For Sunday, January 1st, 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

New Years' Day is a time to relax and enjoy the start of a bright and promising new year....a new beginning.  It's a time for family, for good food and celebration.  I hope you can enjoy everything about New Years Day... After all it only comes around once a year!

January is Get Over It Month, a time to let go of the past and get over whatever is bugging you.

January is Clean Up Your Computer Month, Family Fit Lifestyle Month, Financial Wellness Month, International Creativity Month, National Hot Tea Month, National Get Organized Month, National Mentoring Month, National Poverty in America Awareness Month, National Radon Action Month, National Skating Month, and National Volunteer Blood Donor Month.

CELEBRATION OF LIFE month begins today, celebrating a new beginning and new hope.

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.  

Oprah Winfrey

NEW IN THE KITCHEN

APPLE GIFTING DAY

January 1st is not only New Years Day but it is also know as Apple Gifting Day.  Apples may be enjoyed by many in celebration of the new year and in recognition of those special people in our lives.  The recipe I'm sharing today is what I'll be having for dinner and it does have apples in it too.

Sauerkraut Sausage

1 28 oz jar or can sauerkraut

1 pound Hungarian Sausage, sliced into bite size pieces

1 large onion, minced

2 tbsp bacon grease

1 tsp salt

1 tsp Hungarian Sweet Paprika

2 apples peeled and sliced

1/4 cup apple cider

Rinse and drain sauerkraut thoroughly. Set aside. In a large pot, heat bacon fat and brown your sausages  and then sauté onions just until they start to sweat. Add paprika and allow to bloom for a few minutes. Sauté onions until they are just translucent. Then, add the sauerkraut, stirring constantly. in stir-fry method with a large wooden paddle spoon. This could take 10-20 minutes, depending on how much water is in the sauerkraut.  Add the apple cider.  Cover and steam for a few minutes.  Enjoy!  

Note:  I am also adding a few precooked potatoes to this recipe today.  It's good with our without.

PRAYER FOR OUR TROOPS

Please pray for God's protection of

our troops and HIS wisdom for their

commanders.

Lord, hold our troops in

your loving hands.

Protect them as they protect us.

Bless them and their families for the

selfless acts they perform for us

in our time of need. I ask this in the

name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

AND bless our Police Officers, Firefighters

and Paramedics and EMT's

GOD BLESS YOU!

AROUND HOME

The book is closed,
The year is done,
The pages full
Of tasks begun.
A little joy,
A little care,
Along with dreams,
Are written there.
This new day brings
Another year,
Renewing hope,
Dispelling fear.
And we may find
Before the end,
A deep content,
Another friend.

By Arch Ward

While some are glad to see 2011 come to end and others hated to see it go, it is none the less a NEW YEAR!   Time keeps on keeping on and we know that all we have is a promise of today anyway, so let's make it the best we can!

I will start my New Year off by going to church as is the custom for me every Sunday.  It's just not Sunday for me unless I spend some time there.  Old habits like this one are kind I like to keep.   It'll be another quiet day here at my house.  Next weekend I hope to be able to have some of my family, probably the ones living here in town, for a New Years dinner.  They all had other plans this weekend.  

Today I'll be fixing a much smaller dinner here just for me, but I always have to have my pork and sauerkraut for new years so I'll fix a little of that good Hungarian Sausage I got in a casserole with some potatoes and sauerkraut.  My folks always said it brought good luck in the new year.  I figure I can't go wrong as it will be good eating for sure.

Happy New Year everyone!

COUNTING THE DAYS

A happy New Year! Grant that I
May bring no tear to any eye
When this New Year in time shall end
Let it be said I've played the friend,
Have lived and loved and labored here,
And made of it a happy year.

Edgar Guest

80 DAYS UNTIL SPRING

111 DAYS UNTIL CAMPING SEASON BEGINS

Keep looking ON THE BRIGHT SIDE of things.

 

A little smile, a word of cheer,
A bit of love from someone near…

Love,

ma