Avocado Bacon Wontons

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

If you’ve been walking around planet Earth the past few years, you probably know that avocados are essentially the mascot of millennials. When is the last time you’ve been to a brunch spot and not seen a young person dining on avocado toast?

Fortunately, avocados are incredibly nutritious. Avocado is primarily fat, but it’s healthy fat that reduces inflammation and prevents the negative effects of aging.

My goal this week was to create a recipe that wasn’t a “health food,” but it also wouldn’t ruin your diet. Say hello to my newest creation: Avocado Bacon Wontons.

Some of you may be fans of The Cheesecake Factory’s avocado egg roll appetizers. That was the inspiration behind my ideas for these wontons. Except I knew I wanted to bake (not fry them), add cream cheese like a crab rangoon, and also include bacon because the saltiness is a good compliment to the avocado.

The most fun part of making these wontons is folding the wonton wrapper. The most basic shape is to fold the wrapper into a triangle. But my favorite shape is make a “flower bud.” I think it looks nice and it’s easier to pop the whole thing in your mouth. To do that, you for a triangle after sticking a teaspoon of filling in the center. Then roll the base (hypotenuse) of the triangle up halfway and bring the 2 sides together so they overlap. Squeeze them together so it sticks.

The trick to baking them so they become crispy like a fried wonton is to put a cooling rack over a baking sheet, spray the wontons with avocado oil (high burn point), and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Then take the baking sheet out of the oven, turn the broiler on high, and stick the baking sheet back in for no longer than a minute.

I just so happened to choose a recipe this week that focused on my hands, so I could show off the very special addition to my left ring finger. I am very excited to announce that William proposed to me last week at my favorite place, Mackinac Island. And with that, he has officially sealed the deal as my official taste-tester! It’s a position that lasts ’til death do us part!

Avocado Bacon Wontons
Yield: About 40 wontons
Ingredients

• 2 large avocados, skin and pit removed
• 8 ounces Challenge cream cheese
• 5 pieces of bacon, crumbled
• 1/4 cup red onion, diced
• 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• 1 jalapeno, diced with seeds removed
• 1 Tablespoon lime juice (about 1/2 lime)
• Salt to taste or about 1 teaspoon
• 40 wonton wrappers
• Avocado oil spray (or another oil spray)
• Sweet chili or teriyaki sauce for dipping

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine avocados, cream cheese, bacon, cup red onion, cheddar cheese, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice, and salt in large bowl
3. Take 1 wonton wrapper and position it like a diamond with one point facing you. Dampen edges with water using pastry brush.
4. Put 1 teaspoon (no more!) of avocado filling in center, and fold the wonton wrapper so it’s a triangle. Pinch the edges to seal, making sure to squeeze out any excess air in the process.
5. Fold hypotenuse of wonton triangle up halfway and bring the two edges on either side together. Pinch to close. It may take some practice, but it should look like a flower bud.
6. Position baking rack on top of foil-lined baking sheet, and place wontons on rack. Spray generously with avocado oil spray.
7. Place in oven and bake for about 9 to 10 minutes, or until they start to turn golden brown. Turn on broiler and bake for an additional minute.
8. Remove from oven and serve with sweet chili sauce, teriyaki sauce, or your favorite sauce. They’re best right when they come out of the oven. If you plan to reheat, do so in oven to ensure they retain crispiness.

Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

Do you know that song, “Anything you can do” from “Annie Get Your Gun”? To be honest, I’ve never seen the musical or the movie. BUT I know the song well because a few years ago (and by a few I mean 15 years ago) I was traveling in the car with my baby cousin and the only thing that would make him stop crying was that song. So we listened to it for THREE hours. Clearly it still haunts me.

Anyway, the song has been my mantra lately because I’ve been really into recreating my favorite restaurant recipes! (Example: Asian chickenlettuce wraps) This week I decided that I would recreate orange chicken! And not just recreate it – I decided to recreate it in the slow cooker!

