Every January 1st of my childhood began with the smell of pork and sauerkraut.  While I was blissfully asleep, my mother would wake up early to put a pork roast in a crockpot with a few bags of Silver Floss sauerkraut and toss in a silver dollar.  Set to low and allowed to cook for hours, by our mid-afternoon meal the pork would be fall apart tender and the kraut would have mellowed considerably.  Though we all ate it for good luck, whoever had the silver dollar scooped on their plate was said to have the best fortune of all that year.

My wife and I carry on this tradition though without the silver dollar.  Instead, we open our home to friends and family to feed them as many steaming plates of pork and saurkraut with mashed potatoes as they can handle with something sweet for dessert. This year I served an apple cobbler with brandied fruit, the latest family signature recipe.

In all we entertained 6 people in addition to ourselves.  I look forward to watching that number grow in future years.

What New Year food tradition does your family have?