Siracha Wontons

Easy Appetizer

One package won ton skins

Two packages Cream Cheese (I use Low Fat)

2-5 Tablespoons Siracha (keep adding until you have the heat you like)

Mix cream cheese and siracha.  Put one tablespoon down middle of won ton skin.

Wet edges with water and fold making a triangle.

Wrap around your finger and seal with a little water.  Fold over triangle top.

Like this

Fry in Crisco or Vegetable oil that is 350 degrees or when you drop one in, it pops right to the top.  Fry until golden brown.  Serve!!

Chicken Asian Soup

I really like the Asian Beef soup that I make but wanted to see how it tasted with chicken. I had made a crockpot chicken and had leftovers so I thought I'd give it a go. The results were YUMMY!

1 lb of cooked chicken cut into bite size pieces or shredded
2 48 oz cartons chicken broth
2 T Olive Oil
2 t crushed Red Pepper flakes
4 cloves garlic minced
2 inches of ginger root, peeled and minced
1 med head (1 1/2 lbs?) of bok choy lettuce, cut into bite size pieces
1 t Sea salt and Pepper or to taste
1/2 lb thin spaghetti or angel hair pasta broken into thirds
1 bunch Scallions chopped
5 oz Fresh Spinach chopped

Wash bok choy, cut off end and discard. Chop the rest. Peel and mince garlic cloves. Peel and mince ginger. Chop off the hairy end of the scallion and discard. Chop scallions into small pieces. Rough chop spinach. Put 2 T Olive Oil into soup pot. Add garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes. Saute for a minute. Add bok choy , sprinkle with salt and pepper. Saute another minute. Add chicken (I use meat from roasted chicken) and chicken broth, give a stir. Bring to a boil. Add spinach, scallions and pasta. Give a stir and cook for 6-8 minutes until pasta is cooked. Serve.

If you have questions about the step by step, check out the beef version here.

If you want to crockpot a chicken, check here. You don't need to prep this the night before as the directions read. It tastes very similar if you season and cook:)

Lo Cal Stir Fry

I've decided that I am DONE with my extra weight. That is a great thing to "say" but it's a tough thing to start. This is the kind of recipe that helps you over the hungry days because the entire pan is 9 points. I only ate half for dinner and had lunch the next day.

The other beauty of stir fry is you can throw in whatever you have in the fridge. This is what I had.

1 large skinless Chicken Breast cut into pieces
3/4 C Salsa
1/4 C Water
1 Clove Garlic chopped
1 C Green Beans
1/2 sliced Mushrooms
1/2 small onion Sliced
2 handfuls fresh Spinach

Pan fry your chicken without any oil in a non stick pan. Season with salt and pepper. Add 1/2 C Salsa and 1/4 C water and scrape the bottom of your pan to get all the flavors from the bottom (the fancy word for this is deglazing). Toss in Green beans, mushrooms, garlic and onion. Saute for a couple of minutes. I like my green beans to have a crunch, if you don't...wrap in a wet paper towel and microwave for 1 minute before you toss in the pan.

If it starts to seem to dry, add a little more water. Add spinach and 1/4 C Salsa. Saute until wilted. Add 1 C cooked Brown Rice. Serve.

Pan fry your chicken, should only take a couple of minutes per side.

See all the yummy brown bits on the pan.

Add your salsa and water and deglaze your pan.

Add your vegetables and saute a few minutes.

Spinach and more salsa.

Cook until wilted. Add cooked rice.

Dinner is served.

Orange Chicken

One of Max's favorite things is Panda Express Orange Chicken. I think the kid could eat it everyday, me, not so much. Plus his meal alone is $8. I found this recipe on line and not only did he say it tasted better than Panda's, I made the entire meal for $8. I only made a couple minor adjustments, like changing the sauce just a bit and doubling. This is the recipe the way I prepared it.

The bummer...since he knows I can make this, he would like it to be on our dinner table at least once a week.

