Easy Ideas for Celebrating Chinese New Year with Kids

 This Chinese New Year Celebration shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NewYearFortune #CollectiveBias

Xīnnián kuàilè, or "Happy New Year", is one of the few things I remember from my Mandarin classes way back in college. I didn't have a chance to visit Beijing until the Summer months, so I never had a reason to use this popular New Year greeting. 

With Chinese New Year fast approaching (February 19th this year), it is the perfect chance to share some of the Chinese New Year fun with my children as we get set to welcome in the year of the sheep. It is an easy event for entertaining where guests wish each other "good fortune" for the coming year, enjoy simple foods, lion dances, and give out red envelope gifts.

This year I wanted get my older kids involved with a few simple crafts, food and a chance to learn about Chinese New Year. Here are my top 5 tips for creating your own kid-friendly celebration at home.

1. What's Your Sign? The Chinese New Year is based on a lunar calendar. a lunar calendar follows the cycles of the moon as opposed to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. 

Each year is assigned an animal sign and the Chinese Zodiac is based on a 12-year cycle. 2014 was the year of the horse, that also happens to be the sign of my birth year.

2015 is the year of the sheep. People born in this year are said to be gentle, compassionate and sincere. Entertain your guests and family by looking up everyone's birth year. Do you agree with the animal and personality traits of your friends?

Kids will love incorporating sheep into decorating for the party and learning about the Chinese Zodiac.

2. Grab a Book - I picked up an activity book that not only explained some of the customs and traditions, but also included some fun activities and word puzzles for my kids. Chinese New Year is a visually stunning occasion, so grabbing a book with photos or illustrations, or even looking up clips on Youtube of the customs will help children understand better.

3. Learn about the Lion Dance - If you are near a big city, you may even be able to go see a Lion Dance performed. It is quite a sight! Lion dancers are said to bring good luck, so we decorated out own Lion masks. 

4. Avoid the Number 4 - Displaying and eating tangerines and oranges for New Years is said to bring wealth and good luck. Just don't display them in groups of 4, that number is associated with death and therefor unlucky. 

I talked to my kids about lucky and unlucky numbers in our own culture. They love citrus, and it is always fun to add color the table with edible decorations.

5. Serve authentic Asian appetizers -  Since I wanted our time to be spent learning more about Chinese cultures and customs, I opted for fast and delicious Tai Pei® frozen appetizers. Ready in just minutes, the spring rolls and egg rolls are a traditional style and come in vegetable, chicken, pork or shrimp.

I enjoy them all, but opted for the Tai Pei® Shrimp and Pork Egg Rolls and the Mini Vegetable Spring Rolls. I love the savory filling, the crisp wrapper and that each comes complete with dipping sauce.

Okay, I enjoy these all year-round, but they were perfect for our Chinese New Year celebration! Finger-friendly, simple dishes are popular and these are perfect for my hungry crew or a crowd.

Baked as needed, you can make a few, or all of them. There is Tai Pei® Good Fortune in Every Box™

Be sure to get your Red Envelope under the Chinese New Year tab on the Tai Pei® Facebook page. There you can find a red envelope with a Tai Pei® product coupon. Also check your local paper on 2/8 for another chance to pick up a special Tai Pei® coupon.

I picked up my Tai Pei® frozen appetizers in the frozen case at Walmart. I also picked up up all the craft supplies I needed for the kids and our learning fun.

Looking for more kid-friendly fun? Here is a simple lantern craft perfect for making with your kids. Grab red or yellow card stock, or construction paper, scissors and a stapler.

Easy Lantern Decorations

1. Cut a 1" strip off the top of the paper.
2. Fold the paper in half
3. Start an 1" inside the paper, cut down the folded side of the paper and stop about 1" from the edge.
4. Open up the paper (the slits should be on the inside) and wrap around to create a cylinder.
5. Use a stapler to secure the top, bottom and the 1" strop to the top to be used as a handle.
6. Decorate your party with these easy lanterns for Chinese New Year.

Will you be celebrating Chinese New Year with your family this year? Which Tai Pei® frozen appetizer would you like to try?

Beef and Peppers over Rice Noodles

Sometimes simple is best.

Currently I am in loving the little lunchbox peppers available in stores. There still aren't any good local vegetables yet, so sweet bell peppers, mushrooms and bagged salad have been staples in my house. Peppers especially because of the fabulous crunch and color they add to any dish. Hello vitamin C!

I have also had Chinese food on the brain, and we don't have any decent Chinese restuarant options around here so that isn't an easy itch to scratch. So I decided to see what I could do with a Beef and Pepper Chow Fun style dish.

I couldn't find the wide rice noodles that usually go in Chow Fun, but I could readily find the Pad Thai style rice sticks in my town. I would grab whatever you can find. I am partial to the wider noodles, but the taste is the same. Rice noodles are very plain, but will take on the flavor of anything you are making. This beef and sauce more than makes up for the noodles.

