Happy New Year from The Ranch Kitchen! Foods for good luck!

Crazy to think we are about to close off the year 2015!  I remember thinking as young woman how old I would be in 2015...  Well I am a bit older, hopefully a bit wiser and life is speeding by, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

As we look forward to tonight, our New Year's Day celebrations or simple family meals, here are some tried and true recipes that are good luck foods.  We always try eat to these recipes to bring us prosperity and good health in the year ahead.

One of my favorite appetizers to serve on New Year's Eve is this The Ranch Kitchen's Black-eyed Pea Salsa.  It's a fast and easy side to make and is great with corn tortilla chips or as a side vegetable.  I love to serve it in a large over-sized champagne glass or footed crystal bowl for some height with the chips underneath it.  There is seldom any of this left, but if there is and you make a ton it will keep up to one week in your refrigerator.  

Click here for the recipe for The Ranch Kitchen's Black-eyed Pea Salsa

Each New Year's day I also make sure to cook a pot of black-eyed peas from scratch on my stove-top. I'm a little silly about eating it out of the can as I think I have to cook it to have the good luck.  But if I had to I would as we are that superstitious about it!  These are one of my very favorite peas and one thing we always make sure they are full of is some smoked ham.

You can eat the black-eyed peas alone or over white rice and make your own Hoppin' John dish.  I usually make around two pounds of black-eyed peas so that we can take them out with our other evening meals the next few nights.  One note is to buy  your black-eyed peas early on New Year's Eve or before as the stores are always sold out.  And I have been known to cook them in a crock pot beginning at midnight of the new year to have them ready the next a.m. for lunch.  

Click here for The Ranch Kitchen's Black-eyed Peas

At our house, you also have to make sure you make my Granny's Wilted Cabbage.  Cabbage is a sure fire way they say to have wealth and prosperity in the new year ahead...so we always make sure to eat a ton of it! This is as close as I can remember her recipe and we really do love it.  The surprise is the mustard that you add to the cabbage.  Don't add too much mustard or it will overpower your cabbage.  The mustard really gives it an added kick.  We rarely have much left of this cabbage recipe.  You can also add smoked ham or Kielbasa sausage to it to make a complete meal.  

Click here for Granny's Wilted Cabbage

And last try these Baby Back Ribs because anyone can cook them, you don't have to have a grill and can even get them done on a counter top oven.  The trick is to spray your foil with oil, season liberally with your favorite Cajun Seasoning like Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning and cook away.  

 

My husband's mom, Billie Nolan always served up ribs on New Year's Day at her house along with sauerkraut as her cabbage side dish.  It was always a great lunch and welcomed meal after a night out the evening before.  Our tradition the last few years was for Scott to smoke the ribs on his smoker, but in a pinch or when it's up to me to make them this was always my go to recipe.  You can baste these ribs with BBQ sauce ten minutes before taking off the grill, just before serving or eat alone as they are that good.  

 

I like to make huge double or triple batches and use the left over rib meat in pork enchiladas using my King Ranch Chicken recipe.   We will miss her lunch this year as she is now watching down from heaven on us, but will eat these quickly before we head to Houston to take our Bethany for her internship there.  We wish her the best and are going to miss her.  

Click here for The Ranch Kitchen's Baby Back Ribs Recipe

I hope these food help bring you the very best year yet.  To say I am excited about the year ahead is an understatement.  As we all know luck is what you make it.  It's truly  about how hard you work to achieve your goals and to have a little fun in the process.  

So here's to slimming down, blogging more for me, making time for yourselves and loving your families, friends and life.  

Enjoy your evening with family and friends and from our ranch to your home - Happy New Year!  

Alise - The Ranch Kitchen 

Happy New Year From The Ranch Kitchen!

Here's hoping your new year is truly your best yet!  May you remember that life is meant to be lived and have more fun than you've had in years past.  And remember that above all we need to be thankful for all the little and big things in our lives because we learn how to live because of them.

Below are some recipe posts that will help bring luck in 2014 if you, like my family, are a little superstitious and eat your cabbage for good fortune, your black-eyed peas for luck, and ribs....well that's because my husbands family always eats ribs on New Years Day.  

Enjoy and HAPPY NEW YEAR!  These are some of my families favorites that we enjoy each year at New Years Day lunch! We couldn't ring in the year without them!


