Recipe Friday: Chinese Pepper Steak

"To the ruler, people are heaven; to the people, food is heaven." Chinese Proverb

Happy New Year! Anybody doing take out Chinese to ring in the New Year?

Chinese food is one of my favorite cuisines! Here's a healthy and easy recipe for your crock pot from Mabel Hoffman's Crockery Cookery. Hope you enjoy it!

Chinese Pepper Steak

1 1/2 pounds round steak
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 T hoison sauce
1 t sugar
1 tomato, chopped
2 red or green bell peppers, cut in strips
3 T cornstarch
3 T water
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
4 green onions, finely chopped
Cooked rice
                              

Trim fat from steak; slice into thin strips.  Combine steak, garlic, salt, pepper, soy sauce, hoison sauce and sugar in slow cooker.  Cover and cook on LOW about 4 hours.  Turn control to HIGH.  Add tomato and bell peppers.  Dissolve cornstarch in water in a small bowl; stir into streak mixture.  Cover and cook on HIGH 15-20 minutes or until thickened. Stir in bean sprouts. Sprinkle with onions. Serve with rice.  Makes 4-6 servings.

How are you celebrating the New Year tonight?  Several years ago, my friend Sheri told me that she and her family spend a quiet evening at home (like mine) and she makes an array hors d'oeuvres for dinner. I loved that idea, and I've been doing it ever since!

Tonight we'll have Swedish meatballs, shrimp, hummus and raw veggies.  I also got a frozen pizza for the kids (I'll cut it into little squares) and popcorn chicken.  Don't know if we'll stay up until midnight, but we will have had our share of party food!

Tell me about your New Year's Eve! Tweet me @: maria_mckenzie. Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a very Happy New Year!

Recipe Friday: Easy Chinese Chicken

"There are more Chinese restaurants in this country than McDonald's, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken combined."  Fortune Cookie Chronicles Blog (http://www.fortunecookiechronicles.com/)

Who doesn't love Chinese food?  Jennifer 8. Lee traveled the globe in search of the world's greatest Chinese food.  She wrote about her adventures in The Fortune Cookie Chronicles.  While eating her way across the U.S., she explained that Chinese restaurants cater to the tastes of their surrounding neighborhoods. 

This explained to me why I've seen pork chops, fried chicken and banana pudding on menus at Chinese restaurants in the South.  But one time in North Carolina, because of the language barrier, a customer at a dine-in establishment couldn't make the waiter understand that he wanted his meal served with the meat and "gravy" on top of the rice instead of in separate serving dishes.

Now, I ask, who doesn't love Chinese food?  My kids do--as long as it's from a restaurant, they informed me recently.  Regardless of how they feel, this is a wonderful recipe that's quick, easy and delicious.  It's adapted from Ling Yu's Spiced Roast Chicken found in her Cooking the Chinese Way, a cookbook for kids.

Easy Chinese Chicken

3 lbs. chicken thighs
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 t garlic powder
1 t pepper
1/4 cup sugar
1 T vegetable oil

Place chicken in a Pyrex baking dish, set aside.  Mix remaining ingredients.  Pour over chicken, then rub into poultry using hands.  Let sit at least two hours in refrigerator.  Bake uncovered for 90 minutes at 350 degrees.  Serves 4.

What's your favorite Chinese food?

Tweet me at maria_mckenzie.  Thanks for stopping by!