Southwestern Egg Rolls

These taste like the southwestern egg rolls that you get from chili's. Now, I've never had them, but that is what everyone tells me. Really good as an appetizer, or just as finger foods. I served them when we had some friends over and at our potluck dinner at church, everyone loved them. I do not deep fry them, I baked them the first time and pan fried them the second time. I prefer them baked at 350 until they are browned and crispy. I used montery jack cheese with jalapeños the second time and it added a bit of spice to it. The dip really pushes it over the top, it is so good! It works on tortilla chips also, I just had one!! Don't worry about freezing them, unless you are going to deep fry. I cut out all the oil and just used cooking spray and it worked fine.

Southwestern Egg Rolls

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast half
• 2 tablespoons minced green onion
• 2 tablespoons minced red bell pepper
• 1/3 cup frozen corn kernels
• 1/4 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 tablespoons frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 2 tablespoons diced jalapeno peppers
• 1/2 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper
• 3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 5 (6 inch) flour tortillas
• 1 quart oil for deep frying

DIRECTIONS

1. Rub 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over chicken breast. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, cook chicken approximately 5 minutes per side, until meat is no longer pink and juices run clear. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in green onion and red pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes, until tender.
3. Dice chicken and mix into the pan with onion and red pepper. Mix in corn, black beans, spinach, jalapeno peppers, parsley, cumin, chili powder, salt and cayenne pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes, until well blended and tender. Remove from heat and stir in Monterey Jack cheese so that it melts.
4. Wrap tortillas with a clean, lightly moist cloth. Microwave on high approximately 1 minute, or until hot and pliable.
5. Spoon even amounts of the mixture into each tortilla. Fold ends of tortillas, then roll tightly around mixture. Secure with toothpicks. Arrange in a medium dish, cover with plastic, and place in the freezer. Freeze at least 4 hours.
6. In a large, deep skillet, heat oil for deep frying to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Deep fry frozen, stuffed tortillas 10 minutes each, or until dark golden brown. Drain on paper towels before serving.

Cilantro Cream Sauce

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 1 (7 ounce) can tomatillo salsa also called salsa verde
  
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine cream cheese, sour cream, salsa, pepper, celery salt, cumin, garlic powder, cilantro and lime juice in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth and creamy. Place in a serving bowl.

I only added a little bit of cilantro, because that is not a flavor I am very fond of. Make the day before and refridgerate, it allows the flavors to blend and become spicy.

Praline Cheesecake

My first real cheesecake! *squeal* It was really good! I have dreams of cheesecake, it is my favorite dessert. If I could only have one food for the rest of my life...it would be cheesecake. So making this was a big deal. The only previous cheesecakes I have made are the ones that you don't bake. I didn't change anything except for the praline sauce. I added about 2 T of butter, to make it more praline like. The easy way to slice this is to use floss! Use the unflavored, waxed kind. Pull out a length long enough to wrap around your hands andpull tightly to slice through the cake, sawing back and forth slightly, when it is all the way through, pull out the other end, it crumbles the crust to pull it back up. Repeat, until you have as many as slices as you want!

Praline Cheesecake

Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter

Filling:
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Topping:
1 1/2 cups sour cream
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Praline Sauce:
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the crust, stir together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter. Pat this mixture into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch spring form pan.

Make the filling: In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and granulated sugar. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, and then beat in the vanilla. Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 1 hour. Remove the cake from the oven and cool for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the topping: In a bowl, mix the sour cream, sugar, and vanilla until well blended. Spread this mixture over the warm cake and return to the oven for 4 minutes. Let the cake cool to room temperature in the pan, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. At serving time, use a table knife to loosen the cake from the pan. Remove the sides of the pan and place the cake on a platter, leaving it on pan bottom. To make the praline sauce, in a small heavy saucepan stir together the brown sugar and cornstarch. Stir in the corn syrup and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the nuts and vanilla. Cool slightly. Serve the cheesecake, passing the sauce in a bowl with a small ladle. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

Fruit Kabobs

These made great finger foods for summertime. I used kiwi, oranges, bananas, canned pineapple, grapes, and strawberries. Also fabulous would of been watermelon, cantaloupe, mango, fresh pineapple... any fruits, really. The dip is so easy, it is 1 jar of marshmallow creme, 1 block of cream cheese, and 2 T. orange concentrate. Mix all together, using med speed and pour into a serving bowl. I used shish kabob sticks and broke/cut them in half.

More tomatoes....

Someone has given us tomatoes from their garden (so good!) and I am trying to use them up. Today for lunch I made another tomato salad and decided to use up the last little bits of ingredients I had from other recipes, so it's got a little bit of everything. :) Excellent summery taste.

1 large tomato, chopped
1/4 white onion, diced
handful ripe olives
1/4 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cucumber, diced
chunk of montery jack cheese
green onions, sliced
1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 T olive oil
dried basil
pepper
salt

Combine all ingredients, toss to coat, and refrigerate to let flavors meld. :)

Spicy Chicken Pizza

Tonight for dinner we had spicy chicken pizza... it was very yummy! Wasn't all that spicy, (Ryan and I like super hot foods) but, it had an excellent taste and was quick and easy. The only changes I made was to use leftover rotisserie chicken and yellow bell peppers. When I went to the grocery store the red bell peppers looked very old. I served it with sauteed squash.

SPICY CHICKEN PIZZA

2 tsp cooking oil
12 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
1 medium sweet red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
Nonstick cooking spray
1 10-ounce package refrigerated pizza dough
1/2 cup hot picante sauce
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 400F. In a large nonstick skillet, heat cooking oil. Cook chicken strips in the oil over medium--high heat for about 5 minutes or until no longer pink. Remove from skillet. Add red pepper and onion; cook about 5 minutes, or until tender. Remove from skillet; set aside.

Coat a 15 by 10 by 1 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Unroll pizza dough in pan; press to form a 12 by 8 inch crust. Pinch edges of dough. (I just pressed it out to fit the pan)

Spread crust with picante sauce. Top with chicken and vegetables; sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Bake for 13 to 18 minutes, or until crust is brown and cheese is melted.

Tomatoe Salad

I love summer and tomatoes. They just taste so fresh and so summery! They are a great side to anything and an easy way to get your fruit and veggies in (whether you consider them to be fruit or veggie!!) This is a super easy, super quick recipe. I didn't care for the one with parsley, but Ryan did. I loved the one without!

2 Roma tomatoes, sliced, chopped, and seeded

1/4 White onion, chopped

1 tsp. Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

2 T. Parsley, chopped



Combine tomatoes and onion in a bowl, drizzle on olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Let sit in fridge while you cook the rest of the meal, or for a couple of hours. Serve with French bread to soak up all the juice and oil!

Mushroom Barley

I've fallen in love with barley.... Rice has never been one of my favorite foods, no matter how you cook it. I'll eat it, but it just doesn't do it for me. However, after trying barley a while back, I adore it!! it's a healthy food, whole grains, lots of fiber, no fat....mmmmm. So finding this recipe I had to try it. It was great!

1 T. margarine

1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms

1 (3 1/2-ounce) package shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 cup quick cooking barley

1 (1 ounce) envelope onion soup mix

2 1/2 cups water



Heat margarine in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; saute 5 mintues or until tender.



Combine barley, onion soup mix, water and mushrooms, in a saucepan. Cook over low heat until barley has absorbed all the water.



Garnish with chives, if desired.