The Ranch Kitchen's Black-eyed Pea Salsa

Granny's Wilted Cabbage

Country Style Pork Ribs

Get cooking!  

Alise @ The Ranch Kitchen!

The Ranch Kitchen's Coleslaw Dressing

One of my favorite couples to visit and camp with are our dear friends Larry and Alicia Bishop.  We've known each other for nearly thirty years and along with our children's friendships, our own has grown with each year.

As you grow older, your friendships are not necessarily with those who are you age.  Larry and Alicia, and their sweet and beautiful children are a few years (7 years older than us), but are likes and dislikes mirror each other!  Larry is an avid outdoor man  and his love of Crappy fishing always benefits fish fry gatherings!  My girls nicknamed him "Larry Queen" as he owns the local Dairy Queen in town.  He delights the girls after each camp out dinner by bringing out Dairy Queen ice cream snacks. It wouldn't be a camping without them! Alicia is one of my girls favorite people, as is Larry and never tires of playing with my girls.  Lindsey, the oldest daughter is happily married and a nurse in Houston who is what I would call a 'gourmet cook' and married to the sweetest, most 'handy' young man who can do just about anything in or out of the house! Logan, is my oldest daughter Ilissa's partner in crime, high school buddy and dear friend.  He to can cook some 'mean' Crappy that Ilissa one night mistook out of his fridge as chicken...it's a family joke now...  Logan is the hunter deluxe and spends his day running his outdoor store in Jacksonville, and then hunts deer, ducks, hogs, and anything that moves.  He is living the life as most men would love to live!

This past weekend we ran up to the lake to eat dinner with our friends the Bishops and enjoy one of my favorite fish, Crappy.  Crappy is a fish we find in most lakes in Texas and very delicate and without many bones if it is prepared 'cut' correctly.  To add to the meal I brought coleslaw, which is cabbage mixed with onion with a sweetened mayonnaise sauce.  It's a quick, easy preparation and in the deep south of the United States coleslaw is most always a side vegetable dish at fish fries. Most grocery stores in our area sell bottled coleslaw dressing.  However, making it yourself is very simple and I think my new recipes beats any I have ever tried.

You start making coleslaw by either cutting long thing strips out of your cabbage, once the hard core is removed, or you can cut the cabbage in to small pieces and pulse to the desired consistency in your food processor.  I really prefer thicker, chunkier strips of coleslaw that you can easily fork and not scoop with your utensils to eat.

I prepared my dressing in a separate bowl.  You can either wait until about ten minutes before you serve your coleslaw and mix the dressing with the cabbage or do like I did and mix them together two hours before.  Either way is fine depending on how soft or crispy you want your cabbage, as I like mine a little softer.

Most ingredients for my coleslaw dressing are readily in your pantry or cabinets.  The Salad Supreme is a seasoning that is hard to find to be honest.  But when you do, buy several and it's great on garlic bread or sprinkled over a green salad.

Next time you are invited to a fish fry I hope you'll try my dressing with coleslaw.  You can add any multitude of vegetables to it like thin sliced carrots, red or sweet white onions, red cabbage or even broccoli cuts.  Make it your own variation and your family will love it, I promise.  We had only seven people for dinner and one entire head of cabbage almost wasn't enough! With that said, a large head of cabbage may look like a lot for coleslaw, when honestly for a large gathering I'd double the recipe below so that you have plenty.

The Ranch Kitchen's Cole Slaw Dressing

Cabbage:
1 head of cabbage, sliced in 1/2 by 4 inch cuts
1 red onion, sliced in 1 inch chunks

Coleslaw Dressing:
2 cups Real Mayonnaise
4 teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 - 2 tablespoons of Salad Supreme, optional

Mix Real Mayonnaise, Apple Cider Vinegar and sugar together in a bowl.  Add garlic salt and pepper and taste to see if you need more pepper.  Add 1 tablespoons of Salad Supreme seasoning and taste.  Add one more teaspoon of Salad Supreme to your taste (like or dislike).  The Salad Supreme adds a special seasoning to the dressing and nice pop of color.

Two hours or ten minutes before pour dressing over the coleslaw that is in a large bowl.  Mix well and serve in a chilled bowl placed on top of bowl full of ice if you are serving it outside in the heat.

Enjoy!  And let me know how you like it!

Alise