January-February2018

Sweet Cornbread Recipe

Ingredients 2 cup Cornmeal ¼ cup Butter (softened) 3 tbsp. Vegetable Oil 1 ½ cup Buttermilk ½ cup Sugar 1 Large Egg 1 cup Sour Cream ½ cup Cheddar Cheese

Directions Set oven to 360º F and pour vegetable oil into cast-iron skillet. Place skillet into oven while it pre-heats. Combine the rest of the ingredients and mix until blended (do not over mix). Remove skillet from oven and pour in mixture. Place skillet in center rack and cook for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Beans, Greens, & Cornbread Foods that Bring Good Luck in the New Year! A t the start of each new year, people across the globe search for a sign that the upcoming year may bring them luck and prosperity. These signs can take the form of various superstitions, and here in the South we use food to determine how we will prosper. "Peas for pennies, greens for dollars, and cornbread for gold," goes an old Southern saying. These foods were staples of the average hard-working southern households during the Civil War and have become a part of our New Year's Tradition in bringing good luck and wealth. Beans and peas are meant to represent coins or change. Some family traditions involve hiding nickels in the pot of black-eyed peas and whomever is served the nickels will prosper in the new year. Greens (or collards for us Southerners) are meant to represent money. It is said that the more greens you have on your plate on New Year's Day the more monetary gain you can expect in the upcom- ing year. If you're not a big fan of collard greens, don't worry, this superstition includes all greens from spinach to kale and everything in between. The last thing you should be sure to include in your New Year's Day dinner is cornbread. The golden color of cornbread and their rectangular shape is meant to reflect the color and shape of gold bars. It is said that having cornbread on New Year's Day would mean that you will have wealth in gold in the year ahead. As it seems, these traditions each revolve around some form of monetary gain. I don't know about you, but this year I will be loading up my plate with all three!

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