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken, chopped into bite sized pieces
2 eggs ~the second time I made this, I needed 3 eggs but they were small eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
white pepper
Crisco (for frying)
1/2 cup cornstarch, plus
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon gingerroot, minced
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed hot red chili pepper
1/4 cup green onion, chopped ~ I left these out
1 tablespoon rice wine
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil


Orange Sauce for Stir Fry ~ mix together and set aside
3 T Soy Sauce
3 T water
10 T sugar
3 T white vinegar
8 T Orange Juice
1 orange, zest of

Stir eggs, salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon oil and mix well. Mix in 1/2 C Cornstarch and 1/4 C Flour. Add chicken pieces, stirring to coat

Heat oil for deep-frying in wok or deep-fryer to 375 degrees Add chicken, small batches at a time, and fry 3 to 4 minutes or until golden crisp

Remove chicken from oil with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels; set aside.

Add 1 tablespoon oil to your pan. Add ginger, chili peppers and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant; about 10 seconds. Add green onions (I actually left this out because I forgot them). Add rice wine and stir 3 seconds. Add Orange Sauce and bring to boil. Stir 1/4 C COLD water into 1 tablespoon cornstarch until smooth and add to sauce. Heat until sauce is thickened. Stir in sesame oil and orange zest. Add chicken and give a good toss. Serve over rice or sesame noodles minus the chicken like we did.< This is the consistency of the batter, just thick enough to stick to the chicken. You should be able to stir the chicken around in the batter to make it stick.

Chop your chicken in pieces like this

Mix the chicken into the batter

Fry your chicken pieces in crisco until golden brown.

Grate your orange peel

Add to the sauce

Start the ginger, garlic and pepper paste in a pan with about a tablespoon of Olive Oil

Add the rice wine vinegar and orange sauce and bring to boil

Here is what your cold water and cornstarch looks like. Make sure you have the lumps worked out

What the sauce looks like after you add cornstarch mixture

Add chicken and give a good toss.

Serve over rice or sesame noodles like we did.

Tell your kids you stopped off at Panda Express and let this be our little secret:)

Thai Chicken

I thought I grabbed a package of chicken breast but I grabbed thighs instead. I can honestly say I didn't know what to do with them because I have never cooked thighs. The good news, the entire package was only $4.99.

I went looking around the internet and found this recipe. I will admit that the ingredients didn't sound good together, Salsa and peanut butter??...I tried not to think about it. The reviews were positive so I threw caution to the wind and gave it a try.

The result...really good. I will make this again but I would use chicken breast next time just because it's lower in fat.

What you'll need:

6 boneless, skinless Chicken Thighs, I just pulled the skin off
16 oz jar of Cilantro Salsa ~ I only had one choice so I used Garlic Cilantro~the recipe said you could use any of your favorite salsa
1/2 C Peanut Butter ~ I used creamy
1 T Chili Garlic Hot Sauce~Optional but it gave the dish some heat that I liked. You get this by the Asian food at the grocery store
2 t Ginger
2 T Soy Sauce
2 t fresh Lime Juice ~ that was half a lime for me

Put the chicken in the crockpot. Mix the rest of the ingredients together and pour over the top of chicken. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. I cooked on high for 4. If you used chicken with bones, pull the chicken out of crock and pull away from bones. Break chicken into pieces, toss back into sauce and serve over brown rice. Serves 4
This is what the Chili Garlic Sauce looks like. You'll find it in the grocery aisle by the Asian food.

Dinner is served

Egg Rolls

Not your traditional egg roll. Mini, bite size egg rolls! Of course this is my Mom's recipe and yes, she'll call when she sees it and say, "is nothing sacred"? To which I'll say, "nope":) And, "technically" I think I started the mini egg rolls, she makes the full size ones but argue not..you are in for a treat. They are part of our Christmas Eve Appetizer fest and I look forward to them EVERY year! So, this is my little Christmas present to you...My Mom's egg roll recipe:)

These are so YUMMY and they impress absolutely everyone when they see them on your buffet table. They really aren't difficult to make...I promise. The more you make them, the easier they get.

