How I Got the Picky Eater to Eat New Year's Dinner

Happy New Year!




New Year's is always a time for new goals, new plans, and new hopes. I was lucky enough to get kissed by three absolutely wonderful guys last night when the clock struck twelve.  (Granted, two of the three were in their footie jammies- but they still count towards lucky kisses!)

After sleeping in (I'm running slower today thanks to a shared cold), I had the daunting task of prepping our traditional New Year's Day lunch.  Most of the country eats the same New Year's meal: Black-Eyed Peas and Cabbage.  The peas symbolize luck and the cabbage represents prosperity.  If there's anything we could use in this house, it's lots of luck and prosperity! 

The problem comes when I try to get my husband to eat peas.  He despises beans in general.  He grudgingly ate ONE pea last year.  The kids dislike cabbage and beans on general principle.  Oh, dear!  I spent a few minutes mentally shuffling through my list of meal ideas trying to find one that everyone might compromise on.  Then I remembered- last year, Hubs had the boys try a Mexican Egg Roll at some restaurant or another.  The ingredients included black beans and spinach.  They liked the flavor of it, but weren't fans of the "egg roll" part of it.  With my kids, if you can get them to even consider the idea, then the battle is almost won.  I happen to know that both my kids and Hubs like homemade taquitos.  I wondered to myself, "What would happen if I made something similar as a taquito... but substituted the cabbage for the spinach and the field peas for the black beans?"  Of course, deep frying it is out of the picture, but since I normally bake my taquitos, it shouldn't be too much of a work around.

The result:

New Year's Day Taquitos!

Crispy flour tortillas wrapped around a spicy black-eyed pea, cabbage and pork filling.  The recipe is posted below.  Any ground meat can be substituted for the pork.  I merely used what I had.  Also, I'd typically use fresh peas and corn tortillas, but again, use what you have- I happened to have flour tortillas and a 14 ounce can of black-eyed peas, and they worked beautifully.

New Year's Taquitos
A tasty blend of black-eyed peas, cabbage, and pork. 

1 pound of ground pork (feel free to substitute beef or turkey)
1/2 cup of onions, minced
1 serrano pepper, minced finely (substitute a bell pepper if you don't like spicy peppers)
1 can of black-eyed peas, rinsed then chopped roughly
1 cup of finely shredded cabbage
1 1/2 cup of colby-jack or cheddar cheese, shredded
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
Tortillas (approximately 20 taco sized tortillas)

Brown the meat in a large pan over medium high heat.  Once the meat is browned, add in the onions, peppers, and cabbage.  Cook until the vegetables soften, but not burnt.  Add peas and stir until warmed.  Remove from heat.  Stir in spices and cheese.  Allow to sit for five minutes.  While waiting, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and layer parchment paper or foil on a baking sheet.  Begin filling the taquitos by placing a heaped spoonful of filling onto the lower third of a tortilla.  Roll upwards into a tube.  Place seam side down on baking sheet.  Once all the tortillas are filled, bake the taquitos for 25 to 30 minutes or until barely browned and crispy.

So, how did they turn out? 

The couldn't even put them down to finish watching their movie!

My preschooler, once the pan had cooled, began sneaking into the kitchen to grab leftover ones from the pan.  So much for having a few left to freeze for later! 

I hope your New Year is a fantastic opportunity for each of my readers.  Good luck!