Caving to Public Pressure

Ever since I started my facebook account, I would start to include status updates that told everyone what I was up to in the kitchen. The world of social media is interesting. Many people use Twitter, sending out little blurbs about various things, some informative, some inane, some just trying to solicit a click-through to another site. But I found that anytime I posted a status update that talked about what I was cooking, I had people asking to come to dinner, asking for leftovers, or asking for recipes. Over a year later, someone suggested that I should start a weekly blog and include recipes. So here I go, diving head first into the blogosphere, starting a blog about my travails in the kitchen.

I've spent the last few weeks cooking, thanks to the holidays. I'm trying not to waste food as much this year (I tend to go shopping and my eyes get really big and I end up with crazy things in my cart that I never use), so I'm trying to cook strategically.

It's New Year's, tho, and for many, that means a traditional meal of something. I grew up with the black-eyed peas, country ham, cabbage camp. I moved to Ohio and discovered the pork and sauerkraut tradition. I used to hate black-eyed peas. I assume my taste buds have evolved and I really should give that another shot, but I also tread carefully around the world of sauerkraut (stemming from a summer as a prop master for a play and dealing with raw sauerkraut -- I grew to hate the stuff. I like it now, but only on reubens). So, my compromise is kielbasa and cabbage.

I used fresh kielbasa (but you can use the pre-cooked kind, too). If using fresh, brown the kielbasa in a pan, then add a bottle of beer, bring to a boil and cook for about 15 minutes until the kielbasa is cooked through.

Ingredients
1 medium onion, sliced thin
4 large potatoes, quartered
1 can beef broth
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp each -- fresh pepper and dried thyme
1 package kielbasa

Put all ingredients in a large skillet, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

To cook the cabbage, take a large pot and melt 3 tablespoons of butter. Chop up the cabbage (removing the core) and sautee in the butter and season with salt and pepper.