Aiming For An Ordinary New Year

Chloe, your comment on my last blog post meant more to me than you'll ever know. 

We all (I think) wonder if people notice us. It's good to be checked on. 

We said "good riddance" to 2022 and welcomed 2023 with our traditional peas and collards. Notice how basic the plate is? It was a very bare bones meal, with three of us eating at lunch time and the rest having the leftovers for dinner—after they got home from the hospital. 2022 seems to be dragging its feet into this new year. 

We are aiming for "ordinary" this year. There is wonder and comfort in the routine and the regular. We look forward to tucking in special bits in here and there.

We have had nothing catastrophic happen, but the last six months have been nothing like we expected.  So many things happened. Our schedule went wonky. Some health issues were ours. Some belonged to others but impacted us, too. Our church pianist fell right before Christmas and broke her arm. That turned into lots and lots of extra time at the piano to prepare music for several services. I'm learning trying to live within my limits. Piano time took priority over cooking, making photos and blog posting. 

Yesterday I was able to spend several minutes in our beautiful historic sanctuary before I sorted out my music and settled in at the piano. I needed the calm and the peace that was there. 

(It was a different story on Christmas Eve when a squirrel got into the sanctuary and raced around during the service.)

These collards were so good yesterday that I'm sharing this recipe again. It takes a whole morning or afternoon to cook them like this—and I put my cooker out on our porch—but it's very easy. Any leftovers can be frozen for a quick vegetable side dish later. 

COLLARD GREENS

1/2 lb. smoked meat (ham hocks, smoked turkey wings or smoked neck bones--I use turkey wings)
2-3 teaspoons House Seasoning*
1-2 teaspoons Lawrys' Seasoning Salt
2 (16- oz) bags frozen chopped collards (or 1 large bunch of fresh collards, cleaned and sliced)
1 tablespoon butter

In a large pot, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and add smoked meat, house seasoning and seasoned salt. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 1 hour.
Add frozen greens and butter. Cook for 1 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Adjust seasoning to taste.

*House Seasoning: 1 cup salt, 1/4  cup black pepper, 1/4 cup garlic powder. Mix together and store in airtight container.

 

How regular will I be posting in 2023? I really have no clue. Maybe not at often as in years past (do I dare admit I have nothing left to say?) but I'm aiming for at least once a month, with extra posts when there is something worth sharing. 

This blog space has become a much used resource for storing my recipes. It's accessible to family and friends. It can be pulled up while standing in the grocery aisle. So you may see and occasional post that is only a recipe. That lets me add it to the index. 

Just a reminder, if you can't find a recipe in the index, you can use the little search box at the top left of the web version of the blog. Type in a key word and it should pull up any posts related to it. I find I use that more often than the index. The trick is to open the web version .