Happy New Year!

I hope you all have a 2011 full of blessings, good health and many special moments:) I wanted to share a few quotations to start off the New Year.

One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things. ~John Burroughs

Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down. ~Charles F. Kettering

Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want. ~Margaret Young

People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do. ~Lewis Cass

If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere. ~Frank A. Clark

Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you. ~Marsha Norman

Thank you for reading my ramblings:)
~Brenda

New Year's Eve Recipes

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

I hope everyone had a special Christmas celebration. This year we spent a quiet Christmas with our three kids at home. It was nice because for the first time in years my husband had Christmas Eve and Christmas off from the hospital. This week is chaotic as we visit my family and his family for our holiday celebrations, then come home to have a quiet New Year's Eve.

I thought I would share some nice recipes from an old book I've had in my collection for years, entitled The Wine Cook Book by Cora, Rose and Bob Brown, published in 1960. It's a quirky little cookbook that I love because a lot of the recipes use herbs. The following recipes would work wonderfully for New Years Eve.

Mussels in White Wine

Ingredients:

2 quarts mussels

1 onion chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

parsley, chopped

1 cup wine

1 tsp. butter

salt

pepper

Wash mussels in water several times; make sure the shells are clean. Put them in a deep pot, sprinkle with parsley, onion and garlic chopped together, add butter, salt, pepper and wine. Cook for 15 minutes over a brisk fire, keeping closely covered. When mussels are open, dish out into soup plates, serving the liquor in cups into which each mussel is dipped before eating.

Shrimps a' la Marinera

Ingredients:

18 large shrimps

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 bay leaf, minced

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tsp. minced parsley

salt

pepper

1 cup dry white wine

Thoroughly wash and shell the shrimps. Slowly fry the onion in olive oil, add garlic, bay leaf and parsley; add pepper and shrimps and fry for 3 minutes. Then add wine and a little salt. Cook gently for 20 minutes. The sauce may be thickened with a teaspoon of cornstarch, melted in a little water if desired.

Oysters in Champagne

Ingredients:

3 dozen oysters

1/3 cup toasted bread crumbs

1/4 cup butter

1 tbsp. minced parsley

salt and pepper

1 pint champagne

Drain oysters well. Melt butter in a wide saucepan, lay in the oysters, baste with the butter, sprinkle with toasted crumbs, salt, pepper and parsley. Pour in the champagne and heat slowly until the oysters plump and edge crinkle. Do not boil. Serve on hot toasted bread, or in hot soup plates.

Champagne Punch

Ingredients:

4 cups sugar

juice of 12 lemons

1 pineapple, in cubes

3 quarts ice water

1 quart strawberries or raspberries

1 quart white wine

1 quart champagne

Dissolve 3 cups sugar in lemon juice. Dredge pineapple cubes with 1 cup sugar and allow to stand. Pour ice water into punch bowl, stir in sugar and lemon, then the berries, slightly crushed, and the sugared pineapple. Stir in wine and champagne and serve cold.

What dish is served traditionally on New Years? We have recipes!

http://oldfashionedliving.com/holidays/blackeyedpeas.html