Last year I cooked up a storm for Chinese New Year. This year I was busy doing other things  (see next post).

Chinese New Year menu:

Steamed Pork Buns aka Banh Bao

Here's a sample of our Chinese New Year's Feast

Steamed Dumplings with Shrimp and Pork

Ginger-Soy Dipping Sauce

Fresh Vietnamese Summer Rolls

Hoisin Sesame Dipping Sauce

Spring Rolls

Indonesian Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

2012 is the year of the Water Dragon 

The Dragon is a symbol of good fortune and sign of intense power. This is an auspicious year and particularly favorable for ambitious people. Start early in the year and persist. Don’t give up and you WILL succeed.

In 2012 the Yang Water Dragon Year starts January 23, 2012 and ends February 9, 2013. The energetic high point of the year is the dragon moon, which is from May 20 to June 18 (new moon is May 20, full moon is June 4 and dragon moon is over June 18. June 19 begins the snake moon, which will set up the energy for the following year, 2013, year of the yin water snake.)

Years of the Dragon

1904 * 1916 * 1928 * 1940 * 1952 * 1964 * 1976 * 1988 * 2000

Sign of the Dragon

Dragons are free spirits who feel that rules and regulations are made for other people. Dragons must be free and uninhibited. Dragons are confident, fearless and almost inevitably successful if they don’t allow their pride to get in their way. Dragons are generous and attract friends, but tend to be solitary at heart.

PHOTOGRAPHS by Kelly Kaeding

The above photographs were taken in Chinatown Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam  in 2000.

In a pyrex, ceramic or metal bowl, combine:

1 cup steel cut oats

4 cups water

pinch of salt

Put the bowl in the slow cooker. Add enough water in the bottom of the slow cooker (under the bowl) to cover the water/oatmeal line in the bowl. If you have a programmable slow cooker like mine, set it on low for 7-8 hours and it will go to warm after that (which makes getting the bowl of oats out of the hot water bath easier). Otherwise cook it on low overnight, turn it off as soon as you get up.

In the morning you can top with whatever you like: the traditional raisons, maple syrup, milk and cinnamon or try it straight up with a fried egg.

Now that you have had breakfast and your slow cooker is till clean, make dinner. Prep the veg the night before so you can throw this together in the morning.

Toss the together into the slow cooker and cook 6-8 hours on low:

4-6 bone-in chicken thighs or 3 chicken legs (the marrow in the bone makes a tasty broth and is chock full of nutrients)*

6 shallots (or 1-2 onions)

1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped

2-3 potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

8 crimini (or other type of) mushrooms, stems removed and quartered

½ bunch of collards or kale, chopped small (or add spinach at the end)

2 stalks lemongrass, smash with handle of a knife and then chop into 1 inch pieces**

1 T ginger, peeled and minced

1 T curry paste, panang, red, yellow or whatever variety you like***kid-friendly

1 t salt

cover with water

after it has cooked and you are almost ready to eat, add:

½ cup coconut milk

spinach or chard, chopped, if you didn’t use collards or kale

splash of fish sauce in each bowl or 1 T in the whole batch

a squeeze of lime in each bowl or a whole lime in the whole batch

garnish with cilantro

optional: cook rice noodles and serve soup on top. if adding curry paste to individual bowls, add the curry and a little broth first, then the noodles, then the rest of the soup, coconut milk, lime and garnishes.

*ideally: cook the chicken first overnight in the slow cooker or for a couple hour in the morning to make a broth. You can pull the chicken out and skim it. Then add the rest of the ingredients and reduce cooking time to 4-6 hours.

**don’t eat the lemongrass chunks

***kid-friendly - if only some people in your family like spicy food, omit the curry paste and instead put 1 t curry + 1 T hot broth into each bowl, stir to combine, then add the rest of the soup. You can do the same with the coconut milk if you want, adding a little into each bowl and giving a stir.

When I asked my son what he wanted me to make for a little tea party we were having, he said “really, really, really good apple cake.” I said ok, and here it is.

