Pork Egg Rolls

Just made this for dinner with Pad Thai. It was delicious and pretty easy. I buy a brand of egg roll wrappers from Smith's that I am absolutely in love with!

1/2 a head of green cabbage shredded (about 3 cups)
1/2 C carrot shredded
1 clove Garlic chopped (About 1 Tbs of chopped garlic)
1/2 C Green Onions (Green part of the onion is advised)
1/2-1 lb Ground Pork (I used the whole pound and it was delicious! Original recipe only calls for 1/2)
2 Tbs Soy Sauce mixed with 1 Tbs Water
Salt & Pepper to tastse
Oil for frying
1 package of egg roll or wonton wrappers


Chop up the cabbage, onion, and carrot and put in a bowl together. Cook the pork in a skillet on medium-high heat. Break up large pieces and cook through until it is thoroughly cooked. Drain excess grease. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Remove meat from skillet and set aside.
In the same skillet, add a tablespoon of oil and add in the garlic. Then add in the cabbage, onion, and carrot. Saute the veggies for 5-7 minutes or until they are softened. Add the pork back to the skillet. Then add the soy sauce and water mixture to the skillet. Mix all ingredient together.
Remove from heat and let cool to begin filling the wrappers.

Lay an egg roll wrapper out in a diamond shape with the point toward you. Add 2-3 Tablespoons of filling to the lower center part of the wrapper. Then roll up the point over the filling. Fold in the sides tightly and continue rolling until you get to the top point. Rub the top point of the wrapper with water to seal it to itself. Pull egg rolls in heated oil. Cook for a few minutes or until the wrappers are hard. I held the egg rolls up over the oil and let them drip off before putting them on a plate covered with a paper towel. Eat with sweet and sour sauce (On the blog and super simple)

Baked Chicken Breast

INGREDIENTS

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil (I had avocado oil)

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp chili powder

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Pound chicken breasts lightly so they are of even thickness. (I didn't pound mine, just stuck the meat thermometer in the thickest part and set the alarm for 165 degrees F.)

Pour olive oil in a 13" x 9" baking dish. Lightly dredge the chicken through to coat it, then place chicken breasts side by side in the dish. 

In a small bowl, whisk the other ingredients. Sprinkle seasoning mixture over both sides of the chicken and rub it in with your hands. Make sure chicken breasts aren't overlapping. 

Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 mins, 160-170 degrees F or until juices run clear. 

Cover with foil and allow to rest for 5-10 mins. while juices settle before slicing.

Pineapple Chicken

I just made this tonight and we both loved it! The pineapple sauce is actually not too powerful, which is what Dexter likes. The chicken is the best part and I would eat it with any Chinese sauce recipe. Seriously I loved the chicken so much! This is for the unrefined palette.

Chicken Marinade
2 Chicken Breasts (Or 1 Large Chicken Breast)
2 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
1 egg
1/4 tsp. pepper

Later add
3 Tbsp Flour
3 Tbsp Cornstarch

Oil to fry the chicken

Sauce
1 C Pineapple Juice
1 C Pineapple Chunks (I just used the whole can of Pineapple chunks juice and all)
1/4 C Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp Water + 1 Tbsp Cornstarch

Cut chicken into small bite size pieces and put into a ziplock bag. Add the soy sauce, oil, egg, and pepper. Close the bag and mix the chicken pieces around with your fingers. Refrigerate and let marinade for at least 2 hours. When you are ready to cook the chicken add the flour and cornstarch. Mix the bag again. This will make a thick batter for the chicken.

Heat up oil in pan/pot to fry the chicken pieces. Heat chicken pieces until golden brown, flipping as needed. Remove chicken. You can dab the chicken with a paper towel to remove excess oil.

In a saucepan add pineapple juice and pineapples and bring to a boil. Add brown sugar and soy sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. In a separate bowl mix the water and cornstarch, then add it to the pineapple juice. Stir until the sauce thickens. Add the chicken into the sauce and mix. You can eat over rice. We just ate rice as a side because it was not a ton of sauce.

7 Layer Bars

These are delicious and a very simple dessert. This is a recipe for a 9x13 pan, but honestly you can just add as much or as little as you want of each ingredient. My friend always makes it in a cookie sheet and so she just adds more ingredients and does two cans of sweetened condensed milk.

Most variations use butterscotch chips or a different flavored chip and nuts. I never have these so this is the recipe I use.

