Oktoberfest in January

January is always the same with us. We don't make any New Year's resolutions. At least I don't. I think New Year's resolutions are dumb. I don't really believe in rebirth or dates or numerology or any other such nonsense. Any day of the year is just as good as any other to start something new.

I'm really fun at parties too.

That being said, after the holiday we generally try to keep things a little lighter and that also usually includes a massive cleaning of our fridge, pantry, and freezer. January, to us, is an amalgamation of old things from our freezer, new things we received as Christmas gifts, and a vaguely healthful addition of foods so that we can try to shake off some of the massive quantities of butter ingested in November and December.



After torturing my sister-in-law with salads that were overly laden with fruits I decided to resist all urges and focus on making a salad that she might enjoy. She's not here, mind you, but I know that even knowing about my fruity salads makes her life a little less happy so I figured I'd give her a break this evening.

I baked a sweet potato in the oven then sliced it up, tossed it with quinoa, kale, hot sauce, olive oil, salt, pepper, cider vinegar, and toasted cashews. I'm not sure how she would feel about this given that sweet potatoes are sweet like a fruit. She may also disapprove of the nut element. If she reports any discontent or trouble sleeping I'll try to make something tomorrow night with lettuce, tomato, and shredded carrot to try to win back her favor.



After the salad I browned up some Irish bangers in a pan then added some sauerkraut from Greyrock Farm CSA out of Cazenovia, NY. We got this sauerkraut last month in our delivery from Milk Not Jails. After cooking this down for a few minutes I tossed in some circular cut Red Bliss and Yukon Gold potato slices which I'd tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper.



While it cooked I added some of my beer to the pan. Which beer?



It was another gift for Christmas, this Oktoberfest from Schmohz Brewing in Grand Rapids, MI. Seeing that it's an Oktoberfest beer I figured I'd best get to drinking this as one of the first beers. It won't quite make it to next Oktoberfest so it's time for a little Bavarian festivity. With the fall like weather we have been experiencing it seemed appropriate.

I served it with fresh bread and whole grain mustard. If I'd had more foresight I would have gotten some brown bread or pumpernickel but hindsight is 20/20.

For dessert we enjoyed a few episodes of Eureka which Jen has recently become obsessed with. I initially disapproved of this show because of what I perceived to be too close a similarity to Bones, however, now I admit that it is not actually like Bones at all.

Anything that is not much like Bones is okay with me.