Baked Egg Rolls

I bought wrappers in a hurry yesterday, intending to make potstickers when I got home, without realizing I had grabbed egg roll wrappers instead of won ton wrappers.  I googled to see if I could make potstickers out of the egg roll wrappers.  Conflicting information as to how well it would work to use egg roll wrappers to make potstickers made me decide to make egg rolls instead.  I had already made the filling mixture for potstickers, so the filling is more meat and less veggies than I would have used if I’d planned egg rolls from the start.

1 package Nasoya egg roll wrappers

2 lb. ground turkey

1 large sweet onion, chopped finely

1 package chop salad

2 Tbsp. fresh ginger

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 Tbsp. oil

1 tsp. salt

1tsp. five spice mix

Cook onion in oil until softened.

Sprinkle with salt and five spice.  Add in chop salad.  Cook over low heat until softened.

Place veggies in colander lined with paper towels to drain off excess moisture.

At this point, I added the veggies to the meat and stirred in the ginger and soy sauce for the potsticker filling and refrigerated it.  Then I realized I was going to make egg rolls instead, so I cooked the meat mixture and broke it up and cooked the turkey through.  I drained the meat and refrigerated it to cool enough to make the egg rolls.

I used my mini ice cream scoop and put two scoops on each wrap.  I followed the instructions on the package of how to fold it.  Point down, place filling on center.  Place bottom point up over the filling, then fold in the sides, and roll.  I placed them on a baking sheet brushed with oil.

Spray top of the egg rolls with cooking spray or brush with oil.   Bake at 400F for 15 minutes or until golden.

These were great!  Not as much work as potstickers either.  Daniel said they were like potsticker egg rolls.  Makes sense.

These would be a good way to use up leftovers.  The wraps are flaky and crispy.  I have another package and can’t wait to try another variation!

 

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Sharwood’s Green Thai Curry Sauce

I’m always on the lookout for sauces to try that are somewhat healthy.  I marinated boneless skinless chicken  thighs in Sharwood’s Thai Green Curry Sauce.  We loved it!!

Bake at 350F for 40-45minutes.  Perfect timing to make brown and wild rice in the rice cooker.

 

 

Veggie “Meat”balls with Lemongrass Basil Sauce and Orzo

I originally intended to serve the veggie “meat”balls I made the day Jeannine was over with coconut curry sauce.  Unfortunately (or as it turns out fortunately) I mistook a pouch of lemongrass basil sauce by Saffron Road for a coconut curry sauce by Imagine.  It was delicious!  I had some orzo on hand and a kale and brussel spouts chop salad, and so I cooked a veggie and orzo risotto type thing inspired by a recipe I saw Chef Jean-Pierre prepare with barley the night Lein, Molly, and I went to his cooking school dinner show.  This one’s a keeper.   Proof that good ingredients and an open mind can lead to phenomenal results!

I baked the veggie “meat”ball mixture I made for 400 F for 20 minutes.  I used an ice cream scoop to make them all the same size.  When I rolled them, I put olive oil in my hands, so they were coated in a thin coating of olive oil.

They came out nice and golden.

I put a thin layer of the lemongrass basil sauce in a 13 x 9 baking dish and placed the “meat”balls in it.  I spooned the rest of the sauce over them, and baked them at 350F.

Meanwhile, I cooked a Taylor Farms kale chop salad mix that had brussel sprouts in it over low heat, and boiled the orzo with ginger, garlic, and salt in the water.   I seasoned the veggies with 2 tsp. garam masala.  and when the orzo was done and the veggies were softened, I added 2 Tbsp. butter, a splash of red wine, and tossed in the orzo and a can of cannelini beans and heated it through and let it thicken a little.  I didn’t measure anything, but tasted as I went along.

This was far and away everyone’s favorite vegetarian meal to date!

 

 

 

Veggie Burgers With Jeannine!

What’s even more fun that cooking?  Cooking with friends!!  Jeannine came over today for a to make veggie burgers.  We shared ingredients.  We shared thoughts on future variations.  We chopped.  We seasoned.  We ground.  It was fun!

I cooked up some brown rice with wild rice mixture.  I seasoned it with garlic and salt while it cooked in the rice cooker.

I gathered the ingredients, condiments, and seasonings, so it was all laid out.

Jeannine did the same.

It all gets combined in a big container.

 

It then gets run through a meat grinder to make it the right consistency to make into burgers and meatballs.  I taste some of the rice to make sure it’s seasoned well enough.  If it tastes good raw, it will taste amazing cooked!

