Chinese New Year Recipe Collection

Every year for Chinese New Year, I cook a feast for my family and whatever friends we get to join us because I can't make less food and we need help eating. It's a fun family holiday and I get to relive China for just one day.

This year's spread consisted of:

Hot & Sour Soup

Dumplings (frozen, from Costco)

Homemade egg rolls

Yakisoba (yes, it's Japanese, but I didn't wanna look up lo mein)

I want to eat this food again just thinking about it. I can still taste the egg rolls! Here are the recipes:

Egg Rolls, from Gluesticks

1 lb ground meat (beef, pork, turkey, or go tofu!)

2 packs coleslaw

1 bag bean sprouts (might say 'mung bean')

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup oyster sauce

2 packs egg roll wrappers, 20 ct (found in the produce section by tofu)

Oil, if frying

Olive oil and cooking spray, if baking

Brown the meat in a large pan. I use my deep-dish skillet. When the meat is cooked, add coleslaw and sprouts, cook for 2 minutes. Add the sauces, then get ready for the rest.

I bake my egg rolls, so this is when I preheat the oven to 400. Then I get my rolling station set up. You'll want a cutting board, the wrappers, the filling, and a bowl of warm water. If you're baking, spray a baking sheet and have that at your station as well. If you're frying, maybe use a plate to set your egg rolls on. Having helpers is fantastic!

Standard amount of filling is 2-3 tablespoons, but I pile in more and find that everyone enjoys the ratio better. I probably put in 1/4-1/3 cup.

Then fold up the bottom corner and wet the other three corners.

Fold in the side corners and press them to seal.

Roll tightly, and seal the last corner.

I usually fill 2 baking sheets, but if you make them smaller, you'd need more baking sheets. Brush oil on top and bake for 12 minutes. For the frying directions, click the link above. I haven't tried that because I love that I can bake 30-ish egg rolls in just 12 minutes. Japanese Yum Yum Sauce made for excellent dipping:

Japanese Yum Yum Sauce, from Gluesticks

1 1/4 c mayonnaise

1/4 water

1 tsp tomato paste (I froze the rest of the can in an ice tray!)

1 T melted butter

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp paprika

Mix it all up. Boom. Gluesticks says to refrigerate at least 8 hours, but I made mine on the spot while the egg rolls were baking. Still good!

* * *

Now the yakisoba. Which has no claims of being authentic, but is freaking delicious! I have a hard time not just snacking on it constantly once it's ready.

Yakisoba, adapted slightly from Budget Bytes

1/2 green cabbage, cut thinly

1 medium onion, cut thinly

2 carrots, cut thinly

1 small broccoli, cut small

1 inch fresh ginger, grated

1 tsp minced garlic (or 1 clove)

1 large chicken breast, cut in thin slices

2 T cooking oil

2 packs Ramen (trash the seasoning)

1 tsp sesame oil, optional

1/4 c soy sauce

1/4 c worcestershire sauce

2 T ketchup

up to 1 T sriracha

1. Begin boiling a medium pot full of water for the noodles. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the ginger and garlic, saute for about 30 seconds to one minute (its okay if it sticks to the pan but don’t let it burn). Add the chicken strips and cook until they are no longer pink (about five minutes).

2. Once the chicken is cooked through, add all of the vegetables. Stir and cook until wilted (about 5-10 minutes). Meanwhile, once the water boils, add the noodles and cook just until tender (2-3 minutes). Drain, return to the pot (with the heat turned off) and toss with the sesame oil to keep from sticking.

3. In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and sriracha. Use only 1/2 tsp of sriracha if you don’t want it spicy, use up to 1 Tbsp if you like it hot. Stir until the ketchup is dissolved. Pour the sauce into the skillet with the chicken and vegetables with the heat still on medium high. Add the noodles, stir to coat everything in the sauce, and heat through (just a few minutes).

It really helps if all the prep work is done before you start cooking. Otherwise I end up with veggies and noodles getting overcooked. Still good, just not as good.

