.strawberry wontons.

Today was a great day. I invited a couple girlfriends over for lunch and for scrapbooking. I met them over at 2Peas, and while I have gotten together with Deb quite a few times, I have only had email conversations with Denise. I had planned on making Santa Fe Chicken Salad for lunch, but while grocery shopping yesterday, I had a sudden craving for lettuce wraps.....

... and crab rangoon... (weak)

For dessert, I decided to make some deep fried strawberry wontons. What is a strawberry wonton, you ask? Oh my.... well, let me show you what it is!

In a bowl (this bowl looks really small in the picture, but it's not) mix together 1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, a dash cinnamon, and about 1 cup finely diced strawberries.

While munching on these, we all decided that any kind of berry would be awesome in these. Raspberries. Blackberries.... we really aren't particular. They were so delicious!

Take won ton wrappers (usually found by the tofu products in your grocery store) and lay as many out as you need. This recipe will make almost 2 dozen. Spoon a little filling in the middle of each wrapper.

Crack open an egg and separate. We need the egg whites to act as glue.

Dip your finger in the egg white, and run it around all four sides of the won ton wrapper. Place another won ton wrapper on top and seal the edges well. Put a dab of egg white on the corners and then pinch the corners together (as seen in the picture).

Repeat until you've made all the filled won tons. Put them on a plate and stick in the freezer. You want to firm up the filling a bit before frying otherwise it will ooze out into your oil.

Heat your oil in a pot or wok to 350* F. Carefully add each won ton and fry until golden brown. Let drain well on paper towels.

Drizzle the tops with chocolate ganache (or you can use Hershey's syrup) and put a dollop of whipped cream on the side.

Serve warm (my friends said they're still pretty tasty cold too).

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AZ-Z_fQXybIkZGcydmZqcW1fMTU2aHNnazRuZ3M&hl=en

.lemon chicken.

So the other day I asked you guys what I should make for dinner. Mango Shrimp or Lemon Chicken. Well, DH woke up wanting chicken so I went with the latter choice. Here in this town we moved to, there's a chinese restaurant but honestly, in my opinion, it really stinks. The food is just awful and there are no other chinese choices so if we want that type of food, I have to make it myself. I'm not complaining, but making chinese food can be very time consuming. This dish, however, isn't bad at all. In fact, you can have this made in about 45 minutes! You can't beat that!

The chicken is going to take the longest because we have to ensure it's baked through. Yes.. I said baked. Instead of deep frying and having all of those extra calories, we're going to put this in the oven.


Start by taking 4 chicken breasts (or 1 per person) and put on some saran. Wrap the saran so that it's on the top and bottom of the breast. Using a mallet or a heavy saucepan, pound out the thickest part of the breast. We want to make sure the chicken is the same thickness throughout to ensure even baking.







Season the breasts with salt and pepper.












Sprinkle some flour on both sides of the chicken and rub in to coat.











In two separate bowls, put 2 eggs in one, and some panko in another. Panko is japanese bread crumbs that are super super fine and light. I love them and they are essential in Japanese/Chinese cooking.

First coat the chicken breasts in the egg, then put in the panko and make sure they are well breaded.

Drizzle a little olive oil in the bottom of a baking dish and place the chicken breasts in. Pop in a 350* oven for about 30 minutes. To check if they're done, touch the chicken breast and if it's still squishy (which it shouldn't) then cook a little longer. The breast should be firm but not hard.

Now, while the chicken is in the oven, make the rice. The rice will take 20 minutes to prepare. In a pot put 2 cups rice and 3 3/4 cups water. Bring to a boil and stir. Put a lid on, turn the heat down to low low low and let it steam for 20 minutes. You will *always* have perfect rice doing it this way.

Once the rice has been put on the burner, let's make the lemon sauce. So super easy!

Juice enough lemons to make 2/3 cup. This took us about 6 small lemons. Strain so there are no seeds and put in a saucepan.



