Here's To The New Year

Happy New Year!

Hubby Tony and I spent the last night of 2015 at our local botanical garden.  At this time of year, after the sun goes down millions of holiday nights go on for the Garden Glow.  On New Year's Eve there weren't many people there, and it was easy to navigate the path through the exhibits and displays.  Afterwards we went to dinner at a nearby restaurant.  It was a nice low key evening.

To start the new year right. I cooked black eyed peas and greens for lunch.  Last night before I went to bed I started soaking the legumes.  After breakfast it didn't take long to chop up onion and garlic and throw them into the pot along with some broth.  To add heat I dumped in some very spicy salsa roja Son Tony made while he was in town.  It only took 45 minutes for the dish to be done. (I was pleasantly surprised.) .

Earlier in the week when I was at a food store that caters to commercial kitchens I picked up the large can of greens.  Today I used a fourth of the can, and froze the rest in meal-sized containers for later.  I cooked the greens with more onion, spices, and pan juice from the beans.

When it was time to eat everyone served themselves, adding whatever proportion of ingredients they felt like eating.  Although I thought I'd spiced everything well, some additional hot sauce added at the table made the dish taste even better.