* * *

Last recipe, which is actually the first one I put together when I'm managing my time with all of these recipes:

Hot & Sour Soup, adapted from Thrifty Fun

Ingredients: 

1/4-1/3 c fresh mushrooms, sliced

2 Tbsp. of oil

1 inch piece fresh ginger, grated

1 carrot, grated

1 can bamboo shoots, drained, rinsed, sliced in matchsticks

1 Tbsp. red chile paste or hot sauce (sriracha)

1/4 pound of any meat or tofu

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup vinegar

1 tsp. salt

2 quarts chicken, beef, or veggie stock

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.

2. Add the ginger, chili paste (or hot sauce), mushrooms, carrots, bamboo shoots, and meat/tofu; cook and stir for 1 minute to infuse the flavor.

3. Add the soy sauce, vinegar, and salt into the pot and stir together.

4. Pour in the stock, bring the soup to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes. 

So when I cook all this food, I start with the soup, then the egg rolls, and the yakisoba once the egg rolls are in the oven. It's a lot to manage, but so worth it. And the dumplings were microwaveable trays, so that was easy to do when I was ready for them. Think I'm bout to schedule another Asian feast night next month...I love this food!

Homemade Hummus

I've been making this hummus for years and now it's time to share.

Hummus

Ingredients:

2 cans garbanzo beans

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup tahini (sesame paste)

1/4-1/2 c water

1 T minced garlic

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground red pepper or 1/4 tsp cayenne

Put all ingredients in a blender or food processor.

Puree until smooth, adding water to achieve desired consistency.

We serve our hummus with cheese, summer sausage, an assortment of vegetables (carrots, celery, cucumber, tomato, bell peppers), alfalfa sprouts, and a grain (Triscuits, French bread, pita, toasted tortillas, homemade wheat bread).

My favorite is spreading the hummus on my homemade whole wheat bread, topping it with alfalfa sprouts and garden tomatoes. A filling, but light dinner, perfect for summer! All five of my kids love eating this hummus. My babies yell at me for not spooning it into their mouths fast enough. My two-year-old squeals and dances with glee when she sees the hummus.

*recipe adapted from Budget Bites

Crockpot Granola

I almost feel lazy doing this kind of blog post, but I also detest those bloggers that want to write their whole life story and background on why folding laundry is difficult for them, only to finally give me the dang recipe.

So here it is, straight and simple:

Crockpot Granola

from Barefeet in the Kitchen

Ingredients:

5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup honey
1/3 cup coconut oil or butter (or any oil that you want)
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup raisins and/or craisins

Spray your crockpot with cooking spray, then add in the oats, almonds and salt.

In a pan over medium heat, melt together the honey, oil, peanut butter, and cinnamon.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla, then pour the mixture into the crockpot, stirring to combine thoroughly. Put the lid on the crockpot, leaving a crack for venting. Cook on HIGH for 2 hours, stirring every 20-30 minutes. Be sure to scrape the bottom and sides to prevent burning. When it's done, stir in the dried fruit. The recipe says to the pour the granola out on trays to dry over night. Sometimes I do that, other times I leave it in the crockpot and stir periodically if I remember. Then I just pour it into my cereal container in the morning. Works for me, and no extra dishes.

People used to the conventional oven method of making granola have asked me why bother making it in the crockpot when their oven method doesn't require them to melt ingredients first. I don't know. I haven't tried your oven method or your particular recipe. But what works for me is that I can make a double batch of this recipe in my crockpot, yielding 16 cups of granola. I can't do that in my oven. Either method requires periodic stirring. The crockpot allows me to stir without opening my oven and stooping to stir, or otherwise pulling the pan out to stir and put back in the oven. I don't have to worry about keeping my kids out of the way for constantly opening the oven. I have two large crockpots and can make two types of granola at the same time, while baking dinner in the oven if I want to. Or I can have granola cooking in one crockpot while yogurt heats in the other. Basically, I just like employing my crockpots.

Chia Overnight Oatmeal

Overnight oatmeal is such a quick, easy meal to mix together the night before. I love this one for myself because of the chia seeds. The texture is weird to my kids, and they prefer their applesauce oatmeal.

