Eggrolls

Ingredients:
1/2 lb ground beef, cooked and drained
1 package (16 oz) coleslaw mix
2 T soy sauce
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/4 t ground ginger
onion powder to taste
40 egg roll wrappers
1 T all-purpose flour
vegetable oil for frying

Directions:
combine first 6 ingredients. place heaping tablespoonful of mixture in center of one egg roll wrapper. Fold like an envelope, roll up. Use a bit of water to keep wrapper closed. Fry in oil at 375 for about 5 minutes. Enjoy with sauce of choice.

Yummm! I didn't used to like eggrolls because of the cabbage, but I think it was all in my head. Either that or my tastebuds have changed. These were delish. I put the meat in half the mixture and left it out of the other half. I would add more ginger next time. Other than that I was highly impressed! I think you can also bake the eggrolls rather than fry them. Maybe next time I'll try that. We'll see!

Taco Pizza

Ingredients:
pizza crust (see pizza crust recipe in the pizza and calzone post-makes two crusts)
2 cans refried beans
1 lb ground beef
2/3 head chopped lettuce
1 can olives
4 oz cheddar cheese
2-3 tomatoes
taco sauce
sour cream

Directions:
bake pizza per directions in previous post
top with shredded cheddar and cook a few minutes longer
spread refried beans over cheese, top with remaining ingredients and Viola! An extremely tasty and unique take on pizza. Or tacos!

Orange Ricotta Dumplings with Lavender Butter

Orange Ricotta Breakfast Dumplings

(Makes about 25 small dumplings)

Ingredients:

For the dumplings
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup all purpose flour divided in half
1 medium egg lightly beaten
1 teaspoon orange zest plus more for garnish

For lavender butter
3 tablespoon sweet cream butter
2 teaspoons lavender sugar (recipe below)
¼ teaspoon dried lavender
Small piece of orange rind (optional)

For Lavender Butter

Simply add four tablespoons of dried lavender and add to two cups sugar. Blend on “pulse” speed for a few seconds and set sugar aside in a closed container (we prefer glass) for two weeks before use. You can sift out the lavendar, but I just left it in and it was delish!

Prepare the dumplings:

In a medium pot bring to a gentle boil 2 quarts of lightly salted water.

In a large bowl mix the ricotta with the egg, add ½ of flour and mix it with a spoon to form it into a ball, add orange zest and then more flour little by little as needed. The dough will be very sticky, but not wet, and the amount of flour you use will depend on how much moisture is in the ricotta cheese you use. However, one cup is about right, so don’t add too much flour as it toughens the dumpling.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and cut in half. With your palms, gently roll it into two long strands about ½ inch thick. With a knife, slice each strand on diagonal into about half inch wide dumplings. This will make approximately 44 dumplings. Transfer all the dumplings to a large pot and boil until all float to the surface, about 10 minutes.

Prepare the lavender butter:

In the mean time in a frying pan or small sauce pan, on a medium heat, melt butter with lavender sugar, dried lavender and orange rind. Cook for few minutes, being carful not to brown the mixture.

Serve:

Arrange cooked dumplings on a serving platter or divide into small bowls. Top with lavender butter, garnish with orange zest and some fresh lavender petals, serve immediately.

(this recipe is verbatim from Design Sponge. It was perfect and I didn't change anything, so want to give credit where credit is due!)

Avacado Goat Cheese Dip

Ingredients:
2 avocados
4oz goat cheese
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
tabasco sauce to taste
salt and pepper

Directions:
combine all ingredients and mash together. Enjoy with chips or crackers!

Mango Chicken/noChicken Lettuce Wraps

OK, here is one of the recipes that I make chicken for Jeff and I used Tempah for Cade and I. Cade LOVED the tempah!

Ingredients:
1.5 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast
1 package Tempah (I used the spicy kind and it was SPICY!)
about 3/4 cups Spicy Mango Marinade from KC Masterpiece
2 mangoes, diced
1 celery stalk
8 oz. water chestnuts
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp fresh ginger
1 Tbsp Spicy Mango Marinade
Lettuce leaves
Optional: Use tortillas instead of lettuce wraps

Directions:
Marinate the chicken in the Spicy Mango Marinade for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator. ( I marinated for a whole day and this chicken was TASTY-according to Jeff of course, I would NEVER have tried it ;) -oh and I couldn't find Mango Marinade so I use Hawaiian and it was very good.) While the chicken is marinating, cut the mango and chop the celery and water chestnuts. Dice the garlic and ginger. Put oil in skillet and cook the ginger and garlic. Add the chopped tempah and water chestnuts. Season with some salt and pepper and other herbs and a bit of hawaiian or mango marinade for flavor. After the chicken thighs have marinated, grill them until they are cooked through. Then slice and dice them. Take lettuce and fill with chicken or noChicken mix, add celery and mangos and enjoy!


(this even looks like chicken!)

Fruit Pizza

Ingredients:
Sugar cookie dough-either make a batch from scratch or roll out a Pillsbury package.

(from scratch-Martha Stuart)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons brandy, or milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar; mix until light and fluffy. With mixer running, add egg, brandy or milk, and vanilla; mix until well combined. With the mixer on low, slowly add reserved flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Transfer dough to a work surface. Shape into 2 discs, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with nonstick baking mats or parchment paper; roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness to fit your baking sheet or pizza stone. Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes; do not allow to brown.

Spread with cream cheese whipped topping. Simply stir together 8 oz cream cheese and tub of whipped topping.

Top with any fruit you enjoy!

Chicken/noChicken Fried Rice

I love fried rice! It's about the only Chinese food I enjoy. So I tried my hand at it. Not a bad hand, if I do say so myself :)



Ingredients:
1.5 cups uncooked rice
2 carrots
1/2 cup sweet peas
6 eggs
3 tablespoon of oil
soy sauce-to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
3 tablespoons margarine

Directions:
Cook rice according to package. Dice veggies and set aside. Scramble eggs on medium-high low heat in a frying pan or wok (we've decided the slower the eggs cook the more delicious they taste. Add a bit of salt and pepper. Remove cooked eggs to a separate bowl. Put oil in the hot pan and dump the cooked rice in. Turn the heat down to 2 or 3 and add eggs. Dump in soy sauce to taste. Rice will not be completely covered, but should turn brown when mixed. Add garlic powder, pepper and salt. Stir. Add veggies and sesame seeds. Stir again. Add margarine. Stir and taste. Adjust seasonings as needed. Let rice cook for another 5-10 minutes. For a fun twist, eat with chopsticks!

Note: we are big eaters in this house and this barely made enough for the three of us. Can't wait to see how much Cade eats when he's a teenager!!!