Egg Rolls Anyone?

My wife and I really love egg rolls, or anything else in the Asian cuisine arena for that matter. One day, we attended a class that teaches how to make healthier foods and they taught us how to make egg rolls. Ali, the teacher for the day, gave us a delicious recipe for egg rolls and so we tried it out. Now it's one of our favorite recipes!

Given that I like to adapt things to my kitchen, and the fact that I sometimes forget things, I adapted Ali's recipe to fit the things I had on hand. I also cut her recipe in half so that I wouldn't have tons of leftovers.

These are the ingredients that I used.

I like this brand of egg roll wraps, because they don't have tons of corn starch on them to keep them separated.

This sweet Thai chili sauce can be bought at Wal Mart. It's kinda spicy at first, but after the first few bites it's pretty yummy. My daughter likes them with ranch dressing... go figure! =)

First thing's first, we need to put the bean thread in some hot water while we cook the sausage. I empty out some of the water and put more hot water in about half way through cooking the sausage. Do you like my pink cup?

While the bean thread is soaking, I cook the sausage. If you cover it, it helps it cook quicker. The sausage is done when you can no longer see any pink in it.

Drain the sausage and put it into a large salad/mixing bowl. Then cut the bean thread up and add it to the sausage. I like to just cut it up over the top of sausage. It's pretty easy that way and makes for less of a mess to clean up later.

Mix up the bean thread and sausage. The recipe that we got from Ali called for shredding a cabbage and carrots, but when I read that I thought to myself, "That's just like coleslaw!" So, I bought a bag of coleslaw and added it to the mix instead of having to work so hard on shredding all of those vegetables.

Mix the coleslaw into the sausage and bean thread, then add two eggs. I also add about 3/4 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of pepper and mix it all in.

Separate an egg yolk and put it in a bowl. I use a basting brush to pop it and for the wrapping step just ahead.

Put a heaping spoon of mixture onto an egg roll wrap diagonally.

Fold the bottom corner over the top and sort of tuck it in.

Next, bring the two sides up to the middle.


And then roll it over, being careful to make sure the ends are sealed.

Finally, you brush a little egg yolk onto the wrap, or just on the tip of the wrap, to seal it shut. Don't they look good already?

Heat some oil in a pan on Medium heat. Once it looks warm, use a pair of tongs to lower the egg rolls into the oil. Roll them over at least once to make them brown and crisp all the way around.

This recipe makes about 18 -20 egg rolls, depending on how much mix you put in each one. (Note my son making his move to get some!)

Ingredients
1 lb Italian sausage
4 oz Bean Thread
1 bag Coleslaw
3 Eggs
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
20 Wraps
Oil for frying

(Optional- and definitely yummy to add!!!)
1-2 Chopped Green Onions
1/4 Cup chopped Cilantro

Keep on cookin'!

Easy to Make Banana Bread

This banana bread recipe is from an online source that I like to peak at once in a while. I'd never made banana bread before this recipe, but I've tried other people's banana breads and they just don't compare. The others are usually too dry or lacking in flavor. You know, when they taste more like bread than bananas--- YUCK!

When I eat banana bread, I expect a moist, banana flavored explosion! HA! I really like this recipe because that's what you get.

First off, there are a great deal of people who don't like to wait for their bananas to get that perfect brown in order to make banana bread. I'm one of those people. What I do is take my bananas when they're starting to get little spots on them and put them in the freezer for a day.


















The next day, take them out and allow them to thaw on the counter. This makes them nice and brown, as you can see here.

Next, take a fork and mash up the bananas. You want them to be completely thawed when you do this because you're going to be adding melted butter.


















Here's a look at the ingredients I used. The bowl in the foreground is 1 beaten egg. The other bowl has my melted butter.


















After you mix the butter into the mashed bananas, you want to put 1 cup of sugar, the beaten egg, and the vanilla into the bowl and mix thoroughly. After that's mixed up well, spriinkle the salt and baking soda on top and mix in.


















Finally, you add the flour and mix well. I like to sift my flour, otherwise you end up with globs of flour in your bread when you get done.


















The final steps are, of course, pour into a greased bread pan and bake at 350° F for about 1 hour. Watch it though, because ovens vary you'll want to make sure yours doesn't burn!




















Doesn't it look delicious! Sorry about the missing slice, but I think you'll agree that nothing tastes better than fresh baked bread from the oven!!!


















Ingredients:
3 or 4 Bananas
5 1/3 Tbs. Butter/ Margarine (Pick your poison!)
1 Cup Sugar
1 Egg - beaten
2 tsp. Vanilla
Pinch of Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 1/2 Cups Flour

Keep on cookin'!

Yummy Chicken Croquettes!

So, I haven't written on here in forever... OK, so it's been since I started this thing, but I have decided to come back and post a favorite recipe or two. This one is Chicken Croquettes. I got the recipe from a friend's mom when I stayed at their house, but I've modified it a little to fit my tastes.

I started by cubing up some chicken. I added that to a pan with a tablespoon of canola oil and threw some lemon pepper on it to taste.





















Next, while that was cooking, I got a few of the other ingredients out.


















While the chicken continued to cook, I opened and drained the mushrooms and cut up the spinach. To cut the spinach, I bunch it up into a small roll or compacted mound and used a sharp vegetable cleaver to cut the spinach into short ribbons.


















By the time I was done doing all of that, the chicken was finished cooking. So, I drained the chicken and then poured it into a bowl. I put 3/4 of a 8oz. box of cream cheese in with it.


















Next, I added the mushrooms...



















And the spinach!



















And mixed them all together.



















At this point, I have a hard time not dipping into the bowl to taste it! It looks so yummy already!!! I set that mixture aside and prep the rest of the ingredients.

I open the crescent rolls and lay them out on the cutting board, then I melt about 3 Tablespoons of butter in a small dish and pour a 50/50 mixture of Italian bread crumbs and plain bread crumbs. If you use straight Italian bread crumbs I think it makes it too salty.




















I spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and another smaller dish (here I've used a pie pan) to cook the overflows.



















I spoon the mixture onto one of the crescent rolls while I hold it in my hand, then wrap it gently; pinching the seams together.


















































































I roll it in the melted butter and then in the crumbs and space them about as you would for cookies (a dozen per cookie sheet).



















My daughter wanted to help here with this part.
























Once they're all ready, you place them into a 400 degree oven and cook them for about 12 - 15 minutes, or until they're golden brown on top. These are so yummy! ENJOY!!!



















Ingredients:
2 or 3 Chicken breast halves
1 Tbs. Canola Oil
Lemon Pepper (to taste)
5 to 6 oz. Cream Cheese
1 small can of Mushrooms
1/3 to 1/3 bag Baby Spinach
3-4 Tbs. Butter (melted)
1/3 Cup Italian Bread Crumbs
1/3 Cup Plain Bread Crumbs
Cooking Spray

Keep on cookin'!