Magickal New Year's eve cuisine recipes

Why not cook a meal for You and Your family, in  a traditional, spiritual fashion, and  while at it, 

attract blessings and abundance for You and Your beloved , on New Year's eve? Spending it home, rejoicing, with people You love, in a cozy  atmosphere, whit a fire crackling in Your chimney, as You await a first-footer, with whom You will share Your magickal meal, specially prepared for this occasion. Good mojo ahead, I say J 

Here are some easy and powerful recipes for Your convenience:

Hoppin' John

The auspicious lucky powers of this meal, lie within symbolism, 

  as Mrs yronwode  explains in her book “Hoodoo herb and Root magick; A material magica of African American Conjure” :

“African American often explain the custom of dining the Blackeyed peas ,Cornbread, and  Cabbage  or Collard greens on New Year’s  by saying that Beans bring general good luck; the cornbread, being yellow, draws “gold” or coins; and the cabbage or greens, resembling U.S. paper currency, attracts folding green for the year to come.” [1]


Following recipe is courtesy of Paula Dean and is retrieved from here, for educational and illustrative purposes without any ill will:

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 small red bell pepper, chopped
• Garlic powder
• 2 cups black-eye peas, cooked
• 2 cups cooked rice
• House Seasoning, recipe follows
• 8 sprigs fresh parsley, for garnish

  Directions:

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic powder, to taste, and cook for 5 minutes. Add peas and rice and cook an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Be careful not to overcook; this dish is best if the bell pepper and onion still have a crunch to them. Add House Seasoning, to taste. Garnish each serving with sprig of parsley.

House seasoning

• 1 cup salt
• 1/4 cup black pepper
• 1/4 cup garlic powder

Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months. [2]

 

Cornbread recipe

Cornbread is a staple part of older, now bit archaic cuisine of country I come from. I never really liked it much, I find it “edible” lol, but experimenting with some recipes I’ve found out it can be really nice when properly made. Here is one of the traditional recipes;  which is very basic and favorable for people who happen to be fasting at time of New Year, like I usually do

You’ll need:

·         500 grams of all-purpose wheat flour

       ·         500 grams of yellow cornmeal
       ·         25 grams of dry yeast
       ·         1 teaspoon  of brown sugar ( white can be used too, my personal preference is brown )
       ·         1 spoon of salt
       ·         1 spoon of vinegar
       ·         ½ of cup ( 0,5 dl ) of melted margarine, or vegetable oil
       ·         ½ of liter ( 500 ml ) of lukewarm water

As You see, no eggs nor honey, which  commonly found in States or UK versions of Cornbread.    

1.       Mix a teaspoon of sugars with yeast, and warm water, and leave it to sit until the fermentation starts ( 10-20 minutess top )

       2.       In a larger mixing bowl combine :  300 gr. Of wheat flour, 300 gr. Of cornmeal, salt, oil and vinegar. Now add the yeast from the previous step, and adding a bit of lukewarm water and the remaining flour, mix, and knead the dough until it becomes even, moderately thick, and stops adhering to  Your hands.
       3.       Leave the dough for 30 minutes to sit, then knead again, one of twice. Leave it to sit, preferably in a covered bowl,  on warm place, for another 30 minutes, then  knead it once again.
       4.        After that, on a flat surface, You’ve sprinkled generously with flour, knead a bit once more, and then divide the dough in two parts. Place  both parts in bread molds or casseroles, which were previously oiled, and sprinkled lightly with flour, then leave them sit  for  30 minutes, and after that place them in an oven, on 220’C for  30 minutes.
       5.       After 30 minutes,  set the oven on 150’C and  bake for 10 more minutes.
       6.       You can sprinkle the baked Cornbread with some warm water. If  You wish You mad dissolve some honey in  it, though this will render the Cornbread sweat instead of neutral and thus more cake like and less bread like.

This  Cornbread, as I make it, it’s clearly more of a bread than a cakey thing You might be used to with eggs and milk.  More so because it contains yeast.  If You add an egg, lessen the amount of flour,  and substitute whole or a part of water in this recipe, with milk, You can get the a very cake-like consistency and taste.

Cleansing sauce

Following sauce combines cleansing, and evil banishing botanicals ( herbs and spices ) and is hence ideal for Your New Years eve or Christmas roast meat,  for other than   being delicious, it also has magickal properties, to cleanse and remove evil.  What You need is:

·         One whole, large onion

       ·         Three long Celery stalks

       ·         Five large Sage leafs

       ·         Rosemary  branch

       ·         Basil leaves, about half a teaspoon

       ·         Chicken brooth

       ·         Some butter or oil

       ·        Some crumbled Cornbread

       ·         Salt

       ·         Pepper

Chop ( or cube ) the Onion and the Celery stalks, and place them in a pan  dressed with some oil or butter. Margarine works well too.  Saute the Onions and Celery, and then drizzle with Chicken broth when they get really tender and brownish. Cook in broth  for few minutes. Then add  some butter ( margarine and oil work equally well  ) then crumbled cornbread,   bruised or minced sage leafs, rosemary branch which has too been chopped to small pieces, Basil leafs crumbled and bruised, and Salt and Pepper as desired. Cook for 3-5 more minutes , mixing constantly so it does not burn.

Strain If You wish, I don’t.   Bon appétit !  Best with roast meat and potatoes.

Enjoy :)
Shadow

NOTES: This article was composed and created by myself, If You wish to use any part of it elsewhere online feel free, but add credits ,  Shadow of Shadows magick place, Shadow-333@hotmails.com  , or a direct link to this post
CREDITS AND REFFRENCES:
[1]“Hoodoo herb and Root magick; A material magica of African American Conjure” , 2002 year edition, page 43^rd
[2] Retriewed from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/hoppin-john-recipe/index.html , for educational and explanatory purposes, without any ill will
IMAGE CREDITS: Image showing Vintage New Year postcard is from :  http://cgtreasures.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-year-vintage-style.html  used here for illustrative purpose  , without any ill  will