Wonton Chicken Salad

This salad is a delicious, light summertime meal.  It’s simple to make and very tasty.
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The list of ingredients is pretty simple: chicken,  romaine lettuce, parsley, green onions, apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper, lemon juice.  There are only three ingredients you may not have on hand:  sesame seeds, square wonton wraps, and sesame seed oil.  The wonton wraps can be found in the produce section of your grocery store, near the tofu and other such products.  The sesame seed oil will be near the soy sauce on the aisle for international food products.

Start by cooking about 1 pound of chicken in a little bit of oil.
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Cook until meat is no longer pink, but still very tender.
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Set chicken aside to cool.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425.  Open won ton wraps and remove half the package.
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Slice into three strips.
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Place strips on baking sheets, then lightly spray with cooking spray and sprinkle lightly with salt.
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Bake until crunchy and golden brown.  Then set aside to cool.
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Chop one or two heads of romaine lettuce and place in salad bowl.
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Add 3/4 cup chopped green onions IMG_6208 (Large) and 1 cup chopped parsley.
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Chop cooled chicken.
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Sprinkle over top of salad.
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Now, to make the dressing.  In a small bowl, place 1 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper.
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Add 2 1/2 Tb. sugar and 3 Tb. sesame seed oil.
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Add 1/4 cup cider vinegar.
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Finish off with 1/2 to 1 tsp. lemon juice and mix well.
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Drizzle dressing over salad.
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Crush wonton strips and add to salad.
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Sprinkle with 2 Tb. sesame seeds.  (Sorry, I know they’re hard to see.)
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Gently toss the salad and you’re ready to go!
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Serve with parsley and additional wonton strips, if desired.
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As I said, it’s a light, tasty dinner.  Perfect for hot summer days!

Wonton Chicken Salad
1 lb. chicken 1-2 heads romaine lettuce 3/4 cup chopped green onions 1 cup chopped parsley 1/2 package square won ton wraps 2 Tb. sesame seeds For the dressing:
1 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper 2 1/2 Tb. sugar 3 Tb. sesame seed oil 1/4 cup cider vinegar 1 tsp. lemon juice Cook chicken and set aside to cool.  Cut wontons into strips and place on baking sheet.  Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt.  Bake at 425 until golden brown.

Cut lettuce and place in salad bowl.  Add chopped green onions and chopped parsley.  Chop chicken and add to salad.

In small bowl, mix all dressing ingredients.  Drizzle over salad.  Crush wontons and add to salad.  Sprinkle 2 Tb. sesame seeds over wontons.  Toss salad and serve.

Homemade Cherry Ice Cream

I’ve been dreaming of homemade ice cream for a couple of weeks, and my wonderful husband gave me an ice cream maker for my birthday last week.  It’s small, compact, inexpensive, and makes up to 4 quarts!  So last night for dessert we made some homemade ice cream.

I know that most recipes call for egg yolks in them, but due to my pregnant state we decided to try a recipe without eggs.  Just to be safe.

Start with two cups of heavy whipping cream.  Pour into a mixing bowl.
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Then add one cup half and half.
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Next comes 3/4 cups sugar.
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Now stir until the sugar is dissolved.
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We then added one Tablespoon of vanilla and mixed again.
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We put some pitted cherries in a food processor to chop them up, IMG_6195 (Large) and added them to the cream mixture.
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So pretty!
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Then we poured the mixture into the canister.
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Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to attach the motor correctly.
Then layer with ice and rock salt and let the machine do it’s magic.
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When it’s finished, the machine should stop on its own.
We doubled the recipe and got about 3 quarts, and it took only 35 minutes.  Not too bad!
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Looks delicious!
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If you want to eat it right away, you can, but the ice cream is extremely soft.  We scraped ours into a container and put it in the freezer to harden a little bit more.
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The kids had a hard time with this step, but in the end we were glad.
Having the ice cream a little bit harder made it even better.

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Homemade Cherry Ice Cream
(you can substitute any kind of fruit for the cherries) 2 cups heavy whipping cream 1 cup half and half 3/4 cup sugar 1 Tb. vanilla 2 cups fresh sweet cherries, washed and pitted ice and rock salt (if  your ice cream maker requires them) In mixing bowl, combine cream and half and half.  Add sugar and stir till dissolved.  Add 1 Tb. vanilla.
In blender or food processor, puree cherries.  Add to cream mixture.  Pour into ice cream canister.  Attach motor and add layers of ice and salt.  Freeze according to manufacturers directions.  When ice cream is finished, either enjoy or scrape into container to freeze and harden more.

Makes about 1- 1/3 quarts of ice cream.

Homegrown Cherries

Just a few months ago, I was celebrating the tiny bits of green that had appeared on my cherry trees.
In such a short period of time, we went from green to blossoms to cherries.
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We came home from vacation and our yummy cherries had turned into deep red, dripping with sweetness, dribble juice all over you cherries.
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Beautiful cherries.
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We started picking.  Filling buckets and trays.
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But it didn’t even look like we’d picked.
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I’ve always enjoyed preserving fruit, making jams and sauces, dehydrating and bottling.  But it’s never come from my own backyard.
I’m fortunate to live in an area where there are multiple orchards around me and I can buy from the growers.  This time, to be harvesting from our own trees is really a pleasure.
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I’ve been bottling cherries and making jam.
I’ve never had cherry jam before, but we’ve learned that it’s really tasty.
Freezer jam and cooked jam both.
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It’s a lot of work, but for me it’s work that brings a real feeling of satisfaction.
So much of what I do has to be redone several times a day.  But I love the feeling of lining up the food I’ve preserved and knowing that because of my efforts my family will enjoy it in months to come when the fresh food is no longer available.  And we’ve only harvested from one tree!
I still have another to take care of this week.
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I also find that working with fruit helps me slow down, relax, and notice more of the simple joys of life.  I start looking at the lovely shades of color in the fruit, pondering life in a day and time when work such as this meant survival.   Today I noticed the lovely color of the foam as I cooked some cherry jam.
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And how beautiful it was when it reached a full boil.
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I feel more grateful for the bounty that God has given us, marveling at the genius of a God who created trees that can bring us such delicious pleasure, and such blessings.  I am reminded that God’s economy is one of abundance.

Taking advantage of such abundance, expressing my appreciation for it by putting it to good use and sharing it with others, just feels right.  And that’s an awfully good feeling to carry around in your heart.

Jennifer

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