recipe of the week: southwestern style egg rolls

remember how i told you i split the ranch taco chicken meat between two recipes?

well, this is the other :-) i ran across this recipe on pinterest, but i knew we'd like a little different flavoring (and MEAT) in ours, so here's my adaptation.

southwestern egg rolls

olive oil for sauteing and brushing

1 pound chicken, cooked in crockpot with one tbsp ranch seasoning and one tbsp of taco seasoning

1 container egg roll wrappers

2 cups corn (i use fire-roasted from trader joe's)

1 can black beans

several handfuls of spinach (6 cups non-packed is 3 or 4 handfuls)

a generous bunch of cilantro

5 scallions, chopped

1 small container of sliced black olives

1 container of diced green chiles

1 container of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

2 cups cheese (i used the organic fiesta blend from whole foods)

you can add seasoning, but with the adobo sauce, seasoning on the meat, and cilantro i found we didn't really need any!

 heat oil on stove, and saute green onions, chiles and chipotle peppers for a few minutes

meanwhile, process spinach and cilantro in food processor until it's pretty fine. 

 combine corn, beans and greens in a bowl

 remove onion, chile and peppers from stove and process it with black olives

 add to the mixture, top with the shredded chicken and cheese and mix thoroughly

 put a large spoonful of the mixture in each wrapper and roll up (most packages have easy to follow instructions)

line them up on a baking sheet (i use parchment paper because of the messiness factor) and brush each side with olive oil

i made a batch of my ranch dressing and added one avocado to the mix. 

and it was so good!  definitely a recipe we'll keep around.

hey, it's ok (tuesday) 1.24

hey, it's ok


...to not be surprised in the LEAST that paula deen has type 2 diabetes.
...(but to not blame it on the butter and heavy cream.  those are real foods at least, unlike the processed crap that southern cooking is full of.  done with the soapbox now).
...to not get the pioneer woman worship.  i mean, yes, her recipes look good (and taste good from the one or two i've had) but why does everyone flock exactly? (seriously, can someone explain this to me?)
...to be sad about seal and heidi klum splitting.  out of all the celebrity marriages, they seemed so much more grounded and solid
...to be writing this list waaaaaay late
...to have copycatted (kind of) a favorite dip from trader joe's to avoid having to buy it so often.  way cheaper this way! (i'll share the recipe soon, promise!)
...to be a bit tired of the schizophrenic january weather in tn.  tornado warnings twice in the last 5 days?  and temperatures fluctuating between the 20s and the high 60s...no wonder we're all sniffling
...to drink way more water now that i have my OWN pitcher in the fridge (with fresh mint leaves in it).  it's amazing what a slight bit of fresh flavor will do!
...to realize that you've used (a whole lot) of parenthesis in one blog post. (oh well)


(please visit amber's blog and post your own list of things that are ok)

recipe of the week: those joe-joe truffles

let's face it.  everyone on the internet has the same recipe for oreo truffles.  i've seen it a million times and drool each and every time.


however.


i've always made peppermint bark at christmas.  and plan to this year (don't worry family!!).  but when coming up with the menu for our holiday open house, i realized that having two time consuming desserts to make (oreo truffles AND peppermint bark) was a little ridiculous.


so i decided to combine the two.


i used candy cane joe-joe's from trader joes.  they have flakes of candy cane in them.  pretty much they are amazing.


if you don't have a trader joe's near you OR you want to make this during the off season, i recommend using oreos and then putting some peppermint OIL (not extract) in the mix.  a very small amount will do.


here's the recipe, for those of you who don't know it by heart already :-)


1 box candy cane joe-joe's (or oreos)
1 block cream cheese
1 container of white chocolate bark/melting chocolate.  i used kroger's vanilla bark...same difference.

- place cookies in food processor and process until they are just crumbs

 - add cream cheese and process until mixed fully

- roll into balls and place on waxed paper on cookie sheet

- place in the freezer for minimum 10 minutes (i usually do more like 30)

- melt chocolate according to package instructions.  i prefer the oven methods normally.

- using a toothpick or whatever you have on hand (cough, skewer, cough) roll each ball in the melted chocolate.  place back on the wax paper and then into the fridge while they harden

- enjoy!!

