My most successful New Year’s resolution to date was one I made in college to wear earrings every day for the entire year.  I’d had my ears pierced for years but was very lazy about actually wearing jewelry.  I aced that resolution (Can you “ace” a resolution? Achieve? Complete?); I wore earrings every.single.day.  Doing so did not make me a better person in any profound way, but it helped me feel a little more put together when I left the house.  The following year I resolved to wear high heels at least three times a week; that lasted until roughly the end of January, when I decided to embrace my (lack of) height and give my poor feet a break.  Since then I have been far less creative.

This year I am setting New Year’s Goals (essentially the same as resolutions, I just like the idea of “goals” more than that of “resolutions.”)  Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Blog at least twice a week.  I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, and 2013 is the year! I don’t care if no one reads it (well, that’s not true…I’d be sad if no one read it…), I am blogging!

2. Run at least three races, including a marathon.  I’ve run half marathons and 10-ks consistently since my early college years, but I’ve only completed one full marathon, and it was five years ago.  I think I’ve reached the point where saying, “I run marathons,” is not entirely true.  A more accurate statement would be, “I ran a marathon one time in college.”  It’s time to push myself a little harder.

3. Eat a cleaner diet.  Those of you who know me well might be laughing at this; relatively speaking, I eat very healthy, organic, straight-from-the-earth food most of the time.  But, those of you who know me well also know that I rarely say no to ice cream!  If you were to ask Andrew about this topic, he might quote me last night as saying, “I just want so much chocolate.”  So, in 2013 we are aiming to cut back a bit on the added sugar, as well as add more of a variety of vegetables (quantity is not an issue, but we do tend to get stuck in a broccoli/kale/peppers cycle.)

That’s a good start for the blog, I think.

On New Year’s Day we hung out and watched football with friends, so we pushed our semi-traditional NYD meal to January 2.

On the menu:  Pork Chops Marsala, Black-Eyed Peas, and Collard Greens

(Sub-goal of goal #1: learn to take better photos, especially of food in bad light ;-))

We scanned a few recipes for a Marsala sauce, then improvised.  Here’s our recipe:

Pork Chops Marsala

-4 pork chops

-1 package of mushrooms, sliced

-2 cloves of garlic, minced

-2 c chicken broth

-1/2 c cooking sherry

– flour (gluten-free for Andrew)

-salt, pepper, thyme

-olive oil

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat; 2. add olive oil, then mushrooms, and saute until brown.  3. While mushrooms are browning, season the pork chops with a little salt and pepper, then coat with flour.  4. Remove mushrooms from skillet.  5. If needed, add more olive oil to the skillet, add the pork chops, and cook until both sides are browned (a few minutes on each side.) 6. Remove pork chops from skillet. 7. Add garlic and saute until it starts smelling delicious (a few minutes :)). 8. Add mushrooms back to the skillet, plus ~2 tbsp flour and thyme, and cook for about a minute.  9. Add the chicken broth and sherry, stir constantly, and bring to a boil. 10. Reduce heat and let simmer for about 2 minutes.  11. Return pork to pan, and let simmer for a few minutes until pork is cooked all the way through.  12. Enjoy!

This was not our healthiest recipe, but oh-so-delicious!  It’s definitely a keeper!

We had half a package of turkey bacon, so we incorporated that into the greens and black-eyed peas.

For the black-eyed peas we chopped a few slices of the turkey bacon into small pieces and sauteed them in a medium sauce pan.  Then we added minced garlic, and after a few minutes we added 2 cups of chicken broth and 4 cups of dry black-eyed peas, and brought everything to a boil.  Then we reduced the heat and let simmer for about 30 minutes.

The collard greens were very simple as well: greens + turkey bacon + chicken broth, simmer for 30 minutes or so, add apple cider vinegar, and simmer a little longer!

Here’s to a happy, healthy 2013!