Birthday cake for New Years day every year! There's a Peppridge farm vanilla with chocolate icing cake awaiting me in the freezer right now.

Appetizers for today. Ham, turnip greens, black eyed peas, sweet potatoes, fried okra, and cornbread for Monday.

After Christmas I can't contemplate anything else sweet or rich. We're just having a roast chicken with lots of vegetables. That's a normal Sunday dinner for us. I've got a kilo (2.2lb) to shed after the Roman trip.

Me and hubby will have some oysters, then a dish of sweetbreads and mushrooms with truffled potatoes then cheese and a chocolate mousse to finish. It will be salad for the next few meals LOL. Then dry January for a bit of healthy living. I did the new year's eve swim this-morning....... took a while to warm up after, but I feel I've earned a good dinner LOL.

I'm making some cocktail meatballs and grilling wings for the Chiefs game this afternoon. No plans for dinner tonight since the game won't be over until 7 pm.

I bought some tamales from a local Mexican market last week that we are having for dinner on New Year's day along with refried beans and Mexican rice.

Black-eyed peas and cornbread (the kind with no sugar), for certain.

jrb451, your pic reminded me I added Trader Joe's Hot & Sweet Jalapenos to the BE peas last year. Big improvement!

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/hot-sweet-jalapenos-056688

New year's Eve day usually simple things like a bowl of turkey soup. It is absolutely delicious with a hint of Curry this year.

New year's Day usually dim sum when I used to be able to eat it. This year it will be all home cooking oysters shrimp etc. I want some sweet potato wedges with our salsa mustard dressing as well as a tomato and cucumber salad.

Yes no traditional foods although good luck foods sounds like right up my alley. I don't even know what black eyed peas taste like. Or collard greens for that matter. But I would love to try them.

My son and nephews would be right there if there were any bacon involved.

My DH would not be as involved unless there were cookies involved. Or almond chocolates. Lately he's been on an almond chocolate kick.

Happy 2024 everyone! Hope you all have a wonderful heralding of the New year your way!

I have to look up sweetbreads. They have never been sold here. I have no idea how to even find them?????

ETA: even liver beef or calf liver is not available to purchase. Never mind any other organ meat..

@Judi, those were homemade Dill and pickled Jalapenos. We used Mrs. Wages Bread and Butter Pickle mix for the Jalapenos. Very easy and so good.

Sherry, you might be looking in the wrong area for the liver products. They come sliced and frozen and kept in one of the freezer locations on the side aisles. We buy calves liver fairly often and have never found it difficult to find.

We’ll be having Hoppin’ John with rice tomorrow. I prefer kale rather than collards as well as some really good cornbread with jalapenos mixed in. We have a ham bone to cook with the greens and field peas, plus some sliced ham. My young sprite, who is now 15, will bring desserts, probably a selection. I’m looking forward to it!

I cannot venture to far from my office,

Probably not practical but I had a sudden vision of your friends and family renting a semi, sneaking themselves and the food inside it and driving to where you work, and having a BIG tailgate party...

We're staying in as well. There will be lots of fireworks displays to see at midnight - and likely beforehand from the neighbors too. We're surrounded by water and can watch 360° of fireworks.

Cooking my black-eyed peas right now. I season with onions, garlic, cumin and sweet peppers. I don't eat pork, so I use smoked salt and chipotle to give that smoky flavor. Bean dishes taste better the next day, IMO.

I've never made cornbread to go with, tho - just rice.

Our greens will be creamed spinach - frozen spinach already on hand with garlic and cream.

For various reasons, I didn’t cook the turkey breast intended for Christmas until today. I also made cornbread dressing. So, we will probably have that will black-eyed peas tomorrow, although I’ll substitute a sweet potato or salad for the dressing as I don’t like it.

