New New Year’s Traditions

They say that money can’t buy happiness. Indeed, financial journalist and motivational speaker Jean Chatzky breaks down the science of happiness, pointing out that since “there’s little difference in the overall happiness of millionaires and the middle class, “we’re better off buying experiences rather than things.” The idea is that because novelty is so stimulating, the more new experiences you have, the happier you’ll be. Well, now my insistence on spending all my money to travel around the world instead of buying the latest Jimmy Choos doesn’t sound so loopy, does it? And the holiday time of year when everyone is on a break from work or school is the best time to invest in new experiences that everyone will remember.

My family always has the traditional holiday feasts and parties for Thanksgiving (turkey, stuffing, collard greens, sweet potato pies) and Christmas (more turkey, stuffing, collard greens, and sweet potato pies plus glazed ham and macaroni cheese). On New Year’s Day, my mom typically cooks a traditional dinner of pork roast, collard greens, and black eyed peas in the hopes of bringing luck and prosperity into the new year. But this year, I don’t know if she forgot or what, because she didn’t have anything planned for dinner on January 1. So I guess it was up to me to put something together, huh? Well, I had lamb chops on my mind after watching Anne Burrell’s Secrets of a Restaurant Chef prepare them on the Food Network. I haven’t had cable for years, so when I visit other people’s houses, I flip to the Food Network for my brief dose of culinary inspiration. Anne had created a holiday menu of seared rack of lamb with pistachio tapenade, roasted vegetables and seared scallop salad. Here’s how I modified her menu for our nontraditional New Year’s Day dinner. I also added my infamous peach cobbler for dessert at the request of my sister and my rocket scientist. What did y’all have for dinner?

New New Year’s Day Dinner Menu (adapted from Anne Burrell’s Secrets of a Restaurant Chef)

serves 5

Quick Dinner Salad

Ingredients

• One bag of prewashed romaine lettuce
• 4 organic tomatoes, chopped
• Newman’s Own Caesar Dressing
• cracked black pepper

Divide ingredients into five bowls and top with salad dressing and pepper.

Easy Seared Lamb Chops with Garlic and Rosemary

Ingredients:

• 2 racks of lamb, sliced into individual lamb chops
• 3 tablespoons  of minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons of crushed rosemary
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and cracked black pepper

Sprinkle both sides of the lamb chops with salt and pepper. Let them sit for about 15 minutes. Coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil, then turn up the heat to medium high. Add the garlic and stir until slightly browned. Then add the lamb chops in a single layer. Sprinkle them with rosemary. They should sizzle. If not, then your pan isn’t hot enough. Sear them for 1 minute on each side until they are nicely browned. Transfer the chops to a foil-lined baking sheet and continue cooking them to the desired doneness in a 425 degree oven for about 10 minutes. The thicker the chops, the longer they should cook.

Roasted Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients

• 1 head of cauliflower, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 1-2 pints of brussels sprouts, cut in half
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat the bottom of a 13 x 9 roasting pan with olive oil. Add vegetables and drizzle with olive oil. Stir vegetables to coat, then sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Roast for 45 minutes, stirring to turn the vegetables every 15 minutes.

Baked Organic Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

• 5-10 organic sweet potatoes, depending on their size and the appetite of your guests
• butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash potatoes and pat dry. Place them on a foil-lined baking sheet, pop them in the oven and bake for one hour. When they’re done, they should be oozing caramelized sugar and a knife should slide through each potato with no resistance. Split each one open and slather the insides with a pat of butter.

Warm Peach Cobbler and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 3 – 29 ounce cans of freestone peaches
• 1 cup of raw sugar (I use Sugar in the Raw)
• 1/2 stick of butter
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons of flour
• 2 boxes of Betty Crocker pie crust mix (I know it’s cheating, but it’s quicker and tastes just like homemade crust!)
• your favorite brand of vanilla bean ice cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour the peaches in a large saucepan with all the juices. Add the sugar, butter, and cinnamon. Simmer for 20 minutes and taste for sweetness. Add the flour and cook for another 10 minutes. Let the peach mixture cool. In the meantime, follow the directions on the box for the pie crusts. You will need both boxes for a 13 x 9 pan of peach cobbler. Butter a 13 x 9 pan  and place the bottom crust inside, making sure any overlapping crust is tucked inside the pan. Poke holes in the bottom of the crust with a fork. Bake the bottom crust for 5-1o minutes until slightly golden. Take the pan out of the oven, then pour the peach mixture into the pan. Cover the rest of the cobbler with the top crust. Poke holes in the top of the cobbler with a fork to let steam escape while baking. Bake for 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla bean ice cream on top.

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