Amazing how much it looks like meat, right?

I put this in the fridge until tomorrow, when I make the burgers and meatballs.  I use an ice cream scoop for uniformity of size.  It keeps up to a week with no problem.

As usual, I did a double batch.  This makes 8 burgers and approximately 16-18 meatballs.

6 c. oatmeal

3-4 c. cooked rice

1 large can black beans, drained and rinsed.

1 c. matchstick carrots

1 c. cubed cooked beets

1/2 c. riced cauliflower

2 Tbsp. balsamic glaze

2 Tbsp. balsamic vinaigrette dressing

1 Tbsp. spicy mustard

1 Tbsp. coriander lime seasoning

1 Tbsp. sriracha

Combine all ingredients.  Taste the mixture to see if the seasoning is sufficient (I tend to underseason).

Run through the meat grinder, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Form into burgers or meatballs at least 8 hours before use.

I store them in the fridge on a baking sheet sprayed with coconut oil, covered with plastic wrap until use.

Bake at 400F for 15-25 minutes.  I brush the tops with oil to make them get a little more golden.

I bake the meatballs ahead too, at the same time I’m cooking the burgers, and then the night we are having them, re-bake them in a sauce.

 

 

 

 

Matilda Cake!

Tonight is Girl’s Wine Club night.  Olivia and her boys and Tricia are coming over.  Molly and Lein made a Matilda cake.  Apropos since Olivia’s boys serial watch Matilda!

Yum!

I had to update this post to share this pic of the Matilda cake once it was cut!

Key Lime, Rosemary and Balsamic Glazed Mahi Mahi

I bought some fresh Mahi Mahi yesterday and brought it home and marinated it in Gourmet Warehouse Key Lime marinade, to which I added some lime zest and balsamic glaze.  I only used about half the bottle.  The other half is marinating some boneless chicken breasts for another night.  The sauteed Swiss chard, carrot, with Cannelini and Zatarain’s Cilantro Lime Rice mixed with brown and wild rice were the perfect accompaniments.

Put the fish in the marinade as soon as you bring it home.  Start the rice about 40 minutes before you want to eat.

For the rice:

1 box Zatarain’s Cilantro Lime Rice

1 C. brown rice

1/2 C. wild rice mixture

5 C. Water

2 Tbsp. butter

Place ingredients in rice cooker and cook.

For the fish:

1 – 1 1/2 lb. Mahi Mahi filet, skin removed

1/2 bottle Gourmet Warehouse Key Lime marinade

Drizzle balsamic glaze

Marinade fish at least 30 minutes.    Bake at  350F for 20-25 minutes depending on thickness.  So ideally, this gets put in the oven about 15 minutes in to the rice cooking.

As soon as you put the fish in, start your veggies.

For the sauteed veggies:

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 pouch frozen Swiss Chard (I used Cascadian Farms brand)

1 pouch frozen multicolor carrots (I used Cascadian Farms brand)

1 can low sodium Cannelini beans, drained

Saute frozen carrots over low to medium low heat, till thawed and beginning to cook, about 10 minutes.  Add in chard and cook another 5 minutes  Add in beans and stir.  Heat through about 5 minutes.

 

 

Molly and Lein’s Danish Treats!

So, this is what happens when you have a daughter (and surrogate daughter) who are bakers!  A little puff pastry in the freezer, some Tofutti cream cheese and sugar, some peanut butter and organic jam, and viola – danish!  Thank you Molly and Lein!!

 

 

 

 

Yellow Green Farmers Market in Hollywood, Florida

What took me so long to go check out Yellow Green Farmers Market in Hollywood, Florida?  I’d heard great things from everyone who went there.  Again, Molly and Lein being here made it a good excuse for checking it out!  So glad we did.  What a great place.

We saw a friend at her Donut Worry Eat Happy booth with those amazing injected donuts!  Beyond amazing, actually.  Kit kat, oreo, s’mores, etc.  Yummmmmmmm.

There were so many amazing booths, great food, fun stuff to see!

I bought plants too.

I can obviously only go there if I’m prepared to spend money!

 

 

 

 

 

General Tso Veggie “Meatballs”

I again made a batch of veggie burgers and veggie meatballs in anticipation of Molly and Lein coming for a visit.  We had the meatballs in General Tso sauce over vegetable fried rice/quinoa.  Adding kimchi and/or banh mi veggies on top gave it a nice crunchy fresh texture.