In the same saucepan, add 2/3 cup sugar, 2/3 cup water, a couple shakes of black pepper and 1 Tbsp cornstarch. Whisk everything together.








Before you throw away the juiced lemon rinds, use a vegetable peeler to peel off some of the zest. We don't need a lot but just enough to give a yummy lemon boost to the sauce.

And then, of course, you will want to thinly slice a lemon. Make sure you remove all the seeds. These will be added to the sauce at the very end to give it visual prettiness. :)

The sauce itself, does not take long to cook. Maybe 7 minutes, so don't make too early or else it could form a skin on top.

All you have to do is put the saucepan on the stove and bring to a boil, whisking consistently. Do not add the lemon zest and slices until the sauce has been completely thickened.

That's it! So simple!

Remove the chicken from the oven, let rest for a minute, then slice on the diagonal against the grain. Plate and spoon on some of the lemon sauce. Serve with rice. I also served mine with broccoli made asian style. If you're interested in that recipe, read on. Otherwise, bon appetit!


Asian style Broccoli

3 cups cooked broccoli

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp dark soy sauce (aka mushroom soy sauce)

1 cup beef or chicken stock

2 tsp cornstarch

salt and pepper

In a saucepan, heat 1 Tbsp of oil. Saute the garlic for a minute. Don't let burn. Add the broccoli and coat with the oil and garlic. In a small bowl, add all of the liquids and whisk well with the cornstarch. Pour into the broccoli and stir until thick. Season with salt and pepper.

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_141cnpwkrq9

.general tso's chicken. (& contest)

Did any of you notice over >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>?
It dawned on me yesterday that I have had my blog now for a year. Yep... can you believe it? So to celebrate ONE YEAR, I'm going to give away a TWO DOZEN of my famous Almondine Sugar Cookies to one winner. All you have to do is email me at creatingpostitnotes@yahoo.com to enter. One entry per person, please. You have until the end of the month (Feb 28th) to enter so get right on it!

Now on to the good stuff. Last week we celebrated Chinese New Year. To celebrate, I usually make chinese food. This year, we had sweet and sour chicken, eggrolls, rice, and General Tso's Chicken - my husband's favorite.

The sweet flavor mixed in with heat was just perfect. If you have kids, they might not like it so just give them sweet and sour chicken. ;)

Begin by making the sauce. In a bowl put:

2 Tbsp dark soy sauce (mushroom sauce)
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp Chinese rice wine (or sake)
1 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp chicken broth
1 tsp ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp cornstarch

Mix everything well with a whisk. Set aside.


Take one bunch of green onion and cut off the green tops. Slice longways and then into 1 1/2" pieces. Set aside.










You're also going to need about 6-10 of these babies. You can find dried red chilies in your ethnic aisle. If you can find dried Thai chilies and like that much heat, use those..otherwise use these more tame ones.

You need to crack/break these open for the heat to absorb into your food. Set these aside with the green onion.




Cut up 4 chicken thighs into bite sized pieces.












Put the chicken in a large ziploc and add 1 egg and 1 Tbsp soy sauce. Seal up the bag and smoosh everything together.

Add enough cornstarch to liberally coat the chicken pieces.







You need to heat oil in a wok or fry daddy or whatever you might use to deep fry. Heat it to 350-375. Carefully add pieces of chicken to the oil and fry until nice and golden.









Pull from the oil and let drain on paper towels. Repeat until all of the chicken has been cooked.











Heat 1-2 Tbsp red chili oil in another wok or skillet (or you can dump out the oil from the original wok into a pot, clean and then use again for this step -- entirely too much work for me. lol)

Add the broken up chili peppers and green onion and saute for about 1-2 minutes. The fragrance of the onion will become very aroma-ful.





Add the fried chicken pieces. When the pieces start browning it's time to move on to the next step.











Push all of the chicken and onions to the side to create a little well in the center.











Remember that sauce we made? Time to add it. It will begin thickening immediately so dump quickly and stir stir stir.










Stir in the chicken and let that delicious sauce coat each piece.

Serve immediately!

