The holiday generally lasts about seven days, with travel and cleaning leading up to the New Year. Multi-generational families gather for the reunion dinner, considered the most important meal of the year, and share food, stories, conversation, and time together. 2015 commemorates the Year of the Goat, the eighth symbol of the Zodiac, and all family members born in goat years are celebrated.

While 2015 may be the Year of the Goat, every year is the year of the dumpling.  Ground or chopped meats or fish with ginger, sesame, and chilies are rolled in won ton, or dumpling, wrappers, and then boiled in hot salty water.  Serving them is considered to bring good luck and prosperity in the New Year.   Though they are served year-round, they are a traditional accompaniment to the reunion dinner.

The varieties of Chinese Dumplings are too numerous to count, but here is just one recipe to try out if you feel inclined to celebrate the Chinese New Year, or if you just want to try the traditional fare:

Dumplings                                                                                 Dipping sauce

½ pound roughly chopped scallops                                                ½ cup rice vinegar

½ pound roughly chopped peeled shrimp                                        1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon salt                                                                            ½ teaspoon chili garlic sauce

½-1 teaspoon black pepper, coarsely ground                                  2 green onions, sliced

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

½ cup chopped green onion

1 teaspoon sesame oil

½ cup chopped cilantro leaves and stems

1 finely chopped serrano chile

40 dumpling wrappers, 3 ½”

Place scallops and shrimp in a bowl with salt, pepper, ginger, green onions, sesame oil, cilantro, and serrano chili.  Mix well then refrigerate at least an hour.

Make the dipping sauce by whisking together the rice vinegar, sesame oil, chili garlic sauce, and green onion.

Place two teaspoons of filling into the center of each dumpling wrapper, moisten the edges, and pinch together into half-moons.  Pleating the edges seals the dumpling (and also makes them look pretty!)

Boil the dumplings about ten at a time in well-salted water until they rise to the surface, then an additional four minutes.

Garnish with cilantro and/or green onion slivers and serve with the dipping sauce.

The post Chinese New Year 2015: Year of the Goat appeared first on Houston's Blog.

You can party Mardi Gras-style without traveling to New Orleans, though.  Get yourself a few strands of colorful beads and a mask, and make yourself a cocktail or two to celebrate the season.  Have you ever attended the festivities in New Orleans?  Or have you made your own party somewhere else?  Try out one of these French Quarter-inspired libations, and let us know how you like to celebrate…

Hurricane

2 ounces light rum

2 ounces dark rum

2 ounces passion fruit syrup

1 ounce orange juice

1 ounce lime juice

1 ounce dark rum

½ ounce simple syrup

½ ounce grenadine

Combine all ingredients in a shaker, strain into a large Hurricane glass filled with ice.  Garnish with an orange wheel and a cherry.

French 75

1 ½ ounces gin

¾ ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice

½ ounce simple syrup

¼ cup chilled dry sparkling wine or Champagne

Combine gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake for 20 seconds.  Strain into a Champagne flute, then top with chilled sparkling wine.  Garnish with a lemon twist.

Blue Bayou Cocktail

1 ½ ounces vodka

½ ounce blue curacao

½ cup fresh pineapple

2 ounces grapefruit juice

For a frozen treat, blend ingredients in a blender with 1 cup crushed ice until smooth.  Pour into a cocktail glass.  Or combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake for 20 seconds, then pour into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with a pineapple wedge.

The post Feeling Festive? The Season of Mardi Gras is Upon Us! appeared first on Houston's Blog.

It is well known that New Year’s resolutions don’t have a high success rate, but yet every January it seems most people still set at least one goal for the upcoming year. The simple fact is that there is an allure to starting the year off with fresh hopes and dreams, to wiping the slate clean and strive toward self-improvement. But if the actual rate of following through is so low, why do we bother? Why set ourselves up to fail, when you know from the outset that you are practically doomed? The truth is, as Nona Jordan (master certified coach and energy worker) points out in an article on www.psychcentral.com, that “people…have hope and a certain level of belief in their ability to change and be more of who they really want to be.” And so we continue to make promises to ourselves each January, in anticipation of getting at least one or more steps closer to the goals we have set for ourselves.