Chia Oatmeal 

(from Grocery Budget 101)

 

 Ingredients:

 1/4 cup milk 

 1/4 cup yogurt 

 1/3 cup oats

 2 teaspoons chia seeds 

 1 teaspoon honey

  2 T fruit

 I do 12 times the recipe when I mix mine up. So that math comes to:

 3 cups milk (or 3 cups water plus half cup powdered milk)

 3 cups yogurt

4 cups oats 

 1/2 cup of chia seeds 

 1/4 cup honey 

 1-12 ounce bag frozen fruit

Mix everything together in an airtight container. Put it in the fridge overnight. The oats will absorb the liquid and be soft and edible in the morning. You can eat it cold but I prefer mine warm.

Applesauce Overnight Oatmeal

My kids LOVE this recipe, and I love its simplicity! It takes me 5 minutes to mix it up at night to have an easy, healthy breakfast in the morning.

Applesauce Overnight Oatmeal

Ingredients:

1 cup oats (I've tried quick and old-fashioned)
1 cup applesauce
1 cup milk (or 1 cup water + 1/6 c powdered milk)
Cinnamon to taste

Stir all ingredients together in an air-tight container. Store in the fridge overnight.
*I am all about giving credit where credit is due, but for the life of me, I can't find the original source for this recipe.*

To serve, we warm ours a little in the microwave and add raisins. When I mix up a batch, I do four times the recipe and we eat it two or three days in a week.

Homemade Yogurt

Okay, before getting into the method of making yogurt, let me first explain the use of an oven in this process. At the end of the whole process of making yogurt, you incubate it in the oven overnight (or for 8+ hours during the day like I am right now) WITH THE LIGHT ON. No heat, just crock in the oven with the light on to maintain warmth.

Well I got a new *used* oven in December when my old one started sparking when I turned on the light. Not good for my yogurt. Unfortunately, this oven (that I bought from someone in town who posted it on facebook) doesn't have a window, and thus, doesn't have a light switch. So after a few weeks of not knowing what to do about that and I finally had a bit of a pregnant emotional meltdown needing my yogurt breakfasts back (store-bought yogurt just isn't good anymore), my husband got creative for me.

He drilled a hole in the lining of the door to allow the rod controlling the light to pass through. When the rod passes through the hole, the light doesn't turn off.

And when I'm not needing the oven light on (any time I'm not making yogurt), we plug the hole with a cork, purchased at our local hardware store.

Hooray for a MacGyver husband and hooray for making yogurt again! And simple breakfasts and sanity returned!

So then, here it is (as learned from Girls' Guide to Guns and Butter, which I am sad to learn no longer exists! But give credit where credit is due.):

1/2 gallon milk (as fresh as possible! Not close to expiration date!)

2 T yogurt

Boom! It's that easy. (Did anyone else say that in Crazy Russian Hacker's voice?)

You'll need to buy the yogurt the first time, but then you can save 2 tablespoons from the old batch every time you make a new batch. I only ever buy yogurt now if I forget to save some to start the new one. Also, I have tried this with full fat cow's milk, and soymilk. I've been making soy yogurt for my family for almost 3 years now. I haven't tried any reduced fat milks because Girls' Guide said not to. She's Albanian or Armenian (can't remember which) and grew up making yogurt because you don't buy it in a store there. So I'll take her word for it. One more note and then I'll continue: I make a double batch and it works just fine for me. We go through it pretty quickly and even when we don't, it still last several weeks.

*I always start this early in the morning, just any time before lunch.* Pour your milk into a crockpot and heat it to between 180 and 190 degrees. Girls' Guide said you have to do this to kill certain enzymes that prevent the good bacterial growth, but if you go hotter than 190 you fail. In my crockpot, it takes 2.5 hours on high. I also have a digital crockpot with probe thermometer, so I don't have to monitor it. It just beeps when ready.

Once your milk has been heated to the right temperature, it needs to cool down to between 105 and 111 degrees. The amount of time that takes varies so much, depending on what your room temperature is, and whether you leave the lid on, off, or cracked. Sometimes I need it to cool quickly, so I leave the lid off. That usually means I'll have a dried film on top of the milk that needs to be skimmed off, or pulled off with clean fingers. If I'm not in a rush, I'll leave the lid on and check it several hours later. If you go cooler than 105, I've still been successful with my yogurt when I heat it back to between 105 and 111 degrees. Yesterday's yogurt was pretty much a fiasco. It should've been done this morning, but didn't get into the oven to incubate until this morning. Ugh! We'll see how it turns out.

