New Year's Day Traditions

There's chatter today in the blogosphere about what people are eating for their New Year's Day meal. Some folks don't keep with any traditions, while others have one or more food traditions they observe on January 1 each year.

I found this website that lists some of the New Year's Day food traditions. They are in the center column, not far down the page.

No one has ever been able to decide if Blogaritaville is in the South or not. Some say it's in a Midwestern, but historically, it has been considered a Southern state. In any event, I'm following Southern tradition today and eating black-eyed peas and mustard greens for luck and prosperity. Bucking the traditional ham, I'm serving super-easy-to-make pork chops instead, and mashed potatoes.

I'm just getting over a nasty cold, so to avoid some work in the kitchen, I opted for canned mustard greens and canned black-eyed peas. Normally I'd cook fresh greens and dried beans, but I just didn't have it in me today. I bought "Southern seasoned - ready to heat" greens, and I am surprised at how good they taste. The beans are just like any other canned beans; they are acceptable but not great.

For those who are interested, here is the recipe for the pork chops.


Easy Baked Pork Chops with Gravy

6 pork chops, trimmed of fat
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup*

Heat oven to 350° F. Spray an oblong baking dish with non-stick pan spray.

Sprinkle onion soup mix evenly over bottom of baking dish.

Place pork chops on top of onion soup mix; spread condensed cream soup over chops.

Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour.

Serves 4 to 6.

*If you want more gravy, use two cans of soup.