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.