Chinese New Year: Year of the Tiger

Yesterday was February 14th - so Happy Valentine's Day! Another holiday happened to fall on that day also - the Chinese New Year. Not being of Chinese descent, I don't traditionally celebrate this holiday but I find it pretty interesting.

It is said that people born in the year of the tiger are generally well-liked, charismatic, and straightforward. That's good news for my baby boy.

There is a great description of the Chinese New Year and the year of the tiger on the website GOOP. One good piece of advice on the website's newsletter is to change one habit for the new year. That's doable - one habit - like eating healthier or getting more sleep. Another suggestion on GOOP has to do with meditation and what a great stress reliever it can be. You just have to have the time to do it. Hmm... If you have time for meditation to relieve stress, is your life really that stressful? Well, I guess it's about prioritizing and making the time.

Anyway, for our own Chinese New Year/Valentine's Day celebration I made my version of a delicious Chinese dinner.

We had stir-fried vegetables and I included some that everyone in the family would like: broccoli for me, carrots for the whole family, edamame for Mason, plus red bell peppers and snow peas. I served the stir-fry over rice.

Mason helped me shell the edamame.

I also made pork wontons. They were simple and a crowd pleaser.

Pork Wontons
8 oz. ground pork
2 tbs. soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
Wonton wrappers
3/4 c. teriyaki sauce
                                                                                          Directions: Mix first 5 ingredients well. Then lay wonton wrappers out on a flat surface. Place about 1/2 tbs. of the pork mixture on each wonton wrapper. Use water or egg whites to seal the edges when you fold the wonton wrapper in half to form a triangle. Fold the two bottom corners of the triangle together and seal with water or egg whites. Bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil. Place 5-6 wontons in at a time and cook for just 2-3 minutes. Transfer the wontons to a large non-stick skillet with some teriyaki sauce. Saute for about 5 minutes.

Emily made a funny comment at dinner that I wanted to add to Food With Kid Appeal's weekly Big Words, Little Foodies recipe swap. 

As I passed out the plates at dinner time she said, "Ewww...what is this?" 

"Try the wontons. You'll like them. They're noodles with sausage," I said.

"I don't want them!" she whined.

After Daddy persuaded her to take a few bites she said, "These are soooo good! I love it, Mama!" 

Another great example of trying a food before you decide if you like it or not. If only she could do that with broccoli.