Chicken Potstickers

I love potstickers and last night Bobby and I ate potstickers, drank wine, and played Rock Band. What a beautiful Saturday night.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound ground chicken or turkey
• 1/3 cup minced green onions
• 1 tablespoon minced peeled gingerroot
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 30 won ton wrappers
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 4 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided
• 1 cup water, divided

Preparation

Add chicken and next 6 ingredients (chicken through garlic) to mixing bowl; stir well.

Working with 1 won ton wrapper at a time (cover remaining won ton wrappers to keep them from drying out), spoon about 1 tablespoon chicken mixture into the center of each wrapper.

Moisten edges of wrapper with water, and bring 2 opposite corners to center, pinching points to seal. Bring the remaining 2 corners to center, pinching points to seal. Pinch 4 edges together to seal. Place pot stickers on a large baking sheet sprinkled with cornstarch; cover loosely with a towel to keep them from drying out.

Heat 2 teaspoons vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Place half of pot stickers in bottom of skillet; cook 3 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Add 1/2 cup water to skillet; cover and cook 3 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Place pot stickers on a serving platter; set aside, and keep warm.

Wipe skillet with a paper towel. Repeat procedure with remaining vegetable oil, remaining pot stickers, and remaining water.

Potato and Leek Soup

Since going to Paris this winter, I've been wanting to try out some of the new recipes. I was old fashioned and went to the library and checked out a cookbook! I've never cooked with leeks before, so I had to do some research, this really helped.

I used my salad spinner to help clean the leeks better. It really worked!

The recipe called for 2lbs of leaks and 5lbs of potatoes. I didn't want to eat this for the next 5 months, so I made it up a little bit.



2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 leeks, cut into rings.
6 mediums potatoes
1/2lb of bacon, cubed.
8 cups of water
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat until hot, but not smoking. Reduce heat and fully cook bacon and add leeks and potatoes. Stir bacon, leeks and potatoes until coated with olive oil. When leeks have softened, add water, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, remove from heat and sit for 1 hour.

It's sitting in my freezer right now for a time where a warm soup is perfect for a cold day!

Mexican Stew

Made by Bobby, my Favorite.

2 chicken breasts, cut into "pieces you would like to put into your mouth"
2 cans of salsa, choose your favorite. Tonight, we used Medium Mango
1 pepper, roughly chopped.
1/2 an onion, roughly chopped.
1 can of black beans
1 can of corn
brown rice (I make 2 servings)

In a large pot, saute chicken until fully cooked through. Add peppers and onions and cook for 3 minutes until soft. Add salsa, black beans, and corn. Simmer until bubbly and add rice.

Serve tortilla chips (for more carbs!) with your favorite toppings such as sour cream, cheese, or cilantro.

Everything Breakfast Casserole

I only like Eggs when they are covered up by vegetables, hash browns, ketchup and hot sauce.. This recipe does it all!

You can put whatever you have in your kitchen into this casserole.

First, pre-heat oven to 350.

8 Eggs
1 bag of hash browns, I like shredded but cubed works, too!
1 chopped pepper, whatever color you have
1 chopped tomato
1/2 a medium onion, chopped
1 cup of shredded cheese
1lb cooked sausage or bacon, crumbled

Mix hash browns, pepper, tomato, onion,cheese and meat in a large mixing bowl. Pour into a greased glass baking dish.

Beat Eggs and evenly pour over hash brown mixture.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour. I put a fork in the middle to check before I pull it out.

David's Chicken Soup

I don't know who David is, but he makes really good Chicken Soup.

You must follow the direction for this soup to turn on right.... but it pays off in the end.

1/3 c. butter
3/4 c. flour
6 1/2 c. of chicken broth
1 1/2 c. warm Evaporated Milk
2 c. diced chicken
1/4 tsp White Pepper

Melt butter and then add flour.

Slowly add 2 1/2 c. of Chicken Broth (I add a little and then stir it all in, then add some more and stir)

Cook until thick about 2-3 minutes
Add remaining Chicken Broth, Evaporated Milk, Chicken and White Pepper.

Cook for 15 minutes until warm.

Serve with sourdough bread and a green salad.

Veggie Enchiladas

Mexican food is one of my favorites to make and eat. I always order Enchiladas when I eat out at Mexican restaurants. This meal is almost a comfort food to me.. The picture explains it all! I usually fill them with chicken or ground turkey, but this time I just put some vegetables.

Beginning Steps:

• Pre-heat oven to 375
• Spray a glass cooking dish with Pam or other cooking spray.
  

Inside mixture

1/2 jar of your favorite salsa
1/2 can of black beans
1/2 of a small can of green chilis.
1/2 green pepper
1/2 an onion (sliced finely)

I sauteed the onion and green pepper before putting them inside the enchilada.

Then, I put a large spoonful of the mixture in the center of a tortilla. Wrap the tortilla up with the mixture and pack 5-6 tortillas in the glass dish. Check here for how to wrap it well. The envelope works the best.