Bring a pot of water up to boil. Turn off the heat and then add the rice noodles. Soak them for about 3 minutes shy of the package directions. You don't want them to turn to mush while they simmer in the sauce later.

I whisked up the sauce and then used a 1/2 cup to soak my beef in while I sliced and sauteed the vegetables. Reserve the remaining sauce for tossing everything at the end.

Grab a knife and start by slicing everything into uniform sized peices. Slice the peppers, the onions and enjoy the gorgeous array of colors in your pot. Now, since I am using high heat here I went with a cast iron pan. Feel free to use a wok if you got it.

With a little sesame oil and canola oil in the pan, I sauted the peppers and onions till just crisp tender. Then I added the sliced mushrooms and gave them a few tosses. Put all these lovelies over to the side and start on browning the beef strips.

Thinner is better here. These slices came pre-sliced from the meat department. I trimmed them down to bite sized pieces and then working in batches with tongs I quickly browned each side.

Then everything went back into the pot.... the meat, the vegetables, the sauce and the finished rice noodles. Give them all a little toss and allow the sauce to thicken slightly over medium heat.

Add salt and pepper to taste if you wish. With the soy sauce I didn't need to add very much.

Now, doesn't that look yummy? Who needs take-out when you can have a fast meal in.

Beef and Pepper over Rice Noodles

You Will Need:

• 1 package rice noodles
• 1 c. soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
• 4 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 4 Tbsp. brown sugar, packed
• 2 Tbsp. ginger, freshly grated
• 2 tsp. Thai Red Curry Paste
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lime, half juiced
• 1 1/2 lb. flank steak sliced very thin and cut into bite-sized peices
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 dash of sesame oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced thin
• 3 c. sweet bell peppers, sliced thin and in assorted colors
• 1 c. mushrooms, sliced thin

Begin by preparing the rice noodles. Bring a pot of water up to boil, then turn off the heat. Cook according to package directions draining the noodles 3 minutes early. Reserve some of the pasta water.

In a bowl, whisk together the next 8 ingredients for the sauce. In a separate bowl marinade the thinly sliced steak in 1/2 cup of the sauce. Reserve the rest for later.

In a cast iron skillet or wok, add the oil and saute the onions and peppers till crisp tender. Just before they are done add the mushrooms. Remove the vegetables when done to a separate bowl.

Working in batches, in the same pan, start browning the slices of meat. With tongs add a single layer of meat to the pan to sear, turn to cook for another 30 seconds or so and then set aside.When all the meat is browned add the previous batches of meat, vegetables and sauce back to the pan. Bring up to a simmer to thicken the sauce. Then add in the cooked noodles, use tongs to toss and use the  pasta water to thin out the sauce if necessary. Let the mixture heat through and serve warm.

Enjoy!

Celebrate the Year of the Horse with P.F. Chang's New Winter Menu

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of P.F. Chang's for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

The year of the Horse is in full swing now and so is P.F. Chang's New Winter Seasonal Menu. That means, in addition to my standard favorite like Chicken Lettuce Wraps and Buddha's Feast, there is a whole bunch of tasty new additions to try. ...can someone hand me a fork?

It is hard for me to choose just a few new menu items to tempt you with, but this Chili Shrimp Bao does look perfect for a lunch or dinner date out with my husband. I love shrimp and since I am the only one in the family who does, I enjoy ordering it when I am out.


These are Asian inspired "sliders" served on little pillows of "bao" (that means bread), with lettuce, chili-marinated shrimp, carrots, cucumber, pickled diakon (my favorite!) and topped with tamarind-chili. Tamarind is such a fragrant and unique flavor, I just know this has to be good.

And the perfect end to the meal would be these Cream Cheese Wontons. Don't you agree?
Handmade crispy wontons filled with vanilla cream cheese, dusted with powdered sugar and served with a vanilla raspberry sauce seems like a delicious treat. I am quite a wonton fan.

So, which of the new menu items look good to you?
Keep up with all the P.F. Changs announcements and promotions. Follow @pfchangs on twitter and Follow P.F. Chang’s on Pinterest.

Stay In with New Simmering Samurai options

I was provided samples in order to create my review. All opinions and experiences are my own. 

Though I love knowing how to cook food from scratch and adore learning about new flavors and techniques, sometimes I want someone else to cook for me for a change.

But, as life goes, sometimes eating out just isn't in the cards. ...and the kitchen is not where my husband chooses to spend his time.

So I think all Moms keep a little stash in the freezer. You might have pizza or frozen lasagna in yours, but I tend to have things like chicken fried rice, pot stickers or something from the new Simmering Samurai line of frozen Asian American cuisine.

Simmering Samura comes from Ajinomoto USA - a Japanese food company I am very familiar with. Believe me, I can sing a fair number of their jingles in Japanese after living there for 4 years. Good times.

But, I also know, they know food. So I was thrilled to see what kind of frozen offerings they had for me to fill up on for lunch.