 (somehow i never get pictures of the final product...they keep disappearing!)

recipe of the week: beef flank steak wheels

i've been wanting to try this recipe for awhile now, so this week i put it on our menu.

i'll be up-front in that i did a few things wrong, but if i tell you about it, hopefully you won't make the same mistakes!

beef flank steak wheels

1 large flank steak
salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces shredded asiago cheese
8 ounces fresh spinach, stems removed (i used 4...)
6 ounces gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
4 scallions, left whole
8-10 wooden skewers


preheat grill or grill pan
then look in bewilderment at the steak you are supposed to "butterfly"

figure it out, slowly but surely
;-)
(start with the meat grain running up and down in front of you.  with your knife, begin cutting the meat in half.  essentially, you want a thinner, larger flank steak.  continue cutting in half until you reach about 1 inch from completely cutting through.  lay the cut flank steak open and even out the middle so there is not a thicker piece in the center.) 

salt and pepper the meat.  this may or may not be a step i forgot, since i was so excited about figuring out "butterflying"...so adding salt and pepper while it's on the grill is an option.  not a great one, but it works.

 sprinkle asiago cheese

 layer the spinach leaves on top

 and the gorgonzola on top of that

 and top with the scallions

 roll it up and skewer it!

 this is where i made my main mistake.  basically, you want to put several skewers in so that your 'pinwheels' are pretty thin.  i spaced them out WAY too much and ended up with 5 cuts of meat when i should have probably had 10.
but at any rate, cut between the skewers so that you have pinwheels

 place on the grill, and cook until the meat reaches your desired level of "done"

 serve them up!

they were very good despite my "oops", and i'll definitely be playing around with this recipe again!

thursday's ten: refreshing summery drinks

is it HOT where you are?
because it's totally past that here.
yesterday we set record-breaking temperatures for june 1 in mid-tn
this plus all the cicadas swarming constantly outside makes it slightly miserable at times to visit the great outdoors

alas, i have not seen radnor lake for awhile
or a greenway
too many trees equals too many cicadas

BUT

i do love a good summer drink.  and here is a list of favorites


1.  sun tea
something about my childhood comes back when i drag a big container filled with water and teabags and a few hours later sip the sweet sun-brewed tea.
2. pink lemonade
regular lemonade is usually a little tart for me.  but pink lemonade is perfection
3. mojitos!
ok, not for daytime consumption, but for an evening watching chick flicks or just hanging out on a patio?  perfection.  i've perfected (i think!) a strawberry mojito recipe and i looooove it.
4.  iced green tea
this is a recently discovered treat at a local mediterranean restaurant, and i am determined to have a recipe down for it in the next couple of weeks.  theirs was infused with mango juice...i've also read a couple of recipes for passion fruit juice.  i think i shall play.  :-)
5.  freshly squeezed (by me!) orange juice
i.hate.packaged.orange juice.
for some reason there is a bitterness there that makes it not even taste like it came from an orange.  to me.  but squeezing my own oranges for a glass of juice?  yes PLEASE
6.  sangria
another non-daytime consumption drink, and one that i have never even attempted to make on my own.  but it's SO.GOOD (and i have friends that make awesome sangrias...)
7.  san pelligrino water
yes, i've sung it's praises here on the blog several times, but the fact is that i rarely drink it in the winter.  it's soooo yummy in the summer though!
8.  trader joe's french berry lemonade
i'd never even try to make this, it's worth buying the bottle.  :-)
9.  italian sodas
(or italian creme sodas)
sooooo good year round, but especially summer.  and so easy!  syrup, sparkling water, dash of cream for the cream soda...and you're done.
10.  just plain water
i sometimes add the mio enhancer (or crystal light if you're so inclined) but honestly?  a cool refreshing bit of water is the absolute best thing to put in your body, and after a long hot day...it really is perf

hey, it's ok (tuesday) .10

hey, it's ok

...to stay in your pj's past noon on your day off

...to play your babysitting client's xbox kinect for nearly 2 hours

...to have possibly injured your foot while playing xbox kinect and jumping

...to still kind of be in love with trader joe

...to look forward to couponing trips. unfortunately, not to trader joe's.

...to have enjoyed the marriage prep session on finances much more than you thought you would.

...to wonder how on earth you're going to pay for a wedding

...to remember that God has provided every need i've had for the past year...why would i expect anything less for a wedding?

...to ask you to weigh in on my decision. which toms should i get?

(this isn't happening tomorrow, but i've decided to take a few bucks from the next few babysitting jobs and set it aside for them)

red canvas

picnic

red twill