Food for New Year's Day

It is said that during the Civil War and the march from Atlanta to Savannah, General Sherman told his troops to burn and destroy everything and anything in sight.  The troops obeyed the orders and did so with the exception of the black eyed peas, or field peas, that weren't even worthy a second look, much less the first.  It was planted in the South to feed pigs and cows, but in most cases they wouldn't even touch the fodder.

Black eyed peas came from Africa with the slaves who planted, cared for, and cooked the black eyed peas along with pork fat as their own food.  The black eyed peas are legumes full of vitamins, potassium, calcium, and iron.

The black eyed peas have become the symbol for good luck and prosperity and as such are the first food to be eaten on New Year's Day in the Southern part of this country.

The peas must be eaten with collard greens (or cabbage) that represents green money and cornbread that represents gold.   To take this a step further to ensure good health and wealth, these foods are to be eaten with stewed tomatoes.

To Cook Black Eyed Peas:  I planted black eyed peas as a cover crop a summer ago, harvested and shelled the peas, blanched them and put them into the freezer.  For this New Year's Day, I cooked two (2) cups of peas in slightly salted water for two hours.

To dress up the black eyed peas, I stir fried a few slices of bacon, half an onion (diced), a stalk of celery (diced), and for added color I also tossed in some green pepper (diced).  Finally, I added stewed tomatoes to the rest of the stir fried vegetables and added the black eyed peas to the mix.

To Cook Collard Greens:  From the garden, I picked the collard greens, de-veined them, and chopped them up.  For flavoring, I cooked the greens with smoked hog jowls that I bought from the country store up the road.  I cooked the greens for a good two hours:  this is roughage!  I served the collard greens with the water melon rind pickles that I made last summer.

To Make Cornbread:  I followed the recipe for Southern Cornbread on the Martha White's package for Self-Rising Corn Meal Mix.  It came out with a nice golden color.



Sweet Iced Tea:  To continue in the Southern tradition, I served Iced Tea with the peas, the greens, and the cornbread.  (Still waiting for the pork chops).  I boiled a quart of cool water and then poured it over five (5) tea bags to steep for five (5) minutes.

 I filled up my tea jar with two trays of ice, poured a cup of sugar over the ice, and then added the freshly hot brewed tea.  (Some Southerners add a pinch of baking soda into the tea that supposedly will take away bitterness in the tea if steeped too long.)

Sheridan Alexander has written a delightful article about the New Year's tradition. I Goggled Black Eye Peas for New Years.  Thanks, Sheridan, for the information.

Wishing you a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

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Planting Potatoes

I did a little bit of gardening between the holidays by planting potatoes.  It might be a tad too early but the potatoes were ready.  The time for planting potatoes on the Back Forty in NE Florida is towards the end of next month, but what are a few weeks between potatoes?

I had covered the garden plot with leaves that I had raked up earlier.  I turned the soil to mix in the leaves and the mulch from the compost pile.  They grow best in loose and well-drained soil.  After turning and blending the soil, I made a trench for planting the potatoes.  I actually needed two trenches to plant what I had in the basket.  I also raked up pine straw to blend with the soil to loosely cover the potatoes

The potatoes like a slightly acidic soil and are heavy feeders; meaning they need food to grow, mostly a good dose of garden fertilizer with nitrogen and potassium.  I usually wait until I see greenery before I fertilize letting the potatoes have a chance to establish themselves without the shock of food.

Usually I wait for garden centers to have the potatoes that are specific to the north east Florida.  I don't remember names only that the white and red potatoes are thin skinned.  The potatoes I planted were raised in the Lakeland, Florida, area.

This time, I had bought potatoes from the Farmer's Market on Beaver Street in Jacksonville.  I stored them n newspaper in a basket in the kitchen and they sprouted.  They resemble Russet potatoes but are much smaller and the taste is different, too.

These potatoes did not lend themselves to be cut before planting:  the sprouts were most apparent at one end of the potatoes.

I also bought Kennebec (Maine) potatoes from Orr's Farm in West Virginia and left three (3)
potatoes to sprout.  They sported good sets of eyes all around the potatoes and I also planted them whole.

