New Year’s Day: Brunch & Dinner

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It is probably a stretch calling this brunch since it was around 11:30 but what the heck.

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As is the family tradition, blackeye peas have to be part of the New Year’s Day menu for good luck.  My favorite way to serve them is in Dirty Rice with eggs.
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1/2 lb browned ground pork sausage, then the Dirty Rice mix cooked according to the package.
When the Dirty Rice mixture is almost done I put one can of thoroughly rinsed blackeye peas.
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Finish the rice with the peas then served up with fried eggs.
Dinner:  Because we had a lot of the lettuce wrap ingredients still left, we decided to go ahead and have Asian again tonight.

 

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There was not quite enough meat left for the lettuce wraps so I cooked up some ground pork sausage, mixed in some chopped water chestnuts and green onions.  The sauce was a mixture of Hoisin, sake and mirin… simmered until thickened.

 

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The ingredient choices for the lettuce wraps included the leftover beef & pork & shrimp from last night and the ground pork mixture.

 

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I had to show off my new can opener, which my Heart gave me for Christmas.  It is super cool and works great… especially nice since I sometimes have trouble twisting our old can opener and have also sliced my hand open on can lids.  This one is much safer !!
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Gyoza (or pot stickers) were the addition for tonight’s dinner.  Since we were having meat(s) for the lettuce wraps, we had the vegetable dumplings.  They are so easy to make – browned on one side in about 1 Tbsp oil, (2-3 minutes) – flip and pour in 1/3c water – cover and boil until most of the water has evaporated (approximately 2-3 minutes).
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The gyoza was served with ready-made gyoza sauce but a little shoyu, vinegar and sesame oil works great.  We also had some stir-fried vermicelli that I bought at the Asian Market yesterday.  This is the first time we’ve tried this takeout dish – it was very good and something I will definitely buy again.

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