Pot stickers

We love these things....you could cook them as dumplings too or make them into won-ton soup.

Warning: I do not have exact amounts for the ingredients and you will need to make adjustments for your taste.
At first I filled the wraps with raw ingredients, but then I hated to let the kids help me (raw meat etc) so now I cook and season the meat and carrots and add the cabbage at the very end and lightly cook that...so you can taste the filling before you fill the potstickers. The picture is not very good, but it gives you an idea of the ratio of veggies to meat. If your mixture is wet like mine was this time...tilt the pan to drain the liquid to the side or use a collander.


I buy the wraps at a local Chinese food store, but I do think you can buy them at regular groceries too. I like the round ones for potstickers and square ones for won-tons but either will work.

Potstickers

wraps- one package is about 40 pieces
1 lb ground pork
salt, pepper and a bit of oyster sauce if you have it
finely chopped cabbage
finely chopped carrots
water

See above for cooking instructions for the filling

hold a wrap in one hand and put about a teaspoon of filling in the center
wet the edge of the wrap with your finger that was dipped in water
fold in half, you can fancy pleat the wrapper,but it does not affect the taste

If you are making them for wonton soup, you usually just gather the four corners up into a "purse" and pinch closed.

I layer the filled dumplings on lined cookie sheets and freeze...it is much easier to handle them when you cook them.
It only takes about an hour if you have a deep freeze.

cooking- heat a frying pan that has a lid....I put in enough oil to coat the pan. Heat the pan hot enough for water to "spritz" ( I'm sure there is a technical term for that, but I don't know it)
Add your postickers, lay them down on a wide side, one layer thick.  Fry on one side until browning....then add water and quickly put on the lid and allow to steam 2 minutes. Most of the water will be gone...scoop them out and eat or place in warm oven and make the next batch....
How much water do I put in?  I don't know.... enough to just cover the bottom of the pan....and loosen the potstickers if they started to "stick"



Story behind these yummy things....Once a little Chinese girl was cooking dumplings for her master. She got sidetracked and forgot the water. The dumplings started to burn and she quickly poured in water and plopped a lid on top to think what to do....She had little time and the master showed up and wanted his supper. So quaking in her shoes, she served the "burned" dumplings.  The master loved the fried, pot-sticking dumplings and wanted them again.

Now you get the idea, how to make them  :^)


Won ton soup....big pot of boiling water....another big pot of won-ton broth....throw the frozen won-tons in the clear boiling water...they will sink....when they rise they are hot...scoop them out and allow your family to add as much broth as they wish....

Do not boil the won-tons in the broth...it will get all cloudy and yucky looking from the cornstarch that the wrappers are coated with.

I fry carrots, onions, and cabbage to add to the soup...but the kids usually just add plain rice in addition.
The broth is from a bouillon pack that I buy at the Chinese food store...probably loaded w/ bad stuff, but I haven't been able to identify the flavorings of won-ton broth in order to recreate it.

My Saturday

Today we prepped the food for the special birthday hot lunch on Monday.  That's right Youngest Brother has a birthday! I will fry these as potstickers on Monday AM, and make rice and chicken stir-fry w/ veggies. He is excited about his first birthday cake for HIS birthday. They did have birthday cakes once every other month to celebrate all the birthdays from that time period. Not sure if we will measure up to expectations. After all he was informed that most American's visit Disney. I heard him quizzing his sister the other day to make sure she wasn't there already. Sorry son, it ain't in the budget at this point.

But look what else he accomplished today! He has been struggling to put all the parts together. Balance, pedaling and braking. When you have virtually no calf muscles it is very hard to make those feet move  the way they should, and of course the left hand brake is for the front wheel, but I think we can switch that around.

Go son!!!

 

BREAD

The staff of life....
If there is no bread in the freezer at our house it is almost as bad as if we had no milk.
I use this recipe for most of our bread, pizza, burger buns, or sub rolls it just gets shaped differently.
I normally use the brand names of the items in the picture.
You can use other types of oil or salt, but the flour should be a high gluten type. But each time I use a different flour I get different results and it takes a time or two to either adjust the recipe or adjust our tastes.
Bread reacts to the weather (honestly) if there is more moisture in the air, it seems to rise better. The moisture in your flour can affect the dough too.

