Lucky foods

Feed a cold, starve a fever...

Heating up a shrink wrap package of baby-back ribs isn't exactly what I call cooking, but they're pretty darn good with a big mound of homemade German potato salad. I've always resisted buying precooked convenience foods, I guess preferring to do things the hard way in the kitchen, but these ribs are great. The package contains one rack, making two reasonable servings. By reasonable, I mean satisfying enough with a side dish-- although if there were more, you would eat more. That's how it goes with ribs, so portion control is another benefit.

What are you cooking on New Year's Day? Many foods are believed to be lucky and increase the odds that next year will be a good one. The Pennsylvania Dutch, Germans and other Europeans eat pork and sauerkraut or cabbage. The custom is based on the idea that pigs move forward and symbolize progress by rooting in the ground. Eating cooked greens like cabbage is considered lucky because the green leaves look like folded money. Peas, beans and lentils are also symbolic of money.

I hate to tempt fate by cooking an animal that scratches backwards, but we're having a turkey dinner tomorrow. I bought the turkey at Thanksgiving because I couldn't resist the bargain and it's been in the refrigerator freezer since then. I'm tired of balancing frozen food on top of it. Hopefully, cleaning out the freezer is another kind of fresh, lucky start for the new year.