Bryn's 12th Birthday Dinner

Today we celebrated Bryn turning the ripe, old age of 12 years old. She played basketball this morning, had a team party this afternoon to celebrate the end of the season, and got her requested meal for dinner. She requested wontons and cheesecake for dinner. Here is the recipe we followed (you can see the photo at tasteofhome.com):

Korean Wontons
2 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup canned bean sprouts
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1-1/2 teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
1/3 pound ground beef (I used Jimmy Dean Reduced Fat Sausage this time)
1/3 cup sliced green onions
1-1/2 teaspoons sesame seeds, toasted
1-1/2 teaspoons minced fresh gingerroot
3 garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 teaspoons sesame oil (I left this out)
1/2 teaspoon salt (I left this out)
1/2 teaspoon pepper (I only used 1/4 teaspoon)
1 package (12 ounces) wonton wrappers
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons water

Directions

* In a wok or large skillet, stir-fry cabbage, bean sprouts and carrots in 1-1/2 teaspoons oil until tender; set aside.
* In a small skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add to the vegetable mixture. Stir in the onions, sesame seeds, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, salt and pepper.
* Place about 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of each wonton wrapper. Combine egg and water. (I didn't use the egg mixture. I just moistened the edges with water.) Moisten wonton edges with egg mixture; fold opposite corners over filling and press to seal.
* Heat remaining vegetable oil in a large skillet. Cook wontons in batches for 1-2 minutes on each side or until golden brown, adding additional oil if needed. (I saw online that you could place the wontons on a sprayed cookie sheet, spray the top of the wontons and then bake them. So I did this. I baked them at 425 for about 10 minutes.) Yield: 5 dozen.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (3 each) equals 90 calories, 3 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 16 mg cholesterol, 171 mg sodium, 11 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 4 g protein.

For Dessert we made the jello no-bake cheesecake. At the last minute we decided to make them into milk shakes. This is a fabulous recipe. The original recipe is also at tasteofhome.com. I don't think I have ever used the cheesecake recipe that is in the original recipe, so I won't post it. This time I didn't use vanilla ice cream, but had wild berry frozen yogurt on hand. So we made it with that and left out the vanilla extract. Yummy!!!!

Piece-of-cheesecake Shakes

1 9-inch cheesecake cut into 8 pieces

Additional ingredients for each shake:
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup vanilla ice cream


For each shake, place one piece of cheesecake in a blender; add the additional ingredients. Cover and process until smooth. Pour into a chilled glass. Yield: 8 servings.