New year, new opportunity: Vote for My Gutsy Story @
http://soniamarsh.com/2013/12/vote-for-your-favorite-december-2013-my-gutsy-story.html
Haven’t read it yet? There’s still time!
Grandma’s Pork and Sauerkraut Dinner
As the article in the Elizabethtown Chronicle explains, my Grandma Fannie stomped cabbage by using “her old potato masher to draw moisture from cabbage in the process of making stone crock sauerkraut.” The Longenecker family always had pork and sauerkraut, along with mashed potatoes and apple sauce, for New Year’s Day as well as other times during the year.
Just like many Pennsylvania Dutch families in 2013, we observed this New Year ritual with a menu of pork & sauerkraut and mashed potatoes.
Sauerkraut with caraway seeds; baked apples
Around the table, counting our blessings: “. . . . Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.” I Samuel 7:12
Your comments and mine make a conversation.
I will always reply!
Plain and Fancy 
I would love to dine with you for about 30 consecutive days, might I come to dinner? These old tried and true recipes and made from scratch can’t be matched.
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Yes, I do have a habit of posting savory recipes, and I assure you that you are welcome to come by for dinner whenever you get to Jacksonville. Seriously! Just let me know in advance and specify pork and sauerkraut, pig stomach, ham loaf . . . ! “Other” is also an option.
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The pork and kraut sound delicious!
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I love sauerkraut! Here’s my favorite way:
Open two piece of rye bread
Place one piece of Swiss cheese on one of the pieces of bread
Slice a cooked polish sausage lengthwise and lay them flat-side-down on top of the cheese
Place a dill pickle spear between the two lengths of polish
Liberally cover the sausage/pickle with DRAINED sauerkraut
Slather mustard on the as-yet unused piece of bread
Put the mustard bread on top of the loaded bread
DIG IN!
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I don’t know of anyone who “drinks life to the lees” any more enthusiastically than you, Laurie. This recipe reads like party fare. Thank you, Laurie, and Happy New Year!
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We didn’t do our usual pork and sauerkraut this year, but our daughter did! The tradition lives on. We made ham and bean soup and shared it with friends.
Laurie, that sandwich sounds tempting. I’ll have to try it.
And now that we know sauerkraut is probiotic, we can feel virtuous as we dig in.
Your table always looks inviting, Marian. Happy New Year!
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Laurie gives me a new recipe and now you tell me sauerkraut is probiotic — what’s not to like! How nice that Julie is carrying on the tradition. I don’t think our children prepare the dish specifically for New Year’s although I know we’ve had it at Joel and Sarah’s table. By the way, speaking of pork, they also have a pink wooden cutout of a pig on the table, so if there is a lapse in manners, that person become the “piggie” recipient.
Thanks for reading & responding so faithfully, Shirley. All the best in 2014!
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I read your article when it was submitted, but I voted for you today. Good luck and happy 2014!
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Thank you for your support, Traci. I’m taking a flying leap on this one, but it’s certainly good practice!
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Did I say I loved this one, too? You have a colorful background and great photos. My Missouri grandma was a pianist and classically trained mezzo-soprano in Chicago before meeting my grandfather and moving to the farm in MO with him. No indoor plumbing, but they had electricity. She cooked Dutch style–lots of pies, biscuits, and butter. And vegetables from the garden. I loved hanging out with my grandma and have enjoyed writing about her.
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The more I learn of my online friends, you included, the more I realize the common interests and backgrounds we all have. I feel so privileged to know you and learn more about you through our blogging together.
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