Chinese Christmas 2013

This past Christmas was a first for us: Not only did we host a fun gathering (which is normally held at Dad and Pam's house), but we decided to forego the traditional Christmas ham and did a Chinese Christmas with homemade Chinese dishes.

It has been a family tradition over the past 3 years that when we are decorating for Christmas, we get Chinese takeout, decorate, listen to Christmas music, and then watch Christmas movies when we're all done. I guess I just didn't get my fill of Chinese this year :)

I decided to make two of our favorite "go-to" Chinese food recipes: Sweet & Sour Chicken and Beef & Broccoli. To be honest, I felt like they both kinda flopped, but everyone else said they were great. I tried this Kraft box of sweet & sour mix to make things easier on myself, but I prefer my own recipe for Sweet & Sour Chicken (I'll post it below).

The Beef & Broccoli ended up getting a little singed, what with me planning a little poorly on the prep work (lesson learned!). Once again, everyone said it was great, but I think they were all lying lol I also felt the sauce was a little too bold, as I prefer a more mild sauce where the beef and broccoli are the stars with just a little flavor. I wouldn't make the recipe again, especially since it took such random ingredients that we don't typically keep on hand.

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Posted in 2010 to the blog:
Click HERE for the recipe

I actually discovered an incredibly more awesome Beef & Broccoli recipe earlier this week, so instead of giving you the wretched one we used this particular night, I'm going to give you the incredible one I made Monday evening. I actually ended up doubling the sauce because there wasn't a ton once it simmered a while, and that ended up being about perfect. However, it also added a TON of sodium from the soy sauce, so keep that in mind. It was probably fine just for us, but with a 1 year old with minimal teeth, he needed a little more sauce to get it down.

Beef & Broccoli

Ingredients

Base

• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
• 1/2 cup water, plus
• 2 tablespoons water, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 lb boneless round steak or 1 lb charcoal chuck steak, cut into thin 3-inch strips
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 4 cups broccoli florets
• 1 small onion, cut into wedges

Sauce

• 1/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 2 tablespoons water and garlic powder until smooth.
2. Add beef and toss.
3. In a large skillet or wok over medium high heat, stir-fry beef in 1 tablespoon oil until beef reaches desired doneness; remove and keep warm.
4. Stir-fry broccoli and onion in remaining oil for 4-5 minutes.
5. Return beef to pan.
6. Combine soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger and remaining cornstarch and water until smooth; add to the pan.
7. Cook and stir for 2 minutes.
8. Serve over rice.