I know some of you cook dishes you don’t like for family/friends. Do you find it difficult to get the spices right when you do that? This was my first year making the dressing. I was determined to cut way back on the salt because both of my parents need to lower their salt intake. However, I don’t really know what it’s supposed to taste like because I don’t eat it. I’m curious to see what they say when they taste it. They will probably be kind, but I’m positive it won’t taste like the old family recipe. :-)

We stay home on NYE and it will be just Hubs and myself. DD is dropping off our granddog for a sleepover, as they’re going out to a NYE party. (They live down in town where there’s most likely fireworks to scare granddog, while we live up here in the quiet mountains). We’re making Alaskan King Crab Legs, roasted asparagus, and my wild rice pilaf. For dessert, just some of the many leftover sweets. Plus champagne at midnight. For NYD we always have my homemade Posole, plus tamales. And, because Hubs was born and raised in Oklahoma, black black-eyed peas. Me, being raised in Michigan, I’m making from-scratch tapioca for dessert. Happy 2024!!!

Definitely a good night to stay in! Never understood those who spend the night on Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena waiting for the Rose Parade. Crazy! Small rib roast for us tonight per DH’s request. Plenty of bubbly in the fridge.🍾🥂 I made a baked pasta dish for tomorrow…DD’s birthday.

My family was supposed to get together for Christmas a little bit before, but several members came down with COVID (they all rode in the same vehicle to and from Florida), and that lunch got moved to today.

Appetizers were:

Platter with cheese, crackers, small turkey slices, and pepperoni

A sausage roll in the shape of a wreath with cranberry compote to dip

Brie and cranberry bites (that one, I will make again. With a minor modification or two)

The meal was:

A turkey

A ham

A couple of steaks

A handful of ribs

Pansit

Nobody remembered to make the steamed rice, and Michael didn't like that very well ;) he has it at every meal. He says "it makes everything better".

Green bean casserole

Creamed corn

Some sort of broccoli casserole

Sweet potato casserole

Desserts were:

Cherry salad

Rice cake (also Filipino, and has not a lick of rice in it. It is made of rice flour)

I think I saw some sort of fudge pie

And I've had so much to eat the last few days I'm having nothing this evening.

Tomorrow, I think I'm having tortilla soup. Something light whatever it is.

Happy New Year's!!!!

Totally, Chloebud! I know families who always go stake their claims, like 49ers, to see the parade—for decades. And they discuss floats from past years like football fans comparing past players. I do recognize the shapes that are reused year after year, but even though I record it and play back at a civilized hour, and am better rested than those hunkered down on Colorado or Orange Grove, I can't remember specifics from any particular parade.

Fun2beHere, I often cook things I do not eat for others. It used to be quite nerve racking for me. I had never in my life cooked black eyed/purple hull peas, collards or dressing before I met my SO. I spent HOURS on YouTube watching experienced people share there recipes and methods, and developed my own. Some dishes took 3 or 4 tries to get JUST right for whoever I was cooking for, but after that I am on autopilot.

I do not eat fish or seafood but I make shrimp for some family gatherings and just kind of wing it. And SO likes fish occasionally and I just go with the knowledge of the flavors that I know he likes and season it accordingly. That is my savior most of the time. Just ask myself WHO I am cooking for, what THEY like, and go with it.

Pork and sauerkraut, dumplings, mashed potatoes, corn and maybe I'll make a pumpkin pie. Maybe haha

Elery is from Tennessee, so we'll be having Hoppin' John and cornbread. I was born and raised here in Michigan and Grandma always made greens but that's the only food that I remember we always had on New Year's Day. My stepdad made black bean soup, but he and Mother didn't marry until I was an adult.

Annie

New Years Eve--a variety of stinky cheeses from Northern Italy, mussels in marinara sauce, and crab cakes. New Years Day--Pork Roast and Sauerkraut.

Judi, that video was great! My Mum used to eat brains but I wouldn't. She made us sweetbreads when we were kids - she breadcrumbed them and fried them and we loved those crispy morsels. Now, they're very expensive. Ours were in cream and port sauce and delicious. They're traditionally served with a mushroom and cream sauce. Very good. Happy 2024 to you all!

Thanks, @amylou321, you were the first person I thought of when I asked for advice because I know you are the favored cook for your extended family.

My daughter got me a cute green toaster for Christmas so was able to make toast without burning it the last couple of days. Had an over easy egg and buttered toast. So good, so simple.

