For a Prosperous New Year – Eat Sauerkraut!
It is a Pennsylvania Dutch (German) tradition to serve sauerkraut and pork on New Year’s Day to ensure a prosperous year. Usually the sauerkraut is accompanied by mashed potatoes and dumplings. We have celebrated this tradition in my family since I was little (and for many years before I came along).
This tradition has been passed down from my dad’s side of the family, so naturally my dad is the chef for this special meal. Through the years he has developed his own special sauerkraut recipe. This year I made the sauerkraut in October with some cabbage I bought at the local farmer’s market and my dad added his special touch on New Year’s Day. He was also able to use some tomatoes that my mom picked green from her garden at the end of the season and was storing in the fruit cellar. I was hoping it would be good and boy was it!
For dessert I made a blackberry pie with all those blackberries Mr Chiots and I picked this summer. It was the perfect finish for a delicious meal!
In case anyone wants Dr Dale Meade’s famous sauerkraut recipe, here it is:
Spectacular Spareribs and Incredible Kraut
Guaranteed for prosperity
2 racks of pork spareribs (4 to 6 pounds of local pastured pork)
3 to 4 pounds of sauerkraut (preferably homemade)
4 finely chopped unpared tart apples (about 2 cups)
4 finely chopped or shaved (with vegetable peeler) large carrots (about 2 cups)
3 cups of home canned tomato juice (or V-8 Vegetable Juice)
1 cup of diced tomatoes
6 finely chopped dried apricots
1 cup of brown sugar
4 teaspoons of caraway seed
Cut ribs in pieces, season with salt and black pepper (approximately 2 teaspoons of salt and ½ teaspoon of black pepper); place in a large stock pot with olive oil and brown well. Combine the kraut (which can be rinsed to reduce production of gas) with remaining ingredients; spoon over ribs to mix thoroughly until well mixed.
Simmer covered for three hours at low heat making certain the liquid covers the kraut and ribs. Skim off excess fat. Then remove lid and allow the kraut to simmer until some liquid had simmered away, leaving top of kraut exposed. Then make dumplings and place on top of the kraut and over, allowing the dumplings to bake for about fifteen minutes. Makes approximately ten servings and will warm your house for days.
Fluffy Dumplings
2 cups of sifted all purpose flour
4 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
…
1 cup of whole milk
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together and make certain the dry ingredients are well mixed. Add the milk and oil and kneed with pastry blender until moistened. Drop onto the kraut and cover. Do not lift cover and let mixture return to a slow boil for 12 to 15 minutes. This will make 10 generous dumplings.
Does anyone else eat sauerkraut for New Year’s to ensure a prosperous year? Or do you have another family tradition you celebrate?
Share this:
Trading Up
Mr Chiots and I are videographers by trade (check out some of what we do at 2nd Mile Productions). We recently shot a promotional video for some photographer friends of ours (Linczak Photography). Instead of paying us they gave us one of their old cameras and a lens. So we traded up, literally. Now my little Sony Cybershot will be in semi-retirement. (here’s the final video)
I’m sure it will still be traveling around the gardens in my back pocket and in my purse whenever I’m out and about (especially at farmer’s markets), but I’ll be using the new camera for some of my photos (those photos yesterday of the pets were some of the first ones with the new camera, more to come later this week).
If any of you are looking for a great little point and shoot I would highly recommend the Sony Cybershot 7.2MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom
Now, on to the new camera (well new to us), it’s a Cannon 20D and we got a 50mm lens as well. I don’t know much about it yet, I’m sure in a few months I will. I can’t wait to see what my flowers look like through this lens (and perhaps a few others I may have by the time they’re up and blooming).
So what kind of camera do you use for your photos? Have you ever bartered for something?
Share this:
Quote of the Day: Too Many Flowers?
While reading an article about the history of lawns I came across this quote:
Let your lawn be your home’s velvet robe, and your flowers its not too promiscuous decoration.”
-Frank J. Scott (1870)
Perhaps this is where the HOA laws of today come from?
HM, I guess according to Frank, I have too many flowers, what a travesty!
