Eating

In South Carolina, USA, they eat a lot of Hoppin' John this week. Rice and black-eyed peas. Brings good luck for the New Year. In this version, American Southern cooking meets Italian cuisine. I feel lucky already.

The last course of the last meal of the year. Out with a bang. A warm, soft semi-sweet one. Spectacular in your mouth, with or without Champagne.

Waste not, want not. Save those orange peels and make this great sweet snack. Sweet and tart at the same time. Hey, serve it at midnight with Champagne. Very sophisticated. And free.

Garbanzos fritos. The best bar snack in town. They're addictive. They're cheap and easy. Refried chickpeas lightly coated with pimentón. $2 for a superior snack laced with protein, iron and Vitamins B and C. Enough for four snackers.

Better Cheaper finger food. The tastiest, healthiest slider at the party. Intensely flavorful. Vividly colorful. One beet makes twenty. Twenty cents of ingredients makes one. Ten minutes of your time makes twenty of them.

For about $4.25 in ingredients and 12 minutes of your time, you get five or six dozen of the best cookies ever. And something that's in the running for Best Homemade Christmas Gift Ever. Bake a dozen. Give the rest of the dough as a gift that keeps on baking.

The $4 per person dinner party. Entertainment included. Melts onto your plate and in your mouth. So much fun it's hard to imagine this comes from Switzerland.

A spectacularly satisfying savory finale to the Christmas Eve Feast of 7 Vegetables. Tomato, basil, parmigiano reggiano, roasted garlic and Tuscan kale. A great combination of flavors to warm you up anytime.

Because they taste great. Not really a meat substitute. But it's nice to have a vegetable you can chew on. The trick is the parsnip itself. In a hot oven, its outside crisps and browns quickly while its inside softens and sweetens.Great with a spicy BBQ sauce.

What a Way to finish a meal. Sweet and tart. Refreshing and satisfying. And it counts as a fruit serving. If I were a bettin' man, I'd bet you'll lick your plate.