CHINESE NEW YEAR!

The Chinese New Year is on January 26th this year. And, it is the year of the ox. I am going to take this as a particularly good omen as I share many qualities of the ox. I don't really mean that in the totally self deprecating way that it sounds, honestly! I have heard many light footed (and light weight) runners refer to themselves as "running like a gazelle". Well, I run "like an ox". I'll tell you one thing - you'll never hear about anyone hitching their carts to the mighty gazelle!You can't plow your fields and feed a village with a gazelle. Oh don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against the gazelle, they are beautiful for sure. Just saying I've spent a long time being an ox who wished she was a gazelle. You can't make an ox into a gazelle (nor a gazelle into an ox). Better off just to accept the things that are great about being an ox and maximize on that.

These days I can pretty much take any topic and turn it into a metaphor for running (as evidenced by a simple post about the Chinese New Year). So, I guess my Chinese New Year's resolution will be to stop being envious of the gazelle (for there is no year of the gazelle, after all). I will never be one. I can not train my way into being one or diet my way into being one. Heck, I don't think I could even nip and tuck my way into it. So I've got to throw on the old yoke (size XL) and embrace my inner ox! The ox is strong, the ox is powerful and the ox is a worker. All worthy accomplishments. So this year I shall be happy to run like an ox. Happy year of the Ox!

Okay, running aside (for the moment) . . . with the coming of the Chinese New Year several people have asked me for my dumpling recipe and so I thought it would be useful to post it here as well. So, for this week's recipe installment I serve you up Chinese Vegetable Dumplings (steamed, please - no need to be more oxy than necessary!):

Steamed Veggie Dumplings - Gluten Free, of course:

Pasta Wrapper: (also good for plain pasta or ravioli)
1 C tapioca flour
1 C rice flour (white superfine, if you can get it)
2/3 C potato starch flour
1/3 C Soy flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp olive oil
4 eggs
1/3 C water (or more if needed to make nice smooth dough)
Mix dry ing. together. Make a well in the center of the dry stuff. Dump the wet stuff (slightly mixed together) in the well and mix it in with a fork. Add the water a little at a time to form dough. Knead it into a smooth dough. Let sit for 10 min. Then divide into 4 pieces. Put 3 in the fridge while working with 1. Take about a golf ball size piece of dough and roll it out. Put a glob of filling off to one side (not too close to the edge). Fold the other side over and crimp shut. It may help to wet the edge a bit to make sure it seals shut.

Filling:

I usually just kind of wing this part, but I know most people want some guidelines, so here are some rather loose guidelines - feel free to improvise on this part.

1 cup shredded napa cabbage

1 cup shredded carrots

1 cup sliced shitake mushrooms

1 Tbsp minced ginger

4 scallions, thinly sliced

1 tsp. sesame or peanut oil

a few splashes of GF soy sauce.

Place dumplings in a steaming basket on top of large cabbage leaves to steam. Or put gently into a pot of boiling water until they are all floating to the top (about 8+ minutes). These freeze very well. I usually steam them first, then freeze. Then just add frozen dumplings to boiling water and extend cooking time a bit to account for defrosting time.

Enjoy!