Christmas & Sesame Chicken

Christmas this year we have decided to branch out and do Chinese, so we are doing lettuce wraps as the appetizer, Sesame Chicken, Chinese lettuce salad & brown rice.
My step mom is doing another main dish, as well as a noodle dish.
Last night my father and step mother dropped by for an impromptu visit for which I am deeply thankful I spent all of yesterday cleaning my home :).
They brought us our Christmas present early which was wonderful!! Finally I bought Wil's present and his present for me as well and they are both hopefully going to be here before Christmas I can only pray they make it!
The kids, family and friends are all taken care of and ready to hand out which is great as I never know when I am going to see some of them.
As you can imagine from the picture we have snow, the other day we got 4 inches and as its snowing right now I think its fair to say we will have a white Christmas this year - for which my adorable children are very happy. I am just happy I had finish raking the lawn and cleaning up my drive way.
My Christmas presents are Jane Austin's Collected works, Tell me the Secrets by Max Lucado & some minor books and pjs. For my hubby he wants a special razor I am nervous about this razor since he can cut himself rather badly with it however its what he wants so he gets it along with other minor personal items. For my daughter she gets Tinkerbell items and an Ikea childrens tea set, my son gets trains - thomas the train and an Ikea small magnet train set.
Trying to get my children to understand the REAL meaning of Christmas is not easy however I have a wonderful nativity set and every Christmas I take it down and read the story of Jesus's birth using the nativity set to tell the story. I am looking right now for a box set of Gold, Frankincense and myrrh however I need one I can afford and finding a nice affordable one is proving to be a huge challenge so I might end up getting it for Christmas one year.
The visual aid products help my children pay attention and understand the words better.
With the ads, movies, retailers and all the hustle and bustle its hard to explain to my children that Santa is not real but Jesus is - I feel like a trout swimming up stream.
I am praying that next year is a wonderful year for our family this year has been good but hard, the hubby is just starting his physical therapy from after his back surgery and I am finally begining to lose the weight in earnest.
We can only pray that his job remains stable and good during this next projected hard year - with lots of companies closing many of their doors.

Sesame Chicken

By Rhonda Parkinson, About.com

Sesame chicken is a very popular restaurant dish. The sauce recipe was posted on our forum by Reykjaviky. (Guide notes: You may want to increase the vinegar or lower the amount of sugar. It all depends on how sweet you want the sauce).

Sesame Chicken serves 3 - 4, or 5 - 6 as part of a multi-course meal.

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 whole boneless chicken breasts
• Marinade:
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon cooking wine or dry sherry
• a few drops of sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• Sauce for Sesame Chicken:
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/8 cup vinegar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 TB dark soy sauce
• 2 TB sesame oil
• 1 tsp chili paste, or more if desired
• 1 clove garlic (minced)
• Other:
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (see recipe directions for link to how to toast)
• 3 1/2 - 4 cups peanut oil for deep-frying

Preparation:

Directions for Sesame Chicken: Toast the sesame seeds and set aside.

Cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes. Mix the marinade ingredients and marinate the chicken for 20 minutes.

To prepare the sauce: mix together all of the sauce ingredients. Pour them into a small pot and bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Turn the heat down to low and keep warm while you are deep-frying the chicken.

To deep-fry the chicken: add the marinated chicken pieces a few at a time, and deep-fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remainder of the chicken.

Just before you are finished deep-frying, bring the sauce back up to a boil.
Place the chicken on a large platter and pour the sauce over. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve the Sesame Chicken with rice.

Alternate Healthier prep:
The only changes I make is that I marinade the chicken for about a day or two and I do not use the cornstarch, flour, baking soda/powder in the marinade. Mostly because I do not fry the chicken as we are trying to eat healthier. In stead, I cook the chicken in the marinade and then discard the marinade after the chicken is cooked. I recommend this recipe a 1,000 times. Your taste buds will crave it. I know ours do.