The other day I bought some ready made Bob Evans mac and cheese thinking it would be semi okay. It was nearly tasteless, so after the first bowl with added salt and pepper, I tried something different. I had gone to a nice Italian place with my daughter and I ordered lasagna. It was so dry and tasted like pepper. Just dry pepper. So I brought most of it home and thawed out my homemade spaghetti sauce. It didn't help. Tossed the lasagna which was sad as it wasn't cheap. Then I used my spaghetti sauce with the Bob Evans mac and cheese and it was at least edible. Probably going to eat the last of it tonight. I hate wasting food.

Late lunch will probably be baked Delicata squash. So, at least not a total garbage food day. ( :

California has no regional New Years foods to my knowledge. The state has so much diversity that I suspect those following practices of their own countries of origin may have some but if so, they're not very widely visible.

Speaking of lasagna -- I was disappointed in the recipe I tried for Christmas. Only the second time I've ever made lasagna and I think it's safe to say it'll be the last. At least the typical red sauce, sausage/meat, heavy on the cheese lasagna. I still have half a box of the pasta and I'll probably give Smitten Kitchen's mushroom lasagna a try. She adapted her recipe from Ina Garten.

https://smittenkitchen.com/2010/10/mushroom-lasagna/

I’ll be making a small batch of black eyed peas as usual, along with homemade cornbread. Also planning pork tenderloin and creamed spinach (neither of us cares for collards) and maybe creamed corn, although I may omit the corn. I really love field peas and serve a mildly hot relish alongside. We have smaller appetites these days.

Rancho Gordo Black Eyed Peas, with Homemade Squash Relish and Cornbread.

Judi, that mushroom lasagna looks really good. I saved it to my favorites so when I get countertops and sink I may make it. My lasagna is pretty basic but it is 100 times better than the restaurant's I went to.

I LOVE collard greens and navy beans. Some Dr just came out with findings, eating navy beans is a super food. I didn't cook. In years past we'd watch the fireworks they shoot off Pikes Peak at midnight. This year I'd made reservations at a movie theatre that serves food. Ordered nachos & shared them.@jrb451....Yum!

Jusi find a good Italian recipe. I think American recipes are always very rich - not at all like authentic Italian cooking. They don't put much filling in the lasagnes at all.

I'm not a huge fan of lasagna but there is one sold at a Seattle pasta deli that I really enjoy. The few times a year I can get there, I buy them, freeze. I do have the recipe which calls for assembling with fresh uncooked lasagna noodles that are not available to me locally. Have some that I ordered shipped chilled and then carefully froze those - I haven't used them yet but hopefully they will be acceptable. Hopefully because I have the recipe from the retired original owner, Pasta Co by Marcella Rosene. It is not a dish sloppy with a lot of tomato beef sauce and overdone with cheese, but rather neat, tidy and completely delicious. Her cookbook avail Amazon.

I like to put spinach and prosciutto in my lasagna (in addition to cheese), but I have substituted bacon when I did not have prosciutto. I use my own recipe, and it is similar to the recipe I use to make ravioli. I use a red sauce - I do not like lasagna with béchamel because it upsets my stomach.

For New Year's Day we had pozole for lunch and spaghetti with meatballs for dinner, to use up the rest of the fresh pasta we had. In the past I have often had black-eyed peas and collard greens (which I love), but I wanted to make pozole this year instead. I made tamales for Christmas, using fresh masa that I bought at Cárdenas. I used leftover chicken and chili-chicken broth in the pozole.

For NYE I made a potato frittata (similar to a Spanish tortilla) that included red bell pepper, onion, Italian sausage, and cheese. I have a lot of this leftover, but it is good reheated. We had French toast made with panettone for breakfast that day.

“She adapted her recipe from Ina Garten.”

Ina’s Mushroom Lasagna is very good! I’ll check out SK’s adaptation.

My ”regular” lasagna has a filling I like consisting of ricotta, eggs, sauteed mushrooms, spinach and Parmesan.

@morz8 Would you be willing to share your lasagna recipe from the deli? One store I go to does offer fresh lasagna noodles and they also have them at Granville market in Vancouver BC proper.