While reading the ingredients in this recipe, you make think to yourself, “Hmmm I wonder if I can make any substitutions.” The answer to that is yes, BUT I cannot promise the results will be the same! You see, I spent a lot of time working on this recipe, and there were trials and errors. The recipe below is the exact combination of ingredients that I think works the best. So if you make substitutions, I’m sure it will still be tasty, but I can’t promise it will taste the same.

IMPORTANT: As you can see in the recipe directions, you use half of the marinade to, of course, marinate the chicken, and then you use the other half to make a sauce once the chicken is done cooking. So make sure to split the marinade in half! Once the marinade has touched the raw chicken it can no longer be used as the sauce.

Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

Yield: Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 3/4 cup orange juice concentrate
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup Sriracha
• 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon orange zest
• 1 Tablespoon corn starch

Directions

1. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces; set aside
2. In a bowl, whisk together orange juice concentrate, soy sauce, rice vinegar, Sriracha, minced garlic, fresh ginger, brown sugar, and orange zest.
3. Place chicken in large Ziploc bag and pour 1/2 of marinade over chicken. Seal bag and marinate in refrigerator at least 1 hour but preferably overnight.
4. Put other half of marinade in sealed container and refrigerate for later. This will be your sauce.
5. Once chicken is done marinating, dump entire Ziploc bag of chicken with its marinade in the slow cooker. Cook chicken on low until chicken is no longer pink (in my slow cooker, chicken is done after about four hours).
6. When chicken is done cooking, take other half of marinade out of refrigerator.
7. Put marinade in pan and heat on stove to boiling at medium-high heat.
8. In small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water; add to sauce on stove top and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. The sauce will thicken significantly.
9. Remove sauce from heat and add chicken from slow cooker to sauce and combine. Serve over rice or quinoa and sprinkle green onions and sesame seeds on top.

Slow Cooker P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Confession: I ate more food over the holidays than I think I’ve ever eaten in my life. And by holidays I mean Halloween through the New Year… plus a few days. I know I should say “everything in moderation blah blah blah.” But sometimes binge eating is good for the soul. And I do not regret it one bit!

But now that it’s the New Year, I should probably start to control my eating. So I’ve been trying out some new healthy recipes.

Personally, I think two of the most important things to strive for when trying to eat healthy are convenience and “knockout” taste (I couldn’t think of a better word than “knockout” and I went kickboxing this morning so that’s where that came from). This is what I mean by that – no one will want to continue to cook healthy meals if they’re difficult or if they’re bland.

Keeping that in mind, I decided to make slow cooker Asian chicken lettuce wraps!

I’m a big fan of P.F. Chang’s lettuce wraps and I knew I could make a slow cooker version, so that’s what I set out to do. P.F. Chang’s uses ground chicken in their lettuce wraps, but I prefer the way chicken breasts cooks In the slow cooker, so that’s what I used. The chicken breast shreds easily after cooking in the slow cooker and it combines well with the sauce.

Another thing to note is that the chicken gets it’s “knockout” taste from the Sriracha and the freshly grated ginger.

Can you omit these ingredients? Yes, but I can’t promise you’ll have the same “knockout” taste.

Can you substitute regular hot sauce for Sriracha? Yes, but the taste will be slightly different. Sriracha is a bit sweeter and more garlicky (garlickier?) than hot sauce or Tabasco sauce.

Also, if you don’t like lettuce, you can serve this chicken over brown rice instead, and it will be equally tasty.

Slow Cooker P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Servings: Enough for about 12 lettuce wraps

Ingredients

• 2 pounds chicken breast
• 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Sriracha
• 1 Tablespoon freshly gated ginger (or 1 teaspoon ground ginger)
• 1 head big leaf lettuce (you can either use bibb lettuce, Boston lettuce, or butter lettuce)

Optional toppings:

• Chopped green onion
• Shredded carrots
• Roughly chopped peanuts
• Toasted sesame seeds
• Pineapple
• White or brown rice

Directions

1. Place chicken breast, red bell pepper, yellow onion, hoisin sauce, garlic, soy sauce, Sriracha, and ginger in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat for 3 to 4 hours until chicken is tender and fully cooked.
2. Shred the chicken and combine with the sauce left in the slow cooker.
3. Separate leaves from head of lettuce.
4. To serve, place 1/4 cup chicken filling on top of lettuce. Add optional toppings like green onion, shredded carrots, peanuts, sesame seeds, pineapple, and brown rice.