It is not recommended to use store brought potatoes in the home garden because they may carry diseases and they are also sprayed with "growth inhibitors".  You may have noticed that these potatoes do not sprout, no matter how long they are kept in the crisper in the fridge?

Potatoes in the Trench

Don't hold me to this but I read that one 100-foot row of seed potatoes may produce 150 - 300 pounds of mature potatoes depending on variety, weather condition, and soil condition.  Elsewhere I read that a one square yard may yield 20 pounds of potatoes under the best of growing conditions.

Depending on the variety and growing conditions, it will take 14 days for Irish Potatoes to germinate and 60 to 90 to maturity.

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The Second Day of Christmas

The Second Day of Christmas is also called Boxing Day.  The house is still neat and tidy and the fridge is full of left-over food.  It is a quiet morning the the mouse is still not stirring.  The tractor cat, aka Marmalade, has checked out the Christmas tree and she finally got her reward and her fill of catnip.  The weather is not exactly sunny today and venturing out is not an option.  Who wants to go out in those returning gifts and those still on hunts for bargains.

So, I am waiting to go out into the garden and start to dig and weed again.  I am a bit bored today so let me liven this page up and ask you:

What is the difference between a snow man and a snow woman?

With a joke like that, I deserve to be pelted with a big snow ball.  Believe me, this one is aimed at me.  But apparently it is not yet big enough.

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Hallelujah

This song was written by the Canadian singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen who struggled with it for many years.  It achieved little success and less recognition; however, it later found its acclaim through John Cale and Jeff Buckley.  Many cover versions have been performed by various singers such as Bon Jovi and k.d. lang to name a few.  The song has been used in numerous recordings and concerts.  How about over 300 (!) versions?  The song is also the subject of the book The Holy and The Broken.

The CBS Morning News talked about Hallelujah this morning and it inspired me to check it out and share it with you.

Take a listen:

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Today, the fourth and last candle of Advent is lit.  All four candles are burning bright as the long winter begins.  Again I take a moment to reflect on the upcoming Season, a moment to pause.  Whatever meaning you attach to Advent, I wish you peace and happiness.  This is also a time to rejoice and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  He is the reason for the season.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Peace on Earth and Good Will to All

PEACE

Fancy Pumpkin Bread

This fancy pumpkin bread is full of fruit cake mix and pecans which make it an excellent treat to go along with eggnog, hot chocolate, and the morning coffee.  It is a hearty bread made from this year's pumpkin that I put in the freezer not so long ago.

This pumpkin bread is based on the Appalachian people's baking in the the Carolinas as written by students in The Foxfire Books back in the 1970's.

Preparation:  Combine a cup each of shelled pecans and fruit cake mix with 1/2 cup of flour.  Grease two loaf pans and dust with flour.

Wet ingredients:  Beat four (4) eggs, add 2 cups of sugar, 1 and 1/2 cups of canola oil, and 1 tsp vanilla extract.  Add two (2) cups of pumpkin.

Dry ingredients:  In another bowl, combine three (3) cups of all-purpose white flour, 2 tsp each of baking soda and baking powder, 2 tsp of pumpkin mix (or cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves--whatever is available).  Also add 1 tsp of salt.

All together now:  Add the wet ingredients and the flour mixture together, stir and fold.  What did I forget?  Oh, yes.  Add the fruit cake mix and the pecans, too.

Finally, pour the batter into the two greased loaf pans and bake in a 400 degree F oven for one (1) hour.  To check to see if the bread is ready, insert a wooden pick, and if it is clean when pulled out the bread is done.  Let cool before removing the loafs out of the pans.  Enjoy!

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Full Moon in December

The December moon has been full the last few days.  It has been so bright and beautiful and I wanted to share this picture with you.  The moon is in the west and before too long the sun will come up over the ocean.  A new day is dawning.

This is the season, such a special time, to enjoy the holidays.  It is the last day of autumn.  The winter solstice is early in the morning.  Floridians may wear flip flops and shorts while picking out the Christmas tree.

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