I found this recipe to be very quick – I just threw everything into the mixer bowl, one by one. It is also quite forgiving. I forgot to add the apples to the batter and instead put them on top of the batter once it was in the pan. I only had ¼ cup of nuts for the topping instead of ¾ and I also forgot to put the cinnamon in the topping, and sprinkled it on top instead. No one had a clue how scatterbrained I was that morning – they just wanted the recipe.

Take the butter, yoghurt and egg out in advance to soften. Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter the bottom and sides of a 10 –inch spring form pan.

First prep the apples and let cool.

Sauté in

1 T butter,

2 large apples, peeled and chopped into ¼ inch dice. (I did this the night before).

Sprinkle the bottom of the pan with:

breadcrumbs, flour or cornmeal, shaking light to coat, tap out excess.

Whisk in a large mixing bowl until blended:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup plus 2 T granulated sugar

1t salt

Add to flour mix:

10 T unsalted butter, softened but still cool, cut into pieces and then cut in a little with a pastry cutter or two knives. Then blend with your mixer until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Remove 1 cup of this mixture and save for topping.

Whisk into the flour mixture in the mixing bowl:

1 t baking powder

½ t baking soda

1 t cinnamon

Then add:

¾ cup plain yoghurt (not low fat) or buttermilk at room temperature

1 egg, room temperature

1 t vanilla extract

Whisk vigorously until the batter is thick, smooth, fluffy, and frosting-like, about 2 minutes.

Fold sautéed apples into batter. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Add to reserved crumbs of flour, sugar, and butter:

¾ cup walnuts or pecans, chopped fine

½ cup dark brown sugar, packed

2 t cinnamon

Toss with fork or your fingers until blended. Sprinkle the crumbs over the batter, pressing lightly so that they adhere.

Bake the cake until the center is firm and a cake tester comes out clean, 50-55 minutes. Transfer cake to wire rack; remove the sides of the pan. Let the cake cool completely, about 2 hours, before serving.  When completely cool, the cake can be slid off the pan bottom onto a serving plate.

Enjoy. We sure did!

This is the Apple-Cinnamon variation of the Old-Fashioned Crumb Coffeecake from Cook’s Illustrated.

Shonishin is a Japanese treatment especially for babies and kids. Special tools are used to gently tap and brush the surface of the skin and press acupoints – harmonizing energy and strengthening overall constitution.

It is ideal to do a series of 3 shonishin treatments close together in order to rebalance the energy pattern, especially when there is a health issue.  Following up with weekly treatments until symptoms subside and then monthly maintenance. Kelly will be holding monthly Full Moon Friday Pediatric Clinics on the Fridays preceding the full moon.

This is one of my son’s favorite (healthy) snacks.

Schmear a little goat cheese between two slices of cucumbers.

We keep it pretty simple, just rub with a little salt and pepper on the beef fillet, let sit till room temperature (or close). Then put the fillet on a heated grill on medium-high for 3-5 minutes on each side to cook rare or medium rare.

Grass-fed beef can be a little tricky to cook because it tends to be tough. It is worth it, though, because the health benefits over grain-fed beef are significant. Grass-fed beef is leaner and offers 2-4 times more omega-3 fatty acids (“good fats”). It also is richer in antioxidants including vitamin E, C and beta-carotene. Not to mention that they are usually free of added hormones and antibiotics.

The two ways to go are cook it long and low or quick and rare.

Make the first part of this salad the night before – when it marinates overnight the beef will absorb the flavors and ‘cook’ in the lime juice.

Marinate:

½ pound grilled rare grass-fed beef, preferably fillet mignon, thinly sliced

1 stalk lemongrass, minced (use white part only) *

2 shallots, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Thai red chili pepper, minced

1 t honey or sugar

1 T fish sauce

juice of 1 lime

Mix in:

A handful of cilantro and/or mint, chopped

Serve over a bed of lettuce, washed and patted dry.

* I use one of two methods to mince lemongrass. For both, smash lemongrass with handle edge of knife. Then very thinly slice lemongrass into rounds. Either mince it carefully with a knife or grind in a spice grinder (I have a coffee grinder designated for spices and it works great!).