I bought dried whole wheat lasagna noodles and will be making a version with a creamy tomato sauce. My version of rosé sauce has crushed tomatoes, onions, garlic, Italian spices, and a small amount of heavy (whipping) cream. The filling is lots of cheese mushrooms light on the onions spinach and ground turkey loosely formed as meatballs.

My foster grandson is coming tomorrow and I know he loves this version. So he won't notice that I'm not making one with fresh lasagna noodles. ;-). :).

Which reminds me I had better get the grape juice popsicles in the freezer. He will be wondering if I am slacking on taking care of him if I have none of his favourite popsicles. :-).

He's a delight.

Thank you everyone for sharing your food talk. I now have so many foods that I want to eat but the lasagna called out to me the most. It's been a while since I've had lasagna.

I did break down and had sauerkraut New Year's Day hoping it brings me some luck

Fresh lasagna noodles are so easy to make that it makes no sense to buy them. Use one egg for each 1/2 cup of flour. I use 1/2 cup each of semolina, white flour, and whole wheat flour plus three eggs and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Combine all ingredients and knead until they form a ball (;you might need to add a bit more flour), and then cover tightly and allow to hydrate for 1/2 hour. Then you can take small amounts of dough and roll it out with a rolling pin until it is the correct thickness - no need for a pasta machine. Cut into strips that you want to use and boil for one minute - no more - it does not need to get completely done as it will finish cooking in the oven, but it does need a quick boil to get started.

For a smaller batch, I use 1/3 cup of each of the flours and two eggs. If you have a rolling pin, you can make fresh lasagna noodles. I use a straight cylinder pin, although I use a tapered French pin to roll out pie dough.

I think part of the problem with lasagna is the noodle. It's just too much pasta along with everything else.

Dried pasta tends to be too thick (for me), but when I make fresh lasagna noodles, I can make them as thin as I want.

I have been known to make whole wheat and zucchini lasagna for a lighter version way less lasagna noodles that way. And equally delicious for me. The little fella coming tomorrow does not particularly like zucchini though so I can't pass that off on him. :-).

Thank you so much Lars! I'll have to give that a try. I can't eat white flour but everyone else does. I just make a zucchini and or a whole wheat lasagna for just me. :-).

FWIW, I made my own version of lasagna for Christmas eve dinner. I used no boil organic noodles I keep on hand. Our latest one I came up with out of necessity, since I had no ricotta. Instead I used a can of tomato basil soup, which I figured is a little bit like a bechamel sauce, which is traditional in Italy, I understand.

Instead of red sauce, I had a saute of zucchini, mushrooms, onions, garlic, sweet peppers, fresh basil, and fresh marjoram, with just a small amount of chopped tomatoes, and ground beef seasoned like sausage then browned, along with smoked gouda and Parmesan instead of mozzarella - which I also didn't have.

So the layers were: noodles, sauteed veggies(which were very juicy), meat, soup and then cheese, repeat. Hubby rated it awesome 😀

I've done lasagna a number of times for Christmas Eve over the years. I use a Betty Crocker recipe for quick lasagna with no-boil noodles as my guide, but I don't follow it exactly, since it calls for cottage cheese, not ricotta, and too little sauce. I really think I prefer lasagna without lots of tomato sauce. Tomato sauce plus pasta is heartburn inducing, IMPE.

Stouffers makes a delicious veggie lasagna that I'd love to duplicate (in a healthier way) - it's very creamy and has carrots and spinach in it.

For Christmas dinner I made vegetarian lasagna from greens cookbook (spinach filling and tomato sauce etc) so finally my daughter had a vegetarian centerpiece! We also had a rib roast so everybody was happy

i made homemade noodles using a hand rolling machine (atlas) , and they were very thin making a ‘light’ dish.

it was quite a project because I tripled the recipe to fill my large emile henri pan and i made striped noodles using 3 colors, beets, spinach and saffron.

as for new years, my husband made a wonderful ham and black eyes peas, yumm yummy, we will enjoy sandwiches.

Happy New Year everybody!

Heres a photo while assembling…

the noodles hang over the side on purpose to be wrapped over at the end ’like a present’ as the recipe from Greens says :)

lat62, that would be perfect for Mardi Gras!

lat62, those are beautiful sheets of pasta, definitely worthy of being the centerpiece!

