As much as I love alliteration, I thought I’d change up the title of my Menu Plan post. I know, I’m a crazy lady this Monday

Maybe it’s because family is visiting, so I’ve been inspired to get out of my regular routine a bit. My mom is originally from England, so you’ll notice a few British influences (like the cheese and cucumber sandwich) and a few of our family favorites that I grew up on (like lentils and gyoza).  The gyoza (a traditional Japanese dumpling) take a while to prepare and are usually eaten as an appetizer, but our family will make a batch of 60 or so and eat them as our main course with rice and even some stir fried vegetables. The great thing about them is that instead of the traditional meat, cabbage and onion that we typically grind together in the food processor, you can switch the protein and veggie with anything that works for your family.

For instance, last time we made these I had ground chicken and cilantro that needed to be used, so I made more of a Thai version. It’s also a great way to get some veggies in your kids because they’ll never see them! You then put a teaspoon of the mixture inside a gyoza wrapper (pick them up at your local Asian market), fold them in half, pan fry for about 3 minutes and then cover and steam for about two and a half minutes and you have a fun food that kids and adults love.

Check out my video below on how to make gyoza (keep in mind that this was made to send to my dad awhile ago after we had just gotten our new Flip video camera for $4.99!)