Boxing Day? Today? A little out of season, aren\’t I?

Actually, it\’s been sort of the reverse of last Thanksgiving\’s Can Can. Instead of taking stuff out of cans, I was putting things into plastic food boxes (or jars).

Almost immediately after trying out the Hoppin\’ John recipe, I began to dream up variations. \”HJ\” uses black-eyed peas. I thought of lentils, black beans, and so on.

I just finished making Variation #1, using field peas. I\’ve dubbed it Br\’er Joe, after my field pea-loving brother; and you might say that the prep spanned the entire day.

During morning break, I started the brown rice cooking. When it was done, I let it cool, and put in a plastic box and stored it in the fridge until I was ready to use it.

At lunch time, I sorted the field peas and put them to soak. During afternoon break I chopped the celery and put it in a box to keep in the fridge until it was needed. That\’s box number two!

After I clocked out for the day, I rode to the nearby grocery store to get the orange bell pepper and red onion. Back home, I started the field peas cooking. While they were simmering, I got the onion, cheese, and bell pepper ready. I didn\’t need either the whole onion, or the whole bell pepper. What I didn\’t use went into jars to keep in the fridge.

The field peas were done just about the time I finished prepping the other stuff. I ate a cupful of Br\’er Joe for supper; and now I have to store the rest. It\’s really boxing day, you might say.