Happy (Chinese) New Year

We had lots of fun celebrating Chinese New Year last night. Ashley tells me that Gung Hey Fat Choy is Happy New Year. I hope I got that right. Now it is the year of the ox, and the 15 day celebration is ongoing. When we lived in the San Francisco Bay area, Chinese New Year was a really big deal. They have a big parade in San Francisco, which is locally televised, and the kids always celebrated it at school. Ashley was so glad her class is doing a unit on China right now, and she helped us make fans and paper lanterns.

Of course, for dinner we ate something vaguely Chinese-ish. It has a nice flavor but is very mild. The great thing about it here is that all the picky people could easily pick out what they wanted to eat or what they didn't. Ashley, who only likes pineapple fresh, picked that out. Jon ate the chicken and a couple of carrots under duress. I think he might have had some noodles as well. Sami ate all her noodles and a bit of chicken. She also had one carrot piece also under duress. Here is the recipe if you want to give it a try.

Pineapple Chicken Lo Mein

1 can (20 ounces) unsweetened pineapple chunks

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces

2 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger or 1 Tablespoon minced fresh ginger root (I used the fresh and really prefer it in recipes like this. I am sure the ground would work fine though)

3 Tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

2 medium carrots, julienned ( I just used baby carrots and cut until I thought it looked like a good amount)

1 medium green bell pepper, julienned

4 ounces spaghetti, cooked and drained (when I was working at Camp Cherry Valley, and we had some Chinese scouts come in on a weekend, we made a soup with lots of optional additions. One of them was spaghetti. When the scouts came to the window to get more, they referred to it as lo mein, so it can't be THAT bad to use spaghetti right?)

3 green onions, sliced

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1/3 cup soy sauce

1. Drain pineapple, reserving 1/3 cup juice (discard remaining juice or save for another use); set the pineapple aside.

2. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the chicken, garlic and ginger in 2 Tablespoons oil for 6 minutes. Add the carrots, green pepper and pineapple. cover and cook for 2-3 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender and chicken juices run clear. Stir in spaghetti and onions.

3. In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch, soy sauce, reserved pineapple juice and remaining oil until smooth. Stir into chicken mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

If you want to spice it up, I suggest adding more ginger, pepper flakes, or chili oil to taste. We added mandarin oranges (for a sweet life. The noodles are for a long life) and fortune cookies of course, which was a lot of fun.

Happy year of the Ox to you all!