.kung pao chicken.

This was a request I received from April. She was asking if I had a good tried and true recipe for Kung Pao Chicken. Surprisingly, I did not! So I did a little researching and came up with something that was easy and delicious. I'm definitely adding it to my Chinese menu rotation!



I will note that this dish is spicy, which can be omitted all together, but you'll be left with, in my opinion, a very boring dish. The spice is what makes this authentic.



In a bowl, mix together the marinade:


1 Tbsp cornstarch

2 tsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine (use sake or dry sherry for substitute)
1 tsp oil



Cut up 4 chicken thighs into bite size pieces. You could use chicken breast, but you really do want a dark meat for this recipe.



Put the chicken and marinade in a ziploc and let sit for 30 minutes.



Meanwhile, slice some green onion on the diagonal.




Finely sliver some fresh gingerroot.



Thinly slice 2 cloves garlic.




And toast some peanuts in a 400 degree oven. I went a little crazy with the peanuts and there were far too many in the dish. Do only HALF of what you see in this picture.




In a bowl, whisk together:



1 1/2 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp dark soy sauce (this is actually a mushroom soy sauce. I had to ask at the asian market here and was given the 411 on it. LOL)

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp black vinegar (found in asian markets)

2 Tbsp water

1 tsp cornstarch




Heat your wok with about 1 Tbsp oil. Add the marinated chicken and cook until about 70% done. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. Wash out the pan.




Heat the wok back up with another tablespoon of oil. Add the ginger and garlic and saute for a few seconds.




At this stage, you really are supposed to add red chiles, deseeded and thinly sliced, but I couldn't find them so I used crushed red pepper flakes. I added way too many. LOL SPICY!!!!!!!!!! But it was goooooooddddd. If you can't find the red chiles, use red pepper flakes but only a dash.




Add the peanuts and mix everything around.




Add the chicken back to the wok.




Pour in the cooking sauce and stir. It will begin thickening immediately. Remove the pan from the burner once it's thick and coats all the chicken.




Add your green onion and toss to coat. Serve with steamed white rice.



We had ours with rice and sweet and sour chicken. Yummy!

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_83dk9pstd5

.almond breaded chicken.

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in almost a WEEK! I helped a friend put on a wedding for her daughter Saturday and I have been so busy. And to top it off, I'm having a yard sale this weekend and have been cleaning and purging. I went to update last night and the stupid pictures wouldn't upload. GRR! So I've had a crazy week. Did you miss me?
This is a wonderful recipe that is part of the collection my mom put in the family cookbook. It is very easy to make and doesn't take a whole lot of time either. Serve it on a bed of shredded lettuce, and top with toasted almonds and gravy. Yummy!



First we want to start out with boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You want to put this between two sheets of saran or parchment paper. Use a mallet or heavy saucepan (I used my heavy silicon rolling pin) and beat the crud out of that little piece of meat. LOL You want to flatten it just a bit. Don't go too crazy or else you'll tear up the flesh.

Put some flour in a bowl.
In another bowl, put 1 egg and beat it.

In another bowl, put some panko bread crumbs.
Panko is breadcrumbs made without the crusts. You get a nice crispy breading when you use this. Yummy!

Dredge your chicken first in the flour.

Then in the egg.

And then in the Panko.

Put the chicken in a wok of oil heated to 350*. Cook until both sides are nice and golden brown. Remove from the oil and let sit on paper towels to drain out any remaining oil.

Finely shred some iceberg lettuce.

Put it down in a layer on the bottom of a serving dish.
Slice the chicken breasts at a slight angle and arrange on top of the lettuce. Sprinkle with toasted sliced almonds. In my picture I used slivered almonds because I didn't have sliced on hand.

We need to make the gravy. In a saucepan, put:
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp Mirin
1 Tbsp soy sauce

While whisking, bring to a boil and let thicken. Set this off to the side. When plating, put some chicken with a little of the lettuce on your plate. Then spoon some of the gravy on top. Delicious!!