What you'll need:

2 packages of Won Tons
1/2 lb ground Chicken~back in the day, I used to have to grind it up with my food processor...GASP! You could also use ground pork or Turkey
1/2 small onion minced
3 cloves Garlic minced
1 pkg Coleslaw
1 pkg Bean Sprouts
7-9 t Five Powder Spice
2 t Garlic Powder
Soy Sauce
Crisco NOT Oil for frying

Ok, let me first admit that I did "measure" for the first time in the over 20 years that I've made these...O-M-G, did I just admit that I've been making these for 20 years?! That can't be, where in the heck has the time gone. Oops, sorry..back to business...I tweaked as I tasted and went and lost track. So, this will get you close. Tweak and adjust to what "you" like and it will be all good. My Mom didn't have it written down and I managed with just the verbal of how it "looked" as you added stuff so you're a few steps ahead of me;)

Start a pot of water to boiling. Add a couple teaspoons of salt and sugar. When the water is boiling, add the package of cabbage and the bean sprouts. If you want to chop or rip the bean sprouts in half ahead of time you can, but it's not necessary. Give it a stir and boil for about 5 minutes. You want to soften the cabbage, not make it squishy.

Pour into strainer and let it cool. When it's cool enough to handle. Squeeze, squeeze and squeeze some more to get as much water out of it as you can. Break your handfuls of cabbage apart and splash with soy sauce. I'm guessing about 5 to 6 shakes. You want to color the cabbage a light brown. Give it a toss.

Brown your chicken with onions and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Add 3-4 t of Five Powder spice. You have enough spice when the chicken is darkened slightly by it. You should be able to taste the spice but it shouldn't be overwhelming...make sense? I hope so. Add to the cabbage mixture.

Sprinkle 2-3 more teaspoons of Five Powder Spice, 2 t Garlic Powder and a few more shakes of soy sauce. Taste, if it's missing a little something, something try another shake of soy sauce...did you know when I'm cooking when I think something is missing almost always a sprinkle of salt is all it needs?

Still not right, another teaspoon of Five Powder. You should be more than good by now. Now squeeze, squeeze, squeeze the heck out of it again. You want this as dry as possible so you can roll these egg rolls a little bit before and not make the won tons wet. If you are planning on making the mix, rolling the egg rolls and frying, you don't have to worry as much about the squeezing.

Now I think following the photos will be best.

Boil for about 5 minutes. Just long enough to soften the cabbage
Shake, shake, shake...add some soy sauce
Ground Chicken ready to mix in
Ready to go, you can stop here and put in a large Ziploc and use the next day
Put about a tablespoon on the won ton
Fold the sides over
You're kind of making an envelope
Now, roll it up. You'll need a little dab of water to seal the end. Try to make sure you don't have any holes or gaps, they'll taste fine, you'll just get some splatter when frying.

Line a 13x9 pan with wax paper and put the finish egg roll on that. After first layer, put more wax paper and repeat. You can put these in the fridge for a few hours. If you take them out and they are wet and ripping because you didn't get enough of the moisture out, throw them in the freezer for about 1/2 hour, that should help the problem.
Ready for the Crisco. Heat your Crisco until it's hot and ready to go. The reason I said to NOT use oil is because the oil starts to break down after a few batches and you get these little greasy bubbles on the egg rolls.

Put your egg rolls into the oil. Don't crowd them, they need their own space. Turn them over and drain on paper towels. They are probably in the grease a couple of minutes total.
Serve with Sweet and Sour sauce. Eat just one...I dare you

Fried Rice

Ok, this one I will admit I have not perfected but it still tasted good. Another thing that my typically NON carb eating son (where he came from is still a mystery) requested for leftovers. I almost fell over when he asked but just smiled and said, "I'll heat that right up".

I added some shrimp sauce on top and could barely tell the difference.