The veggie burgers and meatballs are quite a bit of work, I’ll admit, but well worth the effort!  This is a double recipe to make two night’s meals of either burgers or meatballs.  I more or less doubled the original recipe I found.  The variations are endless, but basically, I use a grain (rice or rice mixture), oatmeal, beans, beets, celery, carrots, mushrooms, onion, and then a liquid, like the balsamic glaze and vinaigrette last time.  This time, I had some beet chutney on hand, and that served as the liquid.  This is the variation I tried this time.  Remember – this is a big batch – enough for 2 meals.

Something interesting I learned at Chef Jean-Pierre’s cooking school.  He asked “how do you know what size to dice something if the recipe doesn’t specify?”  The answer – it depends on how long your cooking time is.  The longer it will cook, the larger the pieces so they don’t disintegrate.  Which makes perfect sense.  The veggies in this recipe are going through a meat grinder.  I used a medium dice on the onion and celery.

6 cups cooked brown rice/wild rice mixture (I can’t wait to try other grains!)
1 cup packed oatmeal
1 can black beans (I will soon be trying this with Cannilini)
4 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 cups diced onions
1 small can cubed beets
1 cup julienned carrots
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup button mushrooms cut in 1/4 -inch slices
1 tablespoon garlic
1 small jar beet chutney  (The original recipe called for sweet soy sauce)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1. Drain and wash beans. Drain beets. Place all ingredients in large plastic mixing bowl and mix well.
2. Run ingredients through a meat grinder. Refrigerate mixture for 1 hour.
3. Portion into patties or balls, shaping them how you will be baking them on a baking sheet lined with foil and brushed with olive oil in the fridge and refrigerate at least overnight. I used my standard ice cream scoop.  (I’ve kept them up to 5 days and they were still delicious).  This keeps the burgers from falling apart. (Patties must never get above 40 F or they will fall apart.)  If you don’t have an extra fridge like I do, you might want to put them in a tupperware with waxed paper between layers.

Bake in 400F oven 40 minutes for the burgers, 25 for the meatballs, if you are going to bake them a second time with a sauce, like I do.

I used a bottled sauce (Fusia brand), which was surprisingly low in sodium and  delicious.

After the meatballs are baked, I placed a little of the sauce in the bottom of a 13 x 9 baking dish sprayed with coconut oil, and then topped them with the rest of the sauce.  I then baked them for another 15 minutes

The fried rice was actually rice cooked in a rice cooker that I tossed with some stir fried broccoli slaw.  No egg this time.

 

Fort Lauderdale’s Own Chef Jean-Pierre – Dinner and a Show!

 

Molly (the Baker) and Lein are in town for a visit, so it was the perfect excuse to go to Chef Jean-Pierre’s!  The only night during their visit that had any seats available was Chicken night, so boy did we eat some delicious chicken.  By far our favorite was the Crispy Tarragon & Garlic Chicken, which I’m going to try to recreate this weekend.  The sauce was amazing, but was made with heavy cream, so I’ll be trying a non-dairy version so Donnie can eat it.

For those of you who’ve never been, a local legendary chef named Jean-Pierre Brehier has a wonderful “Cooking School” in Fort Lauderdale.  Before going there the first time, I imagined making the food myself.  Fortunately, it is more like being in the audience of a cooking show and having the chef cook amazing food for you, and teach you how it’s done and give you the recipes.  All the while, Jean-Pierre entertains with a wicked, funny way that seems to come naturally to him.  Jean-Pierre, who operated a restaurant in Fort Lauderdale called The Left Bank for 22 years was on two PBS cooking shows,  Sunshine Cuisine and Incredible Cuisine.  As for his “Cooking School”, all I can say is –  Great entertainment!  Great food!  You can’t go wrong.  I love bringing out of town guests there.    The link for his webpage is http://www.chefjeanpierre.com/

We also had some amazing Chicken and Chorizo Cassoulet

And Harissa Braised Chicken with Nicoise Olives with Silky Smooth Buttered Mashed Potatoes

Once I try nightshade versions of these two recipes, I’ll let you know how it works out!  I’m also going to try the mashed potatoes using an almond milk.  He ran cooked potatoes through a ricer and it made the mashed potatoes incredibly smooth and light.

I found this picture on TripAdvisor.  The reviews there give you an idea of why he has 5 stars (Yelp too).  Such a fun evening.  You bring your own beverages such as wine, or drink the bottled water they serve.