So how do we better our chances of succeeding? While there are many approaches that work well for different people, the literature suggests that the following three paths have proven the most beneficial:

New Year’s Day is a great day to start fresh! Photo Credit: Courtney Stroup

1. Set reachable goals. What this really amounts to is: AIM LOW! Don’t set yourself up for failure from the very beginning. While each defeat will cause you to beat yourself up in your mind, each small win will raise your self-esteem. When we boost our confidence our chances for success are also improved. Hand-in-hand with this approach is that you don’t make a list of resolutions. Make one. And then put everything you have into doing it well.

2. Be committed to your goal. Change is hard, but setting routines and learning balance will keep you advancing toward your objective. Map out the steps you will need to take. Talk to everyone you know so they can help hold you accountable. Work to avoid the situations where you’ve found yourself slipping so you can learn to navigate temptations and failures.

3. Be prepared for setbacks. While you can do everything in your power to minimize temptations, to start small, or to plan out how you will succeed, there will be bumps in the road. And that is okay. If you know that you will mess up then it is somehow easier to acknowledge the mistake and be ready to begin again with the same determination as before.

Have you made any resolutions for 2015? Or have your found success in prior resolutions? What steps will you take to obtain your goals? Tell us about them. Let’s work together to make this the best year yet!

The post Making and Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions appeared first on Houston's Blog.

Tomato and Mozzarella Bites

Ingredients

20 grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, halved
20 fresh basil leaves
20 small fresh mozzarella cheese balls
½ cup balsamic vinegar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
20 toothpicks

Directions

Spear half a tomato, a leaf of basil, a mozzarella ball, and another half of tomato on each toothpick. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Mix together balsamic vinegar and olive oil to serve as a dipping sauce.

Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed mushrooms

Ingredients

36 medium mushrooms (about 2 pounds total)
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the baking sheet
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 5-ounce package baby spinach, chopped
½ can quartered artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 cup bread crumbs
½ cup Gruyère, grated (2 ounces)

Directions

Heat oven to 375° F. Remove the stems from the mushrooms; finely chop the stems and reserve. Spray a baking sheet with oil. Bake the mushroom caps, stem-side down, until just tender, 10 to 12 minutes.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and chopped mushroom stems and cook until tender, stirring often, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the spinach, artichoke hearts, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until wilted, 2 to 3 minutes, toss or stir often.

In a separate bowl, combine the spinach mixture with the bread crumbs and cheese. Spoon into the mushroom caps and bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.

Brown Sugar Bacon Smokies

Ingredients

1 pound bacon
1 package (16 ounce) little smokie sausages
1 cup brown sugar

Directions

Cut bacon into thirds and wrap each strip around a sausage. Place one on a toothpick or several on a larger skewer. Arrange the skewers on a baking sheet and sprinkle liberally with brown sugar. Bake at 350°F until bacon is crisp and brown sugar is melted.

Bacon and Cheese Deviled Eggs

Ingredients

12 hard-cooked eggs
½ cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon honey mustard
4 slices crisp-cooked bacon, crumbled
2 Tablespoons sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 slice crisp-cooked bacon, crumbled, for garnishing (optional)
Chopped green onion, for garnishing (optional)

Directions

Halve eggs lengthwise and remove yolks. Place yolks in a bowl, mash with fork. Stir in mayonnaise, honey mustard, salt and pepper to taste. Fold in bacon crumbles and cheese.

Stuff egg whites with yolk mixture. Sprinkle with chopped green onions and bacon crumbles, if desired

Cinnamon Roasted Almonds Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups Almonds
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Add egg white and water to a large bowl. Beat egg white until you have soft peaks. Add sugars, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Mix well. Spread nuts in a single layer on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring once halfway through cooking.

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