After heating and cooling the milk, it's time to spend 5 minutes prepping the milk for incubation. If there's a film on top, scoop it off before proceeding. 

Scoop 2 cups worth of milk from the crockpot. (I never measure this anymore. I just dip Will Smith in and call it good.)

Add your 2 T yogurt to the reserved milk. (Mine is 1/4 cup because I double the batch)

Combine the yogurt in the warm milk with a whisk. ***Now here's something important! Girls' Guide says it is suuuuuper important not to stir in a circular motion. When doing yogurt or cheese (anything curdling milk), you must stir SIDE TO SIDE and UP AND DOWN. I don't remember her explanation, again, I just trust that she knows her stuff. She was born doing it.

Once the yogurt is combined in the reserved milk, pour the milk back into the crockpot and stir. SIDE TO SIDE and UP AND DOWN. Say it with me!

Then put the lid on the pot, put a kitchen towel over the lid, remove the crock from the heating element of the slow cooker unit, and place it in the oven overnight. Oven off, light on. Seriously, the light is ESSENTIAL. I've failed my yogurt a number of times by forgetting to turn the light on.

It sounds complicated, but I promise you, it's not. It's really very simple, and takes 5 minutes of my time. We love this stuff and I really wish Girls' Guide was still active because she explains it so much better.

Fast forward 8 hours--my kids LOVE having warm yogurt for breakfast! It will be warm still when you pull it out of the oven in the morning. It's delightful, and when I was pregnant this last time, I had a serious aversion to anything cold, so warm yogurt days were the only times I got to have my yogurt parfait with crockpot granola. Anyway, the longer the incubation time, the more tart the yogurt will be. It's quite sweet with a shorter (but still at least 8 hours) incubation time. It will possibly have a yellowish liquid floating on top of the thickened yogurt. 

That liquid is the whey. You can stir it back in and have a thinner yogurt, or pour it off. I pour it off and use it for various things--bread, plant vitamin water--as read from The Prairie Homestead.

After we eat breakfast, I simply pull out my canning jars and funnel and store the leftovers in the fridge. 

Girls' Guide said you can add flavoring into the milk when you're heating it, such as fruit purees, honey, jam, etc. I haven't tried any of that. I keep my yogurt plain because I use it in cooking--in my pizza dough, smoothies, as a sour cream substitute, etc. I've also taken this batch of yogurt and strained it through a colander and kitchen towel over a pitcher (I'll have to make a post for that too, I guess) to make ricotta cheese for lasagna. Plain works best for me, and I may never experiment with flavors. Unless you ask me to. Then I will. Because I'm an experimenter.

I think that covers everything! Shoot me any questions if anything was unclear. I still have severe Mom Brain, so I'm crossing my fingers that this works for those who asked for it!

UPDATE 3/24/2018: I don't think I've ever mentioned, but I make soy yogurt. We have dairy allergies, so I make our yogurt with soymilk. 8th Continent, Kroger, and Great Value brands work well for me. Silk sucks. It just turns out awful every time.

Bug Spray + Sunscreen

I made my own bug spray last summer and we all loved it. I don't have a sense of smell but everyone who got a whiff of this stuff complimented me on it and asked for my recipe. This year I'm making it again and have changed the recipe a little bit. I read about essential oils that have natural SPF so I bought carrot seed oil and added that to my bug spray for a combination spray bottle.

Essential Oil Bug Spray and Sunscreen

5 drops lavender oil
5 drops peppermint oil
15 drops citronella oil
15 drops lemongrass oil
32 drops carrot seed oil
2 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups water

Combine all ingredients in a spray bottle. Shake well before using.

(I found my lemongrass oil after I took the pic)

Creamy Homemade Tomato Soup

The soup recipe is so easy to make! Most of my kids love it and drink it with a straw because it's easier than a spoon. I compulsively by one pint of half and half every time I go to the grocery store.

CREAMY TOMATO SOUP adapted from some cafe in Oklahoma

Ingredients:
2 - 15 ounce cans tomato sauce
1 - 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 pint half and half
2 cups water
3 teaspoons basil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon white pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large pan over medium Heat. Do not boil. Transfer ingredients to blender or use immersion blender to blend and combine all together. Serve with grilled cheese.

