There are many New Year’s traditions – the countdown to midnight, setting new resolutions, and of course, eating a good luck meal on New Year’s Day consisting of barbecue meatballs.

I have to admit, living in the Midwest we have always had pork and sauerkraut for dinner on the first day of every year.

I never really questioned the reason behind it, I just knew we had to eat some to ensure the good luck would follow us throughout the new year.

Not being a huge fan of traditional sauerkraut, I began to do some research to see if it would be bad luck if I prepared it in a different method. That is when I found the true reason behind the traditional New Year’s Day meal.

This tradition comes from a German settlers who believed that you should eat pork because pigs place their snout in the dirt and move it forward signifying moving forward in the new year.

On the contrary, fowl scratch in a backward motion which would indicate if you eat this type of game, you will be destined to live in the past.

And the only reason that I can find the reason for sauerkraut was because it was an economical side dish to pork (besides the one author who stated eat sauerkraut for a sweet new year???).

So we decided that this New Year’s good luck meal would come from a recipe that we had at a recent family gathering.

Our nephew Jeremy and his family brought a crock-pot full of meatballs in barbecue sauce with sauerkraut intermixed to add a unique flavor to the dish. What a brilliant idea for New Year’s!

Now we will continue to follow tradition of eating pork and sauerkraut but bring it up to date with this classic recipe that everyone will enjoy!

Crock Pot Barbecue Meatballs and Sauerkraut Recipe

**Recipe can be doubled for large crowds

Ingredients:

24 ounces of your favorite barbecue sauce

1 pound of refrigerated sauerkraut

28 precooked and frozen meatballs (**see recipe below for Homemade Meatballs)

Instructions:

1. Add 1/3 of barbecue sauce to the bottom of your crock pot.

2. Add half of the meatballs and half of the sauerkraut

3. Add another 1/3 of barbecue sauce on top of the meatball/sauerkraut mixture.

4. Repeat.

5. Place on high for 2 hours and reduce to low for an additional hour. Stir occasionally.

6. Serve once meatballs have heated through.