We’ve been trying to take back our lawn here at Chiot’s Run, so I’m we don’t consider our lawn, “the velvet robe” of our home. As for the amount of flowers we have, well, the photos above are just a few of what we have blooming here during the summer. What do you think? Can you have too many flowers?
Share this:
Merry Christmas from Chiot’s Run
Last year Mr Chiots and I made up our own Christmas cards. We had a blast doing it, although getting the cats to pose the right way took a few tries! As you can tell the Chiots is the center of the family around here.
This year we didn’t mail out Christmas cards. We decided to save the money and donate it to charity instead. So by not sending out cards we were able to pay for a year of schooling for a child in Colombia. I’m sure our money will be much more effective that way!
I know Detailed Breakdown did the same this year, they donated funds to Heifer International. What about you? Anyone else going the charity route instead of the card route this year?
Share this:
Elderberry Syrup
Em from Dance of the Small Things asked for my Elderberry Syrup recipe back when I posted about the items I had canned as part of the Harvest Keepers Challenge. I make syrup every year and we use it for pancakes and we also stir it into tea as a sweetener. Elderberries are super healthy and great for you. Handmaiden’s Kitchen has a few posts on the benefits and how to make an elderberry tincture.
Elderberry is used for its antioxidant activity, to lower cholesterol, to improve vision, to boost the immune system, to improve heart health and for coughs, colds, flu, bacterial and viral infections and tonsilitis. Bioflavonoids and other proteins in the juice destroy the ability of cold and flu viruses to infect a cell. People with the flu who took elderberry juice reported less severe symptoms and felt better much faster than those who did not.
This is my recipe for syrup. You can just make it using sugar, elderberry syrup and lemon juice if you don’t mind a runny syrup. I prefer mine to be a little thicker so I use pectin, I find it works much better on pancakes this way (doesn’t make the pancake soggy). If you plan on using this only for health benefits in tea, you probably don’t need to add pectin. I use no-sugar pectin so I can make a reduced sugar syrup, I also use organic evaporated cane juice to sweeten my syrups & jellies.
First you want to pick very ripe elderberries (I always pick as many as I can, I think this is about 10 quarts) and remove all stems (stems are poisonous so make sure to get as many as possible). Next, you’ll cook the berries down with a little water to prevent sticking. I usually barely boil mine for 30-35 minutes in a big stock pot with the lid on, every so often I crush them with a potato masher. Next let them cool a bit and press them through a sieve if desired (you can leave in the seeds if you’d like, I strain mine out). You’ll end up with elderberry juice.
I ended up with about a gallon of elderberry juice from my stock pot full of berries. At this point you can refrigerate the juice if you’d like for a day or two before you make the syrup, or you can proceed and make the syrup right away.
ELDERBERRY SYRUP
1. Bring boiling water canner, half-full of water, to simmer.
2. Prepare jars, lids and rims for canning.
3. Measure 10 cups of prepared juice into pan and add in 1/2 cup of lemon juice.
4. Measure 8 cups of sugar into bowl, set aside.
5. Mix 1/4 cups of sugar (from bowl that you set aside) and mix with pectin in a small bowl.
6. Stir pectin/sugar mix into fruit juice, add 1/2 teaspoon of butter to keep foam down.
7. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil (a boil that can’t be stirred down), stirring constantly.
8. Stir in remaining sugar and return to a full boil and boil for exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. (remove a small amount of syrup from pan and cool quickly on cold plate to test consistency, you want it to by syrupy but not too thick).
9. Ladle quickly into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of top. Wipe jar rims and threads, cover with lids and place jars in elevated rack in the canner. Water must cover jars 1 or 2 inches above lids. Cover and bring water to a gentle boil. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner. Remove and cool on rack.
Just a note: Make sure you’re picking real elderberries and not ink berries. If you’re not sure, find someone who knows and have them help you. As with anything else, make sure you’re not allergic to something before you eat a big helping of it. Also make sure to check the seals on the jars before storing them.
What kinds of delicious syrups/jellies did you make this summer?
