New Year's Pork and Sauerkraut

For the first time in a long long time, I didn't make black eyed peas and collard greens for New Year's Day.

I'm not sure how I know or why it's a tradition but the Pennsylvania Dutch (up in the Amish country and I assume all other places with a strong German tradition) start the New year with a long simmered dish of pork and sauerkraut. Not a particularly appetizing name or even the sort of thing I usually would cook for James but some how glancing at the crockpot and searching through a few internet posting it seemed like a new way to welcome the New Year. I sliced up two granny smith apples and one large onion and added them along with a generous sprinkling of brown sugar, two jars of sauerkraut (one drained one with the liquid), a few lightly crushed juniper berries (about 6) and 3 whole cloves to the crock pot. I nestled in a small pork roast (about 2 pounds) and a few links of bratwurst (pierced a few times to keep them intact while they cooked) and poured two cups of white wine over top. The big man put the mixture on to cook while I was away and after 6 hours on low and some quick boiled potatoes our German style dinner was done.

I probably won't rush to make this dish again, but for once in a while, welcome a New Year -- not to bad.