Onion Apricot Chicken

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, diced into about 1 inch cubes
1 packet onion soup mix
1 jar apricot preserves
Pepper to taste

1. Cut chicken into cubes, and pepper liberally.
2. In sauce pan, combine jar of preserves, soup mix, and 1 jar of water.
3. Bring to boil.
4. Add in diced chicken.
5. Return to boil.
6. Reduce to simmer and cover.
7. Simmer on low for about an hour, stirring every 15-20 minutes.
8. Shred chicken using the back of spoon.
9. Simmer shredded chicken in sauce for about 10 more minutes.
10. Serve over rice.

French Onion Soup

5 large onions, thick sliced
1 stick of butter

6 Tbsp salt, divided
5 Tbsp black pepper

4 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

5 Tbsp flour
8 cups of beef broth
1 loaf French bread, sliced about 1 1/2 inches thick
8 slices provolone cheese, thick sliced


1. Melt stick of butter in 5quart stock pot.
2. Add onion slices,  3Tbsp salt, and pepper to stock pot.
3. Saute until onions are translucent and sweet, about 45 minutes, uncovered, stirring every 5 minutes.
4. Once onions are translucent, sprinkle flour into stockpot and stir until onions are coated fairly evenly.
5. Add Worcestershire sauce and beef broth and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat and simmer (covered) at least 2 hours, stirring rarely (You don't want to break up the onions).
7. Taste and add more salt if needed.
8. About 5 minutes before serving, place bread slices on baking sheet, and top with provolone cheese slices.
9. Broil bread for about 4 minutes, or until cheese is brown and bubbly.
10. Serve soup in bowls with bread slices on top.

Cream Cheese Wantons

16 oz room temperature Cream Cheese

2 Tbsp. Garlic Powder

1 Tbsp. Onion Powder

3 Tbsp. flour

24 Wanton Wrappers

Vegetable Oil for frying

1. Mix Cream Cheese, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder and Flour together and beat until smooth.

2. Place about 1 teaspoon of Cream Cheese in each Wanton Wrapper.

Here you have some options:

3. Fold Wanton Wrappers.

• Corner to corner to create a triangle (easiest)
• Pull all corners to the middle and pinch edges closed (shown, and my personal preference.)

How to fold Wantons:

• Using your finger and a little bit of water, wet the outer edges of wrapper. 
• Put edges together to create desired shape.
• Pinch firmly along edges so none of the Cream Cheese leaks out.

4. Place finished Wantons between two wet paper towels to prevent drying and splitting.

5. Heat oil.

6. When oil is hot, place  about 4 wantons in pan pointed side down. 

7. Fry for about 90 seconds, flip and fry for about 30 more seconds.

 

8. Remove from oil and place on paper towel.

Serve with Sweet and Sour Sauce, if desired. 

Chicken Fried Rice

This recipe is very yummy, and very simple. There are a ton of steps, but none of them are hard. 

2 cups uncooked Instant White Rice

1 3/4 cups Chicken Broth

1/2 cup Soy Sauce - divided (1/4 and 1/4 cups)

3 cups frozen Carrots and Peas 

1 cup frozen Corn

1 Chicken Breast (cubed)

3 Tbsp. minced Garlic

3 Eggs

1. Bring Chicken Broth and 1/4 cup of Soy Sauce to a boil. Turn off heat, add White Rice and cover. Do this approximately 3 or so hours before you are going to make dinner, or even the night before.

2. Cook Carrots and Peas and Corn according to package directions. Drain off excess water.

3. Scramble Eggs, and cook until just barely done and set aside to cool. You will be reheating the eggs in a little while, so don't over cook them!

4. Saute garlic in olive oil until just brown.

5. Add in chicken. Spread chicken around so that it is in a single layer in the bottom of the pan. 

6. Pour Soy Sauce over chicken and cook until chicken is done the whole way through.

7. When chicken is done cooking, add in rice, veggies and egg and heat through.

8. Enjoy!

Side Note: We ate this with homemade Fortune Cookies and Cream Cheese Wantons. You can find those recipes on my blog as well. 

