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Are you ready to step into 2025? I hope these recipes from allrecipes.com add a heaping spoonful of enjoyment to your New Year's celebration.
Some traditional New Year's foods from around the world that symbolize luck and abundance include pork, fish, tamales, dumplings, rice, noodles, beans, cornbread, black-eyed peas, onions, collard greens, cabbage, oranges, grapes, and pomegranates.
There are so many interesting food-related traditions connected to New Year's celebrations. A well-known custom from Spain is to eat 12 grapes at midnight when New Year's Eve shifts into New Year's Day - one grape for luck in each of the upcoming 12 months.
Another tradition I love originates in Greece, in which you throw a pomegranate on the ground to break it open, and the more it bursts and spills its seeds, the more fortune you will have in the new year. I'm not sure if I'll partake in that particular tradition this year considering the price of pomegranates these days, but I'd like to at least buy one to eat as a snack!
Happy New Year! I look forward to sharing more recipes with you in 2025.
Pour about 1 inch of water into the bottom of a large stockpot, bring to boil. Add salt, place a steamer insert inside the pot so it is just above water level. Place lobster tails on steamer rack and cover the pot. Steam lobster tails for 8 minutes and don't peek! Remove from steamer, serve with melted butter.
Clean oysters and place in a large stockpot. Pour in beer and enough water to cover oysters; add 2 cloves of garlic, peppercorns, and seasoned salt. Bring to boil. Remove from heat, drain, and cool. Preheat oven 425 degrees. Once oysters are cooled, break off and discard top shell. Arrange oysters on baking sheet.
Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic in butter until soft. Reduce heat to low; stir in spinach, Monterey Jack, fontina, and mozzarella. Cook until cheese melts, stirring frequently. Stir in milk; season with salt and pepper. Spoon sauce over each oyster, just filling the shell. Sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake in oven until golden and bubbly, 8 - 10 minutes.
Preheat oven 400 degrees. Lay puff pastry out on lightly floured surface and cut into 8 squares. Prick the squares in several places with fork. Place puff pastry squares on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake squares for 7 minutes. Remove from oven; flatten squares using the backside of a spatula. Return puff pastry to oven to bake until golden brown, about 5 more minutes.
Meanwhile, melt butter in skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and garlic; cook and stir until mushrooms are tender, 5 - 7 minutes. Remove from heat. Top baked squares evenly with mushroom mixture; crumble goat cheese over mushrooms and sprinkle with parsley. Serve warm. COOK'S NOTE: You may substitute goat cheese with feta cheese.
Preheat oven 375 degrees. Slice dates in half and open them up. Pinch off pieces of blue cheese and place them in center of dates; press date halves together to close. Wrap each date with a half-slice of bacon and secure with toothpick.
Arrange in baking dish or on baking sheet with sides to catch grease. Bake in oven until bacon is crisp, 30 - 40 minutes. Turn dates over after the first 20 minutes for even cooking.
Bring wine to simmer in a fondue pot over medium-low. Stir in flour and nutmeg until well combined. Add Swiss and Gruyère cheeses, 1/4 pound at a time, mixing after each addition until cheese is melted. Season with salt. Serve with cutup French bread.
COOK'S NOTE: If fondue gets too thick, add a little more white wine until texture is to your liking.
Combine ice cream, milk, rum, coffee liqueur, and vodka in a large punch bowl; whisk until frothy and liquified. Ladle into punch glasses and garnish with nutmeg.