This is my $2 garage sale hand immersion blender. I also bought this one for a soup-obsessed friend who didn't even know these exist! Her life is so much easier now!

Yum! My one-year-old can't contain herself when she sees this soup!

Sausage-Spinach Soup

We needed food one night and this is what I came up with from what I had in the house.

Ingredients:
1 lb hot Italian sausage links
One jumbo onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 large carrots, diced
5 red potatoes, diced 

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
8 cups of water
4 teaspoons chicken bouillon
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 pack frozen chopped spinach

Cook the sausages in a large pot on medium heat. Prick the sausages so that they drain their juices into the pan. Add the onion to the pan, cook until translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Remove the sausages from the pan to a cutting board. Add garlic to the onion and cook, stirring continuously for 2 minutes. Add the carrots, potatoes, beans, water, bouillon, salt, and vinegar. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until the veggies are tender. Meanwhile, slice the sausages and return to the soup. When the carrots and potatoes are tender, remove the pan from the heat and add the chopped spinach. Stir until it all melts and breaks apart into the soup.

We served it with Saltines. Everyone liked it. Tommy only commented that the sausage was a bit too spicy for him and that maybe next time I shouldn't put so much spice in it. I told him we might try the soup with regular sausages instead of hot next time.

A Proper Sunday Roast

We have a missionary, Sister Atkins, here from England. She's mentioned a couple times how desperately she misses her Sunday Roast and Yorkshire pudding. So when I got the chance to have the girls, Sister Atkins and Sister Draney, over here for their Mother's Day Skype calls and then dinner, I knew I'd have to cook Sister Atkins her traditional Sunday meal.

We had Beef Roast in the crockpot, roast potatoes in the crockpot, peas and carrots, and Yorkshire pudding.

The Yorkshire puddings were the all-around kid favorite!

So then, recipes:

Slow Cooker English Roast, modified from So Wonderful, So Marvelous

• 2-3 pound beef roast 
• 1 large white onion
• 2 carrots
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1.5 - 2 Tablespoons of Spices (I used salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning)
• 1 1/3 cups beef broth
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup balsamic or cider vinegar

Layer the onion, carrots and garlic in the bottom of the crockpot. Put the beef on top and pour the broth, oil and vinegar over it. Then shake the seasonings on top of the meat. Cook on low for 7-8 hours. The meat was so juicy and tender, we didn't need knives!

Slow Cooker Roast Potatoes

• 7-8 red potatoes
• salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard powder, parsley to taste
• olive oil to coat

This is how my cooking looks. Sorry for the vagueness of it. But that's what I did. I don't peel my potatoes, just chop them to a size that I don't have to cut them on the kids' plates. Then I dumped them in the crockpot, coated them in olive oil, and went to town with my seasonings. Cook on high until tender and crisp, 3-4 hours.

Peas and Carrots

I just cooked a frozen bag of peas and carrots on the stove and then seasoned with Lawry's Seasoned Salt.

Yorkshire Pudding, from 12 Tomatoes

• 3 large eggs

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk

• 1 1/2 cups flour

• 3/4 teaspoon table salt

• 3 tablespoons beef fat (drippings from the roast)

Whisk eggs and milk together, then add salt and flour. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 1-3 hours. 

Heat the oven to 450. Collect the drippings from the roast. Whisk 1 tablespoon of fat into the pudding batter. Use the rest of the fat to spoon 1/2 teaspoon into each muffin cup. When the oven is heated, place the pan into the oven for three minutes to heat the fat. Then fill each cup with batter 2/3 full. Place muffin pan in the oven for 20 minutes. (12 Tomatoes says to then turn the heat down and cook another 10 minutes. I didn't do that because Sister Atkins said her family doesn't do that. It also says to pierce the puddings with a skewer to prevent collapse, but they all collapsed anyway.) 

The whole dinner was delicious, and Sister Atkins was in heaven having some English food once again. I should have taken a picture for her and her family. Next time we'll have to try Toad in the Hole. (She doesn't like fish, otherwise we'd go for Fish and Chips.)