The recipe is for two loaves of bread. I use the pans in the picture they are 4-1/2 wide by 9-1/2 long and 2-1/2 high. They originally were non-stick pans, they are very old and I don't wash them in between.  I use a quick spray of non-stick stuff. The bread normally just falls out of the pan.


Recipe:
3 cups of warm water- I don't normally test it, but it is between 100 and 110 degrees. I do not warm my mixing  bowl. I pour the water directly into my metal mixer bowl.

4 teaspoons of salt
3 Tablespoons of  olive oil
8 cups of flour- do not pack the flour, scoop it up and POUR it into your measuring cup.
2 heaping tablespoons of yeast
3 Tablespoons of sugar

Place in mixing bowl in order given,

Then using dough hook...let 'er mix. If you have the time let the mixer work at least 5 minutes. The dough should get very smooth. It might climb the beater, but after 5 minutes it should be OK to handle. If it still is very sticky, add a 1/4 cup of flour at a time until you get a better consistency.

 A little sticky is better than dry. If you can handle it without having a big sticky mess, you don't need more flour

If you poke it quickly with your finger it should dent,but then slowly rise back out again.

Divide dough in two parts, smooth into longish rolls and place in your sprayed pans.

 Let rise about 25 minutes. Sometimes it takes a bit longer, if the house is cold. You should let it rise away from a draft. I set it on my stove top.
In the winter when the air is dry, the dough will sort of dry out on top....at about 15 min. into rising time, gently feel the loaf. If it seems dry, wet your hands with warm water and GENTLY wet the tops of the loaf.


Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350. Again this is where trial and error come in. Each oven bakes differently, if I make 4 loaves at a time, I definitely need the 30- 35 minutes...only 2 loaves   25 minutes.
So check the bread, if it is brown on top and sounds hollow when you tap it...you should be good.

Remove from oven, tip the loaf out onto a towel and wrap the bread in the towel.
 Note: If you dump out the loaf and see that it is very light on the bottom, gently tip it back in the pan and bake another 5 minutes. This is a good color.

After the loaf is cool and there is still some left....you can freeze it. Let it cool under a towel, it won't dry out as quickly.


Someone asked how I keep it for a week.  We slice the bread as soon as it is cool enough, bag it and deep freeze it.
It will taste fresh if you freeze it right away.
 Your refrigerator freezer will not do a good job...maybe if you double bag it....you would have better results.


One half of this recipe makes 2 pizzas....oil the pizza pan well, let rise about 15 min. and bake at 400 degrees for about 10 min...just starting to brown.  Put on your sauce, toppings and cheese, return to oven for another 10 - 15 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbling....affordable pizza!


Shape the above recipe into 24 balls, flatten onto a cookie sheet, let rise a bit and bake at 350... 
Shape into long skinny logs and you have sub sandwich rolls

School Work!

I am very glad that someone mentioned the difference in Ch*nese
education and American education. I found it true that students are not
encouraged to use their imaginations too much and pretty much do rote
lessons. He told me he has never written a story.

It works very well for math facts, but it throws them a real curve when
it comes to writing a "persuasive letter"

"I don't want to persuade anyone!!" " I don't know why I need to learn
this!"

I illustrated with "Well one day you will want a cell phone and I will
say why?"
And you will persuade me with..."Because...."

He informed me he will not want a cell phone (gotta write that one down)

It was a real struggle, but I think I illustrated the concept better
when the girls came begging frozen cooked chicken. I was chopping it
into the chicken and biscuit mixture and they wanted some. I asked "why,
should I give you some?"

I got some creative answers --"you are such a nice mommy" got a big
piece of chicken....anyway I glanced over at bigger brother and he was
observing closely.

After a bit (actually more than a bit) of a struggle he did manage to
write a persuasive letter...I do not look forward to creative writing
classes.
One day at a time.

Finished!!

