Southwestern Eggrolls

Remember the Pizza Sticks  I talked about a couple days ago?  And I told you that I’d share another filling that would be fab-o done the same way?  Well, here it is.  Southwestern Eggrolls.  I could’ve called them Southwestern Sticks I guess…but that just sounded funny to me, so I went with eggrolls instead. 

Here’s the filling I came up with for this version.  It’s basically just some things I threw together, nothing real precise.  It could easily be one of those clean-out-the-fridge type meals.

1/2 pound ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onions

1/2 cup corn

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained well

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

Approx. 1/2 cup salsa or taco sauce

Just cook your beef  until it is browned and onions are soft.  Place it in a bowl and add the black beans…

and add onions, corn and cheese.  Although, next time I think I’ll cook the onions with the ground beef so they’ll lose their crunch.

Add the spiced and stir together.  Add just enough salsa or taco sauce to hold the mixture together.  You don’t want it to be too wet, or the sauce will ooze out during baking.

Roll up into egg roll wrappers just like for the pizza sticks. Place on a baking sheet.

Spray with cooking spray and bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

And that, my cooking friends, is a Southwestern Eggroll!  Easy and delicious.  Like the Pizza Sticks, these can be served as a main dish, or as an appetizer. 

 

Happy Cookin’!

Pizza Sticks

I made it!  I promised I’d add a recipe on Friday and it’s still Friday…for a couple hours anyway! 

So, today I’m sharing a fun kid-friendly recipe that is super simple to throw together.  You know those rectangular shaped pizza snacks that you get in the freezer section?  Well, it’s like that…only tubular and they taste much better! 

All you need is your favorite pizza fixin’s – pizza sauce, pepperoni, mozarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and anything else that tickles your fancy (cooked ground beef, onions, peppers, mushrooms, etc) and some egg roll wrappers.  That’s it! 

Here’s how it goes down.  First, you chop up any large pieces of stuff like the pepperoni, veggies, etc (I just used pepperoni this time)…

And shred your cheese, if it’s not shredded already (I actually julienned some swiss cheese slices because that’s what I had on hand, and it tasted great!)  Throw it all together in a bowl, along with any other toppings you wish to include…

Then I decided to throw in some leftover ground beef I had in the freezer (Thawed first) and some chopped garlic.  It’s not rocket science here…if it sounds good, throw it in!

Now stir in just enough pizza sauce to make the mixture just  hold together…

You don’t want it soupy…just barely moist enough to hold together.

Now, get out your egg roll wrappers and lay one down with a corner pointing toward you, like this…

Then, place a line of filling, oh about 2-3 tablespoons, about two inches up from the bottom corner, like so…

Then, fold the bottom corner up over filling and start rolling up…

Now, fold in the side corners…

Now, moisten the top corner with a little water…

And finish rolling it up…

Place seamside down on a baking sheet.  I lined mine with parchment paper.  Why?  Because I’m lazy and I didn’t want to wash another pan!  Seriously.  Continue with the rest of the egg roll wrappers and filling.  Then, spray the tops of the rolls with cooking spray and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  Yes…I use the stuff in the green can.  I’m not a parmesan cheese snob.  