A New Year's Day Feast!

New Year's Eve is almost here and the excitement is building! Our favorite New Year's tradition is popping open a bottle of bubbly and toasting to the great year ahead. But, after doing a little research we found a handful of other great New Year's traditions involving food & drink.

In the South, they eat plenty of Hoppin' John, a tasty dish with black eyed peas, rice and ham. In Italy and Brazil they eat lentils because their cooked shape resembles a coin. Try some lentil soup with sausage this week. In Greece, they make Vasilopita, a cake with a lucky coin baked right in. For taste (and safety), we prefer to bake in a raisin or chocolate since they're also edible!

With New Year's on the brain, we powered up the FoodPair search engine and found some great dishes to help you ring in the New Year!

Pomegranate Ginger Champagne Cocktail
Try this great riff on the traditional Champagne cocktail.
Ingredients in this recipe: ginger, sugar, Champagne, orange juice, pomegranate juice, Cointreau


Hoppin' John
A classic Southern New Year's dish, just watch out for the coin!
Ingredients in this recipe: onion, bay leaf, ham hock, salt, black pepper, long grain rice, black eyed peas

Lentil Soup with Kale and Sausage
Lentils & sausage are another great NYE tradition.
Ingredients in this recipe: olive oil, Parmesan cheese, onion, sausage, lentils, kale, salt, vegetable broth

Soba Noodles with Asparagus and Prosciutto
Soba is a tasty Japanese NYE classic.
Ingredients in this recipe: prosciutto, garlic, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, egg, asparagus, soba noodles

Chocolate Cloud Cake
For NYE dessert fun, hide a good-luck charm in the cake. Just be careful!
Ingredients in this recipe: egg, butter, sugar, cocoa powder, bittersweet chocolate, Cointreau


Time to make some tasty New Year's dishes!

Any other favorite ingredients or dishes you'd like us to highlight? Post them in the comments section or on our Facebook page! And while you're at it, "Like" us on Facebook to get helpful updates in your news feed.