Currently there are 5 different flavors to choose from:

• Broccoli Beef &; Fried Rice
• Chicken Fried Rice
• Vegetable Chow Mein
• Orange Chicken Fried Rice
• General Tsao's Fried Rice

Straight from the freezer to the microwave, each dish comes with instructions and are ready to eat in 7 minutes. Yes, even I can wait 7 minutes. Easy!

Most of the dishes required poking a fork hole in the plastic, microwave-safe bag and then heating in the microwave. The beef and broccoli also came with a sauce packet that I thawed in a bowl of water.

Afterwards I had this...

I loved the large spears of broccoli, the fluffy rice and bits of tender beef. It was very flavorful.

I also had the Vegetable Chow Mein which was packed with crisp-tender veggies,

And I enjoyed the Chicken Fried Rice with big, tender peices of chicken, rice, egg and veggies.

I picked up my Simmering Samurai at my local Walmart, but you can also use the store locator on the Ajinomoto site to find the closest location near you. Looks like there are stores up and down the West Coast so far.

My favorite dish out of line is the Vegetable Chow Mein. I am a sucker for pan fried noodles and don't get the chance to enjoy them very often in the US. I was impressed with the portion sizes of these frozen items. It would be more than enough for me to eat alone, and still an ample enough to make a few and share with multiple guests. These would be perfect for "family style" meals at home.

Overall I was impressed with both ease of preparation and flavor. It was a great way to give myself a "night off" from cooking and still have a dinner the whole family could enjoy.

Which of the 5 Simmering Samurai dishes would you try first?

Orange Chicken and Eggplant - A Healthier Version

Dinner this week was inspired by necessity. Mostly cleaning out odds and ends from the fridge or pantry and this Orange Chicken recipe was no different. There are no fresh fruits and veggies on the farm right now, unless you count the turnips. I am not. But I still try to keep bags of fruit on the counter or stocked in the fridge for a good Vitamin C boost.

My 6-year old is also turning into a bottomless pit when it comes to food...

Despite my best pushing of citrus for nearly every meal or snacktime, I found myself starring at the end of a box of navel oranges. They hadn't gone bad, yet... but it was coming.

I didn't really want to bake with them, no, I needed dinner ideas.

Could I make Orange Chicken, like I enjoy from a restaurant, with the last of my oranges?

Well yes. Yes I could.

Scanning the internet I found that most recipes call for marmalade, jam or a premade sauce. But, I can't even read all the ingredients in most of those sauces. No, I firmly wanted to use real oranges and now I was getting hungry for it.

This recipe was the perfect way to "scratch" my take-out itch, too. It was a healthier and less expensive version than we would have eaten out. This recipe is sweet and has a lot of potential for veggies you could add... or omit if that is what you prefer.

So the juicing commenced. My husband pointed out I do have an electric juicer attachment for the Kitchen-Aid. The problem is I hate washing that stuff. So I went with my beloved glass juicer. Sometimes simple is more glamorous.

I wanted a very simple breading for my chicken. Nothing heavy or complicated. I had some whole wheat flour I ground earlier this week and tossed the chicken in that. Then I also did the same to about a cup of cubed eggplant.

See? Healthier already.

For my children I made the eggplant in place of the chicken and tossed theirs in wheat starch. Their meal was meat-free, but the sauce was the same.

Then came the sauce. This is where my fresh squeezed, and strained, orange juice went. I also threw in some crushed garlic, lemon juice, soy sauce, sugar, salt and orange zest. To make it all tight I whisked in a cornstarch slurry. (Just add a little water to the cornstarch and mix well with your finger - this allows you to feel when all the lumps have dissolved.)

Into my hot skillet I browned up the peices of chicken. I removed them and did the same to my eggplant. I just wanted a little crust on the vegetables before adding in the sauce to thicken. With a little fnely diced red bell pepper thrown in at the end for a pop of color, my dish was ready to go.

Now, if you want a touch of heat, feel free to add some chili flakes to the sauce. Since I was sharing this with the kids and my husband, I kept it mild. If I was making this for myself I would throw in at least a pinch for good measure.

Ready to try it yourself?

Orange Chicken and Eggplant

You Will Need:

• 2 cups chicken, chopped into bite-sized peices 
• 1 c. eggplant, cubed
• 1/3 c. whole wheat flour 
• olive oil
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced

For the Sauce:

• 9 oz. orange juice, fresh squeezed and strained
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 tsp. worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice, fresh squeezed
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 - 3 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp. salt + more to taste 
• 1 orange zested

Start by tossing the chicken and eggplant in flour as you bring a large skillet with a few tablespoons of oil up to medium heat on the stove.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the sauce, leave the orange zest over to the side.

Brown the chicken on both sides and set aside. Brown the eggplant slightly and then return the chicken to the skillet and add in the sauce. Bring it up to a gentle simmer and make sure all the meat and vegetables have been covered with the sauce. After 2 minutes, add in the red bell pepper and orange zest. Stir for another minute or two and then turn off the heat The sauce will be thicker as it cools.

Serve over a bed of brown rice.

Enjoy!