Chicken Pot Stickers

 Here's a recipe for some yummy pot stickers you can make at home!  :)

Chicken Pot Stickers:
2 c. cooked shredded chicken
1 t. Garlic Powder
1 t. Ground Ginger
40 Wonton wrappers
Water (for sealing wrappers)
Oil (for frying)

First stir the spices into the shredded chicken.

 Then grab one wonton wrapper, place some chicken (about 2 t.) in the middle, moisten the edges and seal.  You can fold it up any of the ways above.  (I tried some of each, and probably preferred the simple triangles because they were easier to know when they were done...)

Heat up a little oil in a skillet on medium high or so.  Once it's heated gently place 5 or 6 in at a time.  Make sure they don't touch.  They fry up pretty fast so keep your eye on them.  After about a minute flip them over. Then after the other side is done, place them on paper towels or a cooling rack to drain the excess oil.  Repeat until all the pot stickers are fried.  (You can keep them warm in a 200 oven--just place a cooling rack in a jelly roll pan in the oven with them on top.)

 Serve warm with something like homemade sweet and sauce.

 And enjoy!  :)

These also go really well with my sweet and sour chicken! :)

Taquitos!

Don't you just love a nice warm, crispy taquito?  Well, now you don't have to buy the frozen kind because you can make them at home with ease!  :)  In fact, you won't even have to fry them!!

Taquitos:
~15 corn tortillas  (Mine were white corn, just fyi)
1.5 c. beef or chicken, shredded
1/4 t. chili powder
1/4 t. paprika
Salt/Pepper to taste
Spray oil

 1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Then get out the tortillas, and mix the chicken (or beef) with the chili powder, paprika, and a touch of salt and pepper.  (You can make these as spicy or not as you would like!)

 2.  Assemble the taquitos.  (See pic below.)  Lay out one tortilla, put about 1 T. of meat mixture in a line in the middle and carefully roll up.  You can then put them on a baking sheet and continue to do the rest...*

  *=but in order to prevent this (below) from possibly happening.....

I recommend securing each taquito with a toothpick as shown below.  :)

 3.  Once all taquitos have been assembled place them on a baking sheet, lightly spray them with the cooking oil spray and sprinkle a touch of salt on the tops of them.   Then bake for 12-15minutes or until golden and crispy!  :)

Enjoy!!  :)  You may serve them with salsa, guacamole and/or queso!

Peppers in Blankets

We all love pigs in blankets.  So why not make peppers in blanket?!?  This fun and yummy appetizer only has three differnet ingredients and is delicious!  :)

Peppers in Blankets:

Crescent Rolls (Pillsbury refrigerator rolls)

8 Peppers, small varieties such as banana peppers or jalepenos, (

Even though I only have 4 pictured.)

~ 4 oz.  Cheddar Cheese,  cut into .5 oz strips

1.  Pre-heat oven to be ready to broil the peppers.  Then broil the peppers for a few minutes on each side, until they are pretty well blackened. (As seen below.)

2.  Then insert one pepper at a time into a bowl with ice water and peel the peppers.  The ice water helped cool them and make it easier to peal off the blackened skins.

3.  Once all the peppers are peeled start stuffing with the cheese.  Cut along one side and insert the cheese.  It's ok if it splits open...

4.  Roll up each stuffed pepper in one triangle of crescent dough.  (As pictured below.)

5.  Once all the peppers are rolled up, place on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden.

6.  Serve while hot and enjoy!  :)

Yields 8 Peppers in Blankets!

Edamame Guacamole

So, do you know those great little things called edamame?  They are super healthy and super yummy!!  I got some fresh edamame at the farmer's market last Saturday and ate some cooked with salt earlier this week.  (Which is the tradiditonal way to eat them and super good!)  Anyway, I love guac and made some guacamole out of edamame today.  Then I saw I wasn't the first to think of that...oh well.  It's super, super healthy and yummy for guac!!!  Here's my recipe:



Edamame Guac:

1 c.  edamame, cooked and shelled

1 roma tomato, diced

1 small jalepeno, diced

1 t. lemon or lime juice

3-4 T. water

1.  In a food processor or blender start chopping up the edamame.

2.  Add the tomato, jalepeno, lemon juice and water.  Then pulse the processor until smooth.  (You can add more water until you get to your desired consistency.)

3.  Scoop into serving dish.  Serve with chips or veggies.  Enjoy!  :)

Frestive Corn Salsa

(Fresh and Festive Corn Salsa)  Yep, I just made that up.  :)  Silly...but this is even better than my original fresh corn salsa recipe I posted a couple days ago!  I just can't get enough of it!  I made more this afternoon, so we could have fiesta salads for dinner again.  I love them oh so much, and lucky for me they are super healthy!  :)

Frestive Salsa featured on an Enchilada. : )

Frestive Corn Salsa:
4 ears of corn, cooked and corn cut off (Sweet corn works best!)
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Jalapeno Pepper, chopped finely  (I recommend using the seeds in this recipe too for an added kick!)
2 cloves Garlic, minced
2 T. Onion, finely chopped
Cilantro, roughly chopped  (As much as you like!  I did about as much as would pack into a 1/4 cup.)