1/2 C Butter (1 Stick)
1 1/2 C Graham Cracker Crumbs
1 C Milk Chocolate Chips
1 C White Chocolate Chips
1 C Shredded Coconut
1 (14 oz) Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk

Variations:
1 C Butterscotch Chips instead of White Chocolate Chips
1 C Pecans or Walnuts
(If doing in a cookie sheet increase measurements and add 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in microwave. Crush Graham Crackers. In a 9x13 greased pan put graham crackers and melted butter. Mix so they are incorporated, then flatten it evenly on the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle the milk chocolate chips over the graham cracker crust. Then add the milk chocolate chips. Next sprinkle on the coconut. (This is where you would add nuts if you would like them.) Lastly, pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the whole pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until the edges are just golden brown. (If the edges are golden brown, but middle is not, it will harden once you take it out of the oven.) Let them cool. Then cut up and eat!

"Huevos Rancheros" Tostadas

So this isn't technically huevos rancheros, because it doesn't have the huevos rancheros sauce. I heard it called this and now I don't know what else to call it. But it is good. We eat it for dinner.

Tostadas

1 Can of Refried Beans

Cheddar Cheese

Fried Eggs (One egg for as many tostadas as you want.)

Cilantro

Tomatoes Diced

Lettuce Shredded

Avocado Salsa

2 Medium tomatillos, husked 

1/2 jalapeno sliced and seeded (If you like some heat.)

1 Avacado

1/4 C Cilantro

1/2 of a lime juice

salt

For the salsa, combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend together until it is mostly combined. You can leave chunks or you can blend it till it is nice and smooth.

Fry eggs in a pan. We usually cook them over easy or over medium, so the yolk is still runny. While the eggs are cooking pull out your tostadas. Warm up the refried beans in the microwave. You can make each tostada on everyone's individual plates. Spread a layer of refried bean on the tostada. Sprinkle some cheese on top of the beans. Place a small amount of lettuce on top. Then place the fried egg on top. You can add diced tomatoes and cilantro. Don't forget to add the avocado salsa. It is so good!

Crunch Wrap Supreme

This is a pretty simple dinner, but so delicious!

Big flour tortillas (Burrito style are best)
1 lb Ground Beef
1 Packet Taco Seasoning
Sour Cream
Nacho Cheese (You can buy or make your own. I've done both and they are both delicious!)
Tostadas (If you don't have this, you can use tortilla chips.)
Tomatoes Diced
Lettuce Shredded

Salsa or Hot Sauce Optional for spreading on it while you eat.

First cook your beef. Then add the taco seasoning. While the beef is cooking, dice the tomato and lettuce. Get all the rest of your ingredients out on the table. Once the beef is cooked you will assemble the wrap. Lay a tortilla flat. In the middle of the tortilla spread some sour cream around, leaving about 1-2 inches around the tortilla without anything on it. Then spread nacho cheese sauce. Next add the meat on top of the sour cream and queso. Add tomatoes and lettuce as desired. Lastly put the tostada on top of all the other ingredients. (I put the tostada last so that it hopefully hold the other ingredients in as you fold and flip. Now fold the sides of the tortilla to the middle. Do this all the way around the tortilla. Even with burrito tortillas, the burrito will not cover it completely. You can cook it as it is, OR we double wrap ours. So we lay another tortilla down, flip the wrap onto the tortilla so the open side is down on the new tortilla. Then fold the sides of the tortilla to the middle.

Now you can use a panini press to cook the wrap. Before we had a panini press I would just heat up two pans. I would put the wrap in one pan and place the other hot pan on the top of the wrap. Let it cook until the tortilla is a little crispy.

Hopefully this makes sense and you enjoy!

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta

I made this the other day with things that I needed to get rid of so it was a gamble if it was going to be good. It was surprisingly delicious! Dexter said he thought it was pretty good too which is amazing for a pasta meal. Remember this recipe was what I needed to get rid of so the measurements might not be perfect, you could add or take away anything you liked.

You can add some cooked chicken to make it a more hearty meal.

1-2 Tbs. Butter
1-2 Tomatoes diced (You could use sun-dried tomatoes I am sure they would be great!)
8 oz Mushrooms
1 Tbs. Minced Garlic
1/2 of an 8 oz Jar of Sun Dried Tomato Pesto (I used Classico brand, but really as much of this as you want it is the sauce.)
1/2-1 C Milk (Depending on how saucy and liquid you want it.)
1/4 tsp. Salt/Pepper
8 Oz Penne Pasta

Cook pasta according to package.
Meanwhile, heat butter on a skillet until melted, then add mushrooms. Let the mushrooms saute for about 2 minutes then add the diced tomato and garlic. Cook this mixture until the mushrooms are softened to your liking. Add the jar of sun dried tomato pesto, milk, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer, stirring until everything is combined. Remove from heat. Combine the cooked pasta and sauce. Enjoy!