The New Year & Sauerkraut Soup

We hope your New Year celebrations were safe,

and you remain faithful to your New Year resolutions.

I don't commit to resolutions because I ALWAYS break them.

I would rather set little tiny (baby steps) goals for myself throughout the year.

Some of my goals this year are to focus on home improvements.

Buy less food.

(And Johnie knows I have a serious problem with this)

Create a vacation account.

And continue to live life in the moment.

 I do believe Johnie is enjoying his Christmas gift.

That clock got here just in time.

It was delivered on Christmas Eve.

Nothing like waiting till the very last minute.

 Did you all eat your pork, black eyed peas, and sauerkraut on New Years day?

We did!!

We can definitely use some luck to be thrown our way.

This is what I did for our good luck meal:

I purchased a family pack of boneless western style ribs.

(which I created three different meals with)

I grabbed my stoneware bean pot,

I drained half the liquid off of a jar of sauerkraut.

Drained and rinsed 1 can of black eyed peas.

I placed 1/4 of the sauerkraut on the bottom of the pot.

Threw in half of the black eyed peas.

Placed 4 of the ribs on top.

Then I continued another layer of kraut and peas.

4 more of the ribs.

Then topped it off with the rest of the kraut.

I sprinkled in a little celery salt.

Placed the lid on top of the pot and put it in a 250 degree F. oven

for about 5 hours. 

That was our New Year meal.

 But there is no way two people can eat a whole pot of kraut and pork.

We each ate a serving, 

and then look what I did with the leftovers.

I made SOUP!

I have to get this recipe in type before I forget what I did.

 I had about a cup of tri-mixed fresh mushrooms (oyster, steak, and button)

I chopped the mushrooms

8 cloves garlic, minced

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

1 small white onion, diced

Place 2 TBS olive oil in dutch oven.

Cook the mushrooms, carrot, onion, and garlic over med. heat until crisp tender.

(onion and garlic will be translucent)
Drop in 1 tsp. shredded creamy horseradish

Chop leftover pork into bite sized pieces.

Add the pork to veggie mixture.

Pour in 4 c. water

3 TBS chicken soup base

and leftover kraut and peas.

Bring this to a slow boil and add
2 TBS Sweet Hot Stone Ground Mustard

1 (10.5 oz.) can Campbell's Cream of Chicken with Herbs.

Turn temp down to simmer.

Cover dutch oven with lid and allow it simmer for about 45 minutes.

A perfect soup!

I served Schwan's coconut shrimp with our soup.

We hope you like this as much as we did.

We also hope you find success and wellness in 2015.

See Ya'all Soon!