After weeks of wondering why this quilt is taking forever to finish, I
counted the pieces...
There were over 3150 pieces in that thing! No wonder!I will do a bread post one of these days, but I need to get to bed, my
kids gave me that lovely sore throat that is going around.Tomorrow got to take Son #3 to see why his ankles have been hurting. His
ankles are turned in sort of like fallen arches, yet different....see if
they have some fancy, expensive name for it.

How to Feed a "Big" Family

 First you bake 8 loaves of bread...it will last about a week

 Then you hope that you can score a 35 pound box of chicken breast for $20. Or a 40 pound box of whole chickens for $12. If they are frozen on a big lump....you wash your hubby's pry bar and get him to help you pull the mess apart so you can bag them.

 Buy apples by the basket they are cheaper that way and they are even nutritious...

 Fifty pounds of potatoes will last a few weeks all you gotta do is wash 'em and cook 'em. (sorry that the picture is side-ways)

Then you buy yourself a BIG 14" fry pan and you can cook for the masses!

Cooking is a lot more fun if you have the equipment and the food to go in the pan.

I Didn't Know...

I didn't know that girl camels have two humps on their back and boy
camels only have one.

I didn't know that you can tell a girl horse by the way it runs....

Help me out here, I thought I got my degree in these things a long time
ago....Always learning something new!

There's A Law!

Did you know there is a law that makes my house look like this?!!
It's not really my fault!There really is a law! It's called the "2nd Law of Thermodynamics"It's the law that says things naturally move from order to disorder!!!At least that is what my Sunday School teacher said and she has a
doctorate.....in English....ah well I'll still claim
that there is a law that makes my house look like this.
I did learn other good things in church too.....Jesus IS coming one of
these days... and we got major work to do til then!Tonite Joseph told us "in China they told us America believes in God,
but I think I no believe, I just look."
He also told us he was happy to see us because "now I get to eat, always
just little food at orphanage."There is our work folks....as far as I know all of those friends are
still over there on WA*AP's list and some have some pretty hefty grants.

Do Your Taxes

Well, we just got back from the accountant...
his software agrees with the information I have been reading on my Yahoo
groups.

He was unaware of the refund from other years' adoptions, but his
software wasn't :-) .

So go get those taxes filed!

We should be able to pay off some of the loans we incurred :-) .

My Christmas Present

Around Thanksgiving my DH asked if I would like a place to keep all the
empty lunch boxes (the ones that were piled on the kitchen floor).
And a place for everyone's coat and backpack...

Would I ???!!!

Yes, dear, please?

Well after a bit of work and old fashioned ingenuity I have a new
wall....each little door conceals 2 shelves for CURRENT school work and
papers in transit. In the case of oldest brother it is a place to put
his mail.
There is a bit of a battle to keep the papers in the cubbies CURRENT but
I have DH on the job for that one.

I am learning to just ask him to do the patrols and requests...he does
not get challenged nearly as much as I do.

DH thinks it looks as if our kitchen turned into a school room, but I
think it looks LOVELY!!

Stay tuned, I should soon be able to post a picture of our 1993 Astro's
odometer turning to 222,222.
Oh the excitement! Sorry, I live in a small world these days.

Happy Ground Hog's Day

Got these last night for Ground Hog's Day.... long tradition at this

house...

.(I think roses are cheaper before Valentines Day)

And after another 2 hr delay because of ice-after a snow day
yesterday....I am seriously thinking of building a padded room...
for me!

When there is no schedule, some little people think it is time to argue
and irritate! I WILL hide the Monopoly game!

Tomorrow's weather forecast sounds like we should at least be on time.
Maybe some sunshine will help.

Today I arrived at school for the talent show to be met by a teacher
saying.."Oh, did someone tell you about the problem with Joseph? He's in
the office." Umm, he was in a bad mood when he left home, but ....?

I was relieved to see that it was actually Joseph's foot that was in the
office and his foot was loose again.

Thankfully one of the dad's had metric allen wrenches in his truck and
we were able to tighten everything up and get the young man on stage to
sing "Fifty Nifty United States" with his classmates.

Oh and I heard a tidbit from W*CAP that a family is starting paperwork
for "picture friend". The agency will pass along our information if the
adoption proceeds. Oh I hope!...

We still didn't hear from the foster brother's family though.