Get Lucky in 2018! New Year's Day Brunch Recipes

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Whether it is a small gathering of just our nuclear family or a larger event with friends and neighbors, we like to start the new year right with a New Year’s Day Brunch emphasizing lucky foods. The menu is eclectic, but definitely favors our southern roots. It has just the right mix to ensure luck, love, progress, and success in the new year! Shout out to Cauleen (!), our good friend that inspired this tradition many years ago. 

(Veggie) Hoppin' John with Collard Greens a la Vegetarian Times. Serves 4. Consider tripling or quadrupling the recipe for a larger event. 

My non-vegetarian husband likes to make a Pork Roast. This recipe for a Porchetta Pork Roast by Melissa Clark for New York Times Cooking looks good even to a vegetarian. 

Green Beans with Parsley-Lemon Pesto by Maria Helm Sinskey for Food & Wine.

Potato-Parsnip Latkes with Savory Applesauce by Suzanne Tracht and Adeena Sussman for Epicurious. 

Macaroni and Three Cheeses by David Walzog for Food & Wine (aka Cauleen’s Mac n’ Cheese). *This is the only recipe that makes a repeat from Thanksgiving. It is too delicious not to make and always a crowd pleaser. (V) For vegetarians like me, replace the Worcestershire sauce with vegetarian Worcestershire or soy sauce.

Do-it-Yourself Mimosa Bar - Set out some champagne glasses, bottles of bubbly+ (you can easily find a nice, effervescent Spanish Cava for under $10/bottle) a variety of fruit juices (e.g., orange, peach, pomegranate, grapefruit, cranberry), and some fruit for garnish (e.g., blueberries, raspberries, pomegranate seeds).

+For non-drinkers, be sure to put out some sparkling water so folks can make their own non-alcoholic mimosas. 

Happy New Year!

Esha/EnrichedFamily