Annie

Yeonassky, yes, of course I'll share. I'm sorry, I just now got back to this and noticed you'd asked. Bear with me, its lengthy and help me pray I have no typos 😊

Marcella Rosene Lasagna (Pasta and Co)

SAUCE

1 1/2 # lean ground beef

1/4 C pure olive oil

1 1/2 C coarsely chopped onions

1 heaping Tablespoon oregano

1 1/2 teaspoon finely minced garlic

1 1/2 teaspoons basil

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 Cup plus 3 tablespoons dry white wine

3 1/4 cups crushed tomatoes in puree (Paradise brand if available). There will be a couple of ounces left in the 28-oz can, save and use in assembling the lasagna

5 ounces frozen spinach (half a 10 oz box, keep the other half frozen for another use. Squeeze what you will use dry of all liquid

CHEESE

3 cups mozzarella, grated

1/2 Cup feta, crumbled

BECHAMEL

1 1/2 C milk

1 Cup cream

big pinch white pepper

big pinch thyme

big pinch nutmeg

big pinch basil

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons grated romano cheese

THEN

Uncooked fresh only lasagna noodles,enough for three layers in 9x13 pan

TOPPING

1/4 cup unseasoned bread crumbs

2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon very finely chopped parsley

Cook beef in saute pan over medium heat until pink gone. Remove from heat and drain of all fat. (make sure it is well crumbled). In same pan, heat olive oil and add onions, oregano, garlic, basil, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes. Cook until onions are translucent. Add wine, bring to a boil, cook about 10 min until alcohol taste evaporated. Stir in tomatoes, spinach, your reserved browned beef. Simmer a couple of minutes then remove from heat.

Mix together mozzarella and feta cheeses and set aside.

Make bechamel: Heat milk,cream, white pepper, thyme, nutmeg, basil in small saucepan until it nears a boil. Turn off heat.

Melt butter in medium pan, cook until foam from butter recedes, remove from heat, add flour and mix well. Return to medium low heat and stirring frequently, simmer 2-3 minutes to cook but not brown the flour. Gradually stir in hot milk/cream mix, raise heat a little and continue to stir until mixture is smooth and thick (5 minutes?). Add Parmesan and Romano and whisk until smooth. Should be texture of wallpaper paste, not the white sauce more often associated with bechamel.

Mix together and reserve your topping ingredients.

ASSEMBLE AND BAKE (or, as they do at the deli often, assemble, wrap and freeze to bake later)

Preheat oven to 400F. Spread 2 tablespoons of leftover tomato juices from your can on bottom of 9x13 baking dish. Lay in one layer of the uncooked lasagna noodles. Spoon on 3 cups meat sauce. Spread 1 Cup Bechamel across the meat sauce in two diagonals (no need to spread evenly at this point).

Top with two cups cheese mixture. Lay on another layer of lasagna noodles and repeat, using same amounts of sauce - be sure to get in every dab of the meat sauce( as there will be none to spare) bechamel, cheese. Top with last layer of noodles, and with fingertips, press lightly to distribute bechamel smoothly in the layers. Using a long metal spatula 'frost' top layer of noodles with remaining bechamel. Be sure to completely cover noodles so they do not dry out in oven. Sprinkle evenly with reserved bread crumb mix.

Bake 400F for approx 60 minutes until sauce bubbles around edges and top is lightly browned. If browning too quickly, cover with foil last 10 minutes.

If baking this assembled straight from your freezer, add about 20 minutes baking time.

Critical for ease in serving.....Let Stand 20 Minutes Before Serving

I hope you enjoy this as much as we do, and again, I am not especially a fan of lasagna other than this one 😁

Thank you so much @morz8 ! So appreciate your effort!

I have put it in a place where I don't lose things.

I create an email for myself and I put down all of my recipes etc and I leave it in drafts until I filled up the page to my satisfaction and then I email it to myself. Sounds ridiculous but things were disappearing so having them in two spots has saved my bacon.

I am going to do this tomorrow. Was feeling sick all weekend with a non-covid related flu cold thing. so am just getting to my big cooking a few days late for the epiphany. So looking forward to having this delicious sounding recipe.