mushrooms in it as well.

Hmmm. And Canada and the Baltics, it seems, from Wikipedia.

We have them, but I don't think we did when I first moved here, which would explain why they aren't available as any kind of processed product.

I never found cranberries at all for years, and concluded that there weren't any here, even though I saw areas of the country that looked perfect for growing them... then, at least where I am, I started seeing fresh cranberries for sale during the season, though still not juice or relish or anything.

(ps: we just had a little tremor here. eep.)

For xmas day I'll be making Paula Deen's version of cornbread stuffing. It's delicious. (I use my own corbread recipe and add rosemary + additional sage.) I'll also be making mashed potatoes.

My mom is making a pork loin, chicken and noodles, green beans, some kind of salad, turtle cheesecake, and probably a pumpkin gingerbread trifle.

By new year's I'll be so sick of running around like a crazy person that I'll be having white russians most likely.

Hang on tightly, taz!

The mister is making a roast for Christmas dinner. I know there is going to be Yorkshire pudding as well because I'm going to make those. But other than that, I don't know what else is on the menu.

Yep, you can freeze (cooked) greens. Mom does it all the time and they taste fine.

As to collards being bitter-they are always better AFTER the first frost.