Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Traditions, goals, and Happy New Year!

 

It is the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) tradition to serve pork and sauerkraut as the first meal of the New Year to bring good luck for the year. This dish is usually accompanied by some yummy mashed potatoes which my mother used to tell us would dull the taste of the sauerkraut if you mixed them together.  She was WRONG.  All it did was make the potatoes taste bad and now instead of one nasty lump of sauerkraut on our plates we had a pile of mashed potatoes infected with sauerkraut.  It takes a lot of milk to gag it all down. 
 
I am coming as close as I can get to the tradition today with pork and a nice cabbage slaw.  My husband is a little sad I won't let sauerkraut into my pantry, but I still haven't got past the childhood trauma, and well who wants the smell in the house? There are very few foods I really dislike and sauerkraut and raw onions are two of them.
 
In other news.. Happy New Year!  I was up at midnight, but only because a kid woke me up.
 
My goals are still a bit of a work in progress.  So far they look something like this:
  • yoga at least twice a week
  • clean eating at least 80% of the time
  • get my legs back healthy for running (right leg, lefty is fine)
  • do what the doctor/physical therapist tells me to do (this is going to be priority one and no doubt the hardest)
  • take 10 or so minutes out of my morning for a morning devotional
  • something with being more organized  (still working on this one)
I want to keep them pretty simple. 
 
I will continue strength training and cross training. I didn't feel like this needed to be a goal since mostly they are both habit. I want to keep working with my kettle bell and use my sandbag, weights, etc.  I will most likely continue with HIIT based training.  I want to up my cycling miles this year to help prevent running injuries.
 
Do you have any traditional New Years meals? What foods do you avoid at all costs because you hate them so much?
 

14 comments:

  1. I think your goals are very attainable! No traditional New Years meals, but my 6-year-old requested salmon with ginger and noodles. He even picked out the ingredients for the salad (dried cranberries, walnuts and goat cheese). Such refined taste for a little guy. Ha! Have a Happy New Year!

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  2. Kraut was a staple at my grandma's house and I avoided it at all costs. The Caveman eats it cold almost daily. Yuck.

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  3. I LOVE sauerkrat as long as it does not have the carroway seeds in it (yuck). This year is the first I've learned of the New Years meal of kraut and pork for good luck- several ppl on my newsfeed mentioned it as well.
    My food that I completely avoid is seafood- dont like taste, texture, or smell.

    This year I decided on more slight lifestyle changes vs. actual goals. I forgot about goals before June so they dont work as well for me.

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  4. I love sauerkraut and was just talking to one of my parent's friends, who recalls having his mom always make up a big batch right around this time of year. I never realized it was lucky! It's fun how many different traditions there are for New Years! I learn new ones every year!

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  5. I love sauerkraut, but HATE ONIONS! As for your goals, totally do-able. Rock the new Year!

    Sarah
    www.thinfluenced.com

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  6. My MIL always serves Lentil soup because someone told her it brings good luck. lol

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  7. Growing up, it was a shrimp scampi dish. I always hated it...Now? Nothing :) We have no food traditions for New Year's- just vegan red and green pancakes on Xmas Eve. Being in/ near PA Dutch Country, I see lots of Pork and Sauerkraut being offered at restaurants...never liked either!!

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  8. I LOVE sauerkraut. Now I'm feeling the urge to toss a pork roast in the crockpot with some. Yum. ;o)

    Fingers crossed that your leg decides to get back in the game soon.

    Happy New Year!

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  9. I love your goals. I really want to get into yoga. I've been terribly inconsistent with everything but running so I'm going to pick one new thing a month to concentrate on and hopefully some of it will stick. This month I'm doing pushups everyday. I think next month will be yoga.

    I've never eaten sauerkraut. The only thing I refuse to eat is canned peas. Definitely traumatized by them when I was a kid.

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  10. You've got great goals this year!

    (I could eat sauerkraut once a week. Love it!!!)

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  11. Love your goals, especially the clean eating!

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  12. NEVER had sauerkraut, never will! I'm super picky (I've never even had traditional pizza or a hamburger). My MIL makes a dessert "pastry wreath" every New Year's Day, so that has been a tradition for our family (I did post a picture on my blog back on the 1st).

    I'm so ready to return to the routine after the holidays! Good goals, not just fitness, but other 'health" ones as well. Good luck!

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    1. Not into sauerkraut here either! I like your goals. Isn't it funny how we go to the doctor for instructions on getting better and then we don't want to follow them if we don't like them? Good luck with your goals!

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  13. What are you doing for yoga? Especially interested if a video or online.

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