White Lasagna

To make one lasagna, approximately 9x13 inches you will need:

3 Chicken Breasts
2 jars Alfredo Sauce
1 box frozen Spinach (about 10 oz)
1/2 pound of Lasagna Noodles
16 oz Cottage Cheese
12 oz Ricotta Cheese
Parmesan Cheese
2 cups finely shredded Mozzarella Cheese
2 cups Italian Bread Crumbs
3 Tbsp. minced Garlic
Olive Oil
Italian Seasoning
Onion Powder
Salt
Pepper

There is quite a bit of preparation involved in this lasagna, but nothing too difficult. I think you can handle it.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

The following steps just need to be done, not in any specific order, and there will most likely be some overlap while you do them.

~Boil noodles according to package directions. When noodles are al dente, drain them and run cold water over them to stop the cooking process.

~Cut chicken into a little bit smaller than bite size pieces (about 1/4 of an inch). Spread on cutting board in single layer, and sprinkle liberally with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and onion powder. Flip (roughly) and season other side as well. Heat oil in skillet and saute the minced garlic until slightly browned. Add chicken and cook thoroughly. Once chicken is cooked, set aside and cool.

~Cook spinach according to package, and cool.

~ Mix Ricotta, Cottage Cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, and 1/8 cup Italian Seasoning in a large bowl.

Now for the fun part.

6. Spread a layer of Alfredo on the bottom of the pan.

7. Place noodles, slightly overlapping on top of the Alfredo sauce.

8. Spread 1/4 of Cheese mixture on noodles.

9. Layer chicken on top of cheese.

10. Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on chicken.

11. Sprinkle Mozzarella Cheese on top of Parmesan.

12. Place 1/2 of the Spinach on top of the Mozzarella (just kinda roughly "sprinkle" it on there).

Repeat one time.

Alfredo, noodles, cheese, chicken, cheese, cheese, spinach.

Then...

13. Another layer of noodles.

14. The rest of the cheese mixture (about half of what you started with).

15.The remaining Mozzarella goes on next.

16. Put on the rest of the Alfredo.

17. Mix together the remaining Parmesan and the bread crumbs.

18. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on the top of the lasagna.

20. Place on a cookie sheet (for the overflow... and trust me, there will be some).

21. Bake for 1 hour.

22. Remove from oven, and allow to sit 10 minutes before cutting.

Chicken and Dumplings

Soup

1 quart chicken broth

10 medium potatoes, quartered

1 rotisserie chicken (like at the grocery store), shredded

1 - 8 oz bag of frozen corn

1 Tbsp. garlic powder

3 Tbsp. black pepper

2 Tbsp. salt

Put broth, garlic powder, pepper, salt and potatoes into large pot and bring to a boil. Continue on high until potatoes are cooked through. Add frozen corn and return to a boil. Add chicken and simmer on medium heat.

Dough

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. shortening

3/4 cup milk

Mix flour, parsley, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Cut in shortening, using pastry blender or crisscrossing 2 knives, until mixture looks like fine crumbs. Stir in milk.

Divide dough into 10 balls, roughly the same size. Set dough on top of the gently boiling soup. DO NOT put dough INTO the soup, just on the top. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Cover and cook an additional 10 minutes.

Marinated Steak Strips

This recipe is for 1 lb. of steak. You can use whatever cut of meat you prefer, but I personally look for whatever has the least amount of fat. Trim the steak of fat, and cut into 1/4 inch by 3 inch strips.

Marinade:

1/2 cup brown sugar
6 Tbsp. olive oil
4 Tbsp. Cider vinegar
3 medium cloves garlic, crushed or minced
3 Tbsp. stone-ground mustard
4 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp. salt

Mix in a large Ziploc bag. Put steak in bag and shake gently until all pieces are coated. Marinate for at least 10 minutes (if using larger pieces of steak, marinate longer). Broil or grill.

This recipe is fantastic! You can eat it as a main dish, along side baked potatoes or on top of a green leafy salad!