1.  Mix all ingredient together in a medium bowl.

2.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

3.  Enjoy!

Cilantro Lemon Dressing

Since I got that huge head of Green Lead lettuce today I wanted to have a salad.  So I did...and finished the dressing we had.  Whoops...anyway, I decided to try making some that kind of tasted like the great stuff at Qdoba.  Theirs is Cilantro Lime Dressing for their Mango Chicken Salad.  Anyway, since I didn't have limes...I changed it to lemon.  I also don't think mine tastes much like theirs...but it is good.  So here's the recipe: :)

Cilantro Lemon Dressing

1 T. Lemon Juice

1/3 c.  Fresh Cilantro

2 T. Olive Oil

1/4 c. Apple Cider Vineagar

1 T. Honey

1.  Put all five ingredients into a blender or food processor and mix until completely combined.

2.  Pour into container of choice.  I used a funnel and put in a glass dressing bottle.  (That no longer had dressing in it, and I washed it of course.)

3.  Get creative with using this on salads.  I am thinking of making some Qdoba-esk salads tonight for use with this.  :)

Fresh Corn Salsa

Fresh Corn Salsa.  There's nothing quite like it.  I especially love it at Chipotle.  So here's my rendition...and I really like the way it turned out! Try it for yourself and let me know what you think!  :)

Corn Salsa:

2 Ears of Corn, Cooked and corn cut off (I used sweet corn, and one was white and one was yellow.  Whatever you prefer will work though!)

1 Jalepeno Pepper, finely chopped

2 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped

Pinch of Fresh Cilantro, roughly chopped (I added a pretty large pinch because I love it!  But you can do whatever you want!)

1 T. Onion, finely chopped

1.  Mix corn, jalepeno, garlic, cilantro and onion together.

2.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

3.  Enjoy!  :)

Bruschetta

If you love bruschetta, then you should try making it at home.  Super easy, delicious and healthy!  :)  Gotta love when those three are in the same sentence right?

So what you'll need:

Roma Tomatoes

Basil (Fresh is best!)

Red Onion

Italian Dressing (Vinagrettes will work too)

Now the bruschetta is actually all up to you, and your preferences.  So if you really like basil put a ton in.  If you really like onion add lots of that.  Or if you like a nice balance dice up the tomatoes and add small amounts of the other things until it tastes "right" to you!

Enjoy!  :)  I love this stuff, and make it year round.  But I especially love it in the summer when I can go out to my little garden and pick fresh basil to put in it.  :)

Veggie Spring Rolls

Veggie Spring Rolls:

2 lb. Head of Cabbage, finely chopped

1 c. Carrots, shredded

2 c. rice vermicelli, cooked (You can find these at local asian markets and they are very reasonably priced.)

1 Tbsp. Ginger, Fresh and finely chopped

1 Tbsp. Garlic, Fresh and finely chopped

2 Tbsp. Rice Cooking Wine

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil (I use Extra Virgin OL.)

1 pkg. Egg Roll Wrappers (Available in the produce section of Wal-mart for $2.78)

1. In a large pan saute the Cooking Wine, Olive Oil, Garlic and Ginger.

2. Add cabbage, stir, turn the burner to med-low and cover for 5 minutes.

3. Add carrots and vermicelli to the pan and stir.

4. Cook about 5 minutes on medium.

5. Take pan off heat and let cool for a few minutes.

Now we are on to the fun assembly part! :)

1. Take the wrappers out of the package and get a cutting board to work on.

2. Place one wrapper on the cutting board diagonally pointing towards you.

3. Place about 3 Tablespoons of the cabbage mixture in the center of the wrapper.

4. With either water or egg wet the corner closest to you. Then fold the outer corners in like this.

5. Now roll it up starting with the far corner. Try to do it tightly, but don't pull too hard because you'll break the delicate dough! :)

6. Finish your roll on the end you just moistened with either water or egg! Viola!

7. You are well on your way to becoming a pro now! Just do that with the other 19 of them! They should look something like this above.

8. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with a thin layer of cooking spray.

9. Then place your spring rolls on the baking sheet. They can be quite close because they won't really change in shape. Lightly, I mean very lightly, spritz them with cooking spray. (Just so they will be somewhat "oven fried" and more authentic. It's still WAY better than having to actually fry them. They turn out really well this way too...)

10. Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for about 17 minutes! They'll turn out something like this! :)

Enjoy! From my table to yours! :)

Spinach and Carrot Dip

Spinach and Carrot Dip

1/4 c. Sour Cream (I used fat-free)

1/4 c. Cream Cheese (I used Neufchâtel)

1/4 c. Mozzarella (I used the reduced fat kind)

1 c. Spinach, chopped (I used frozen)

1 c. Carrots, shredded

1 tsp. Jerk Seasoning

1/2 tsp. Chili flakes

Put all the ingredients in a small pan and mixing together. Continue to stir while slowly heating it until bubbly and heated through.

Serve with crostini, crackers or veggies.

Makes about 4 servings.