Ring in the New Year

with a brunch

Remember December's Reindeer Bar ideas? Well here's one Ever Ready clearly overlooked-a Bloody Mary Bar with all the trimmings.

This counter certainly held an impressive array of add ons to accompany a large pitcher of Bloody Mary mix. Guests could make their own with 

marinated shrimp, cubed jalapeno cheese, assortment of olives, pickled onions, celery stalks, red peppers, lemon slices and don't forget the vodka!

The hostess impressed her guests with her newly acquired DIY skill: napkin folding to create a Christmas Tree.

She followed this youtube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUIoqUEs_RY
Remember the party favors I made before Christmas?  

Well they made their way across the country to AZ just in time for the brunch. Here is the DIY link https://sockfairies.blogspot.com/2019/12/diy-holiday-ideas.html just in case you want to get a head start on some for next New Year's Eve. 

There's nothing like food to bring a group together while enjoying each other's company. 
Enjoy Crunchy Cashew Shredded Brussels Sprouts Salad 

Cook's Notes: A delicious cashew crunch shredded Brussels sprouts salad tossed in a flavorful sesame ginger dressing. This easy vegan salad recipe is loaded with colorful veggies and topped with crunchy roasted cashews and toasted almonds. The recipe serves 6-8 but can be easily adapted to smaller proportions. It was adapted from ambitiouskitchens.com
Timesaver: A shortcut to red cabbage and shredded carrots is using a bag of Sweet Kale Chopped Kit with a 1/2 bag of shredded Brussels Sprouts. 

Salad Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound Brussels sprouts, trim ends and remove any yellow outer leaves before shredding or use 1/2 bag Super Shred Brussels Sprouts found in produce

• 2 cups shredded red cabbage (also known as purple cabbage)
• 1 ½ cups shredded carrots (from the bag) or carrots cut into small matchsticks
• 1 cup sweet mini red peppers, diced
• 1 cup orange/yellow mini peppers, diced
• 3/4 cup red onion slices 
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 3/4 cup salted roasted cashews
• 1/2 cup toasted almonds

Ginger Sesame Dressing Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce (or coconut aminos if GF)
• 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 4-5 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 tablespoon freshly minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Dressing Directions:

Mix in a blender. Taste test to balance ingredients and refrigerate until serving. Store extra dressing in a screw type jar. 

Salad Directions: Mix salad ingredients and drizzle with dressing.