4 C cooked White Rice, chilled
1 Carrot minced..I whirl them around in the food processor most days
1 bunch Green Onion, chopped or 1/2 medium onion that took a spin in the food processor
2 cloves garlic minced
6 T Butter
2-3 t Garlic Powder
3 Eggs
1-2 T Sesame Oil
2-4 T Soy Sauce
Pepper and Salt to taste

Put your carrot, onion, garlic and 1 T butter into pan, season with salt and pepper.  Saute for a couple of minutes. Add your rice and rest of the butter. Sprinkle with garlic powder. Add Sesame Oil and 1 T Soy Sauce. Fold around a minute or two heating the rice up, add 1 more Tablespoon Soy sauce. You want the rice very lightly colored brown with the soy sauce. Push the rice to the side and throw in your eggs. Scramble around with some salt and pepper. When the eggs are a lose scramble, fold into the rice. Give it a taste and see if you need salt or pepper. Be careful adding too much soy sauce, it can take over the rice. As can the sesame oil. It's not a bad taste if you add to much of either, it's just not the taste I was going for.
Wash and chop your scallions.
Chop the scallions up.

Yep, I used the real deal for this recipe too.
Peel and slice your carrots down the middle. Dice these babies up nice and small.
Like this.
Saute your carrots, onion, garlic and 1 T butter for a couple of minutes. Add your rice, soy sauce and sesame oil and saute for a few more minutes to heat the rice through. Push the rice to the side.
Add your eggs. Season eggs with salt and pepper and scramble around. When they are a loose scramble, cook for another 30 seconds or so from this stage...mix in with the rice.
I added sesame seeds in this version but completely NOT necessary. Taste for flavor, add salt and pepper as needed. Also want to note that this is the photo when I added too much soy sauce. Your finished product SHOULD be lighter and this recipe reflects that. So, don't look at this photo and say, "my rice isn't that dark"..it shouldn't be. It doesn't taste bad if it is..it just tastes better if you follow the measurements in this recipe in my opinion.

Fridge Cleaning Stir Fry

We've all had stuff in our fridge, a little of this, a little of that and vegetables that didn't make it to the dinner table. When my fridge starts to look like that, I make Fridge Cleaning Stir Fry. The ingredients can be whatever, this just happens to be what's in mine but feel free to use whatever you have or like..it's all good. I went high on my points for this because I couldn't find the value of broth...23 points for the entire pan!

Also, if you don't have a wok or a wok pan, don't let that stop you. You can use a large pot, one that you would cook pasta in. When I'm making stir fry, I cook my pasta with a couple of chicken bouillon cubes to give the pasta a bit of flavor.
Here's what I had this time. 1 Chicken Breast, 1 C crab legs, 1 1/2 C Shrimp, 2 Handful of cooked thin spaghetti, Zucchini, Green Pepper, Red Pepper, Orange Pepper, Small handful of Sugar Snap Peas, Asparagus, Celery Stalk, Onion and Garlic
Cut all the vegetables up into relatively the same size. Chop Chicken breast and Crab Legs. Make yourself 1 C of Chicken Stock (1 C water and 1 Chicken bouillon cube)
Start with a splash of Chicken Broth and add the vegetables that need to cook the longest. In this case; celery, onions and the garlic because you want it to season all the vegetables. Saute for about 2 minutes, adding 1t of your favorite seasoning. I used Cavender's All Purpose Greek Seasoning.
Here's what the Greek Seasoning container looks like. It's great on anything from potatoes to eggs to meat to stir fry
Add a splash more chicken stock, asparagus, peas and 1 t Lemon Pepper with Garlic & Onion seasoning. Saute another 2 minutes
Here is the Lemon Pepper I use
Throw in the rest of the vegetables, 1 t Greek Seasoning and 1 t Garlic Powder (I never use Garlic Salt because I like to control how salty my stir fry is). Splash of Chicken Broth if it's looking dry. Saute about 2 minutes or until the vegetables are to your desired doneness. If you like "soft" vegetables, add a splash of chicken broth and cover for a minute or two. I skip this step because I like mine a bit on the crunchy side.
Throw in the meat last, remember it was all left over and already cooked so you just want to get it warm about a minute or two. Add 1 t Lemon Pepper and 1 T butter (I only use butter when I'm using seafood, seems to bring out the flavors, but that could just be in my head;)
Now toss in your pasta and 1 last teaspoon of Greek Seasoning. If you want it a bit zippier, throw in another teaspoon of Lemon Pepper. If you'd prefer, you can skip the pasta and serve over rice. Taste and add more seasoning if you think it needs it. Serve!! Healthy and Yummy!