Pour a large can of Enchilada Sauce over the top. I like my enchiladas with lots of sauce, so pour slowly so you can choose how much to pour over the top. Then, sprinkle with cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes, uncovered.

Chik Parmesan

Morning Star Chik Patties are one of my favorite things to buy. I love making Chik Parmesan with them. I do have shout out to Holly because she gave me the recipe.
I love this dinner because it makes me think about dinners I would make for myself in college. The other thing that I love about this dinner is that Bobby remembered it was one of my favorites and made it for me tonight!

Here's how he made it for 2 people:

Sauce
1 large can of crushed basil tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
large sprinkling of Italian Seasoning

Cook on low until simmering.

• Cook Chik Patties as according to on the box (1 per person, or cook extra for leftovers)
  
• When Chik Patties are finished place a tablespoon over the Chik Patties and sprinkle mozzarella on the top. Cook 1 more minute until the cheese is melted.

• Make spaghetti or your favorite pasta as according to on the box (I like to measure by hand. One handful for each person, plus one for luck)
  
• When the pasta is finished pour remaining sauce over the sauce and mix in.
  

Top pasta with Chik Patties and serve hot. Lots of leftovers for the next days lunch. Yum.

No pictures of the food so here's one of Riggy. Isn't his sweater cute?

Chicken, Pasta, Veggie.

I feel like all of the dinners that I make have a combination of these three things. Tonight, I deconstructed (as they say on Top Chef) my favorite dishes and made Breaded Chicken, Steamed Broccoli and little noodles.

Breaded Chicken is my favorite thing to make for many reasons-- mainly about the main sauces that you can dip or pour over it.

Start making your dinner in this order, so that everything come out hot!

Noodles (10 minutes)
Broccoli (start 3 minutes after you pour noodles in)
Chicken (start 5 minutes after you pour noodles in)

Noodles
Who doesn't love noodles with butter and Parmesan cheese? It makes me think about my childhood dinners. I had tiny soup noodles so I used those tonight. I really wanted spatzel but our grocery store didn't have any.

Broccoli

Ingredients

1 bunch of broccoli

Lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Method

1 Rinse out well your broccoli, and break into large, bite-sized florets. Cut off the stem and peel off the thick skin around the stem. Quarter or halve the stem lengthwise.

2 Bring 3/4 to 1 inch of water to a boil in a saucepan with a steamer. (Note that is you don't have a steamer, you can simply put the broccoli directly into an inch of boiling water.) Add the broccoli to the steamer and cover; reduce heat to medium and let cook for 6-7 minutes. The broccoli is done when you can pierce it with a fork. But be careful not to overcook the broccoli. As soon as it is pierce-able, remove from heat, place in serving dish.

3 Salt and pepper. Squeeze half a lemon over the top!

Serves 2-4, depending on how much broccoli people like to eat.

I make my Breaded Chicken by...

First, I butterfly the chicken breast and flatten it using a meat mallet. Then, I dip the chicken into breadcrumbs, no eggs for me! I pour olive oil in the bottom of the pan, very very thin layer. I let the oil heat up on medium-low heat.

Cook 3 minutes on each side. Before taking the chicken out, squeeze half a lemon over top and cook for 1 more minute.

Seriously yummy dinner.

Cheese Ravioli

Day 2 of Wii workout. Its seriously hysterical that I'm working out while pretending I'm a member of the marching band.

I love making my own marinara sauce. It is seriously easy and healthier (I think) than something that is poured out of a jar. Plus, you can add whatever extras you would like!

This dinner, as like any dinner, is especially good when someone else makes it for you. Thanks, Bobby!

Ravioli-- I LOVE ravioli especially the ones with different flavors inside. I've been buying whole wheat ravioli lately... seriously yummy :)


Marinara Sauce ( I don't do any measuring, I just eyeball it all. It all works out in the end!)
1 big can of crushed tomatoes with basil
half of onion, finely chopped (to see my new favorite way to cut onions check this out)
1 clove of garlic
a large sprinkling of Italian Seasoning

First, add the garlic and onions to the pot. Cook for 2-3 minutes before adding the tomatoes and seasoning.

Cook until simmering and pour over ravioli.


Serve with garlic bread (not healthy) and a green salad (healthy)

Ginger Stir Fry

I love using those Chicken Sausages that come in all sorts of flavors. And after my 20 minute Wii workout, I was craving something healthy with tons of veggies. Tonight, I used the Ginger Chicken Sausages in a Ginger Stir Fry.

I made a Soy/Ginger Sauce (below) and added it to the Sausages and veggies(I like to buy the frozen bag of stirfry vegetables). If you like it saucier, and I do, double the sauce recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup light soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons minced ginger
• a large sprinkling of sesame seeds
  
• sesame oil to taste
  

Cook until heated through (5-7 minutes)

Serve over Rice.


Bobby even liked it :)