NOTES

You can make this with ground turkey, ground chicken, or ground beef instead.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Classy.

Cooking Brown Sugar Teriyaki Salmon and Asian Mixed Vegetables on Fox59

The very first recipe I ever posted on my blog was Brown Sugar Teriyaki Salmon. And this recipe is still one of my favorite and most popular recipes today!

First of all it requires ZERO cleanup. That's because it is cooked in an aluminum foil packet. So when the salmon is ready, you just serve it up and throw away the aluminum foil. You don't need to scrub any baking dishes or pans.

Cooking salmon this way is also great because you get very consistent results. The foil conducts heat well and traps steam for fast, even cooking. The salmon turns out perfectly every single time!

On Wednesday, I got to show off this recipe on Fox59! I also made Asian-mixed vegetables to go with the salmon. Before I put the salmon in the marinade, I reserved some of the marinade in a little bowl for the vegetables. When it was time to make the meal, I made the vegetables the exact same way that I made the salmon. I put a cup of vegetables in the center of the strip of aluminum foil, spooned some of the marinade on top, and folded it up to make an aluminum foil packet. The vegetables steamed to perfection in the foil packet, just like the salmon.

I hope you try this recipe, and thank you for your continued support of Kylee's Kitchen!

Brown Sugar Teriyaki Salmon with Asian-Mixed Vegetables
Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 (6 ounce) salmon filets​
• Vegetable medley (I used 1 large carrot, 1 head of broccoli, 1 sweet onion, and 15 ounces of sugar snap peas)

DIRECTIONS

1. Pour soy sauce, brown sugar, water, olive oil, and garlic powder in a bowl and stir to combine.
2. Pour that mixture into a gallon-size Ziploc bag, reserving one cup in a small bowl to use for your vegetables later.
3. Place the salmon in the bag, seal it, and turn it so the meaty side of the salmon is soaking in the mixture
4. Refrigerate the bag and let the salmon marinate for a minimum of 45 minutes to a maximum of about 4 hours.
5. After marinating, preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
6. Take a big sheet of aluminum foil and fold it so it forms a little packet. Make an aluminum foil packet for each individual salmon filet.
7. Spray the aluminum foil packet with cooking spray
8. Put one filet in one foil packet. Do the same for each filet.
9. Now, take a sheet of aluminum foil and put about a cup of your vegetable medley in the center. 
10. Spoon about 4 spoonfuls of the reserved marinade on top of the vegetables. Fold up the aluminum foil to make another aluminum foil packet. Do that for as many cups of vegetables as you have.
11. Put the foil packets on a baking sheet to give the foil packets a sturdier foundation
12. Bake the salmon and vegetables for about 15 minutes.
13. The salmon is done when it is pale pink and flakes easily

CROCK POT TERIYAKI CHICKEN

This was one of the very first recipes I ever tried making. It is the quintessential recipe for the "Bachelor Series" because you should already have all five of these ingredients in your kitchen right now! And just like the other recipes in this series, all you have to do is dump the ingredients into a crock pot and wait just a few hours. 

I would like to point out that when I post the cooking times for crock pot recipes, I write down the time that I use for my own personal crock pot. Depending on the brand of crock pot you use and the thickness of your meat, cooking times will vary. Remember though that until you find the cooking time that works best for your crock pot make sure to always go lower than higher. You can always cook your meat longer, but you can't reverse overdone meat.

CROCK POT TERIYAKI CHICKEN

Yield: 4 servings

Calories per serving: Approximately 175 calories

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
• 2 pounds chicken breast or thighs

DIRECTIONS

1. Pour soy sauce, honey, ketchup, and garlic powder into crockpot and stir 
2. Place chicken into crockpot and stir again
3. Turn the crock pot on low and cook meat for about 4 hours
4. Once meat is cooked through, remove from crockpot and serve 

The chicken should be throughly covered in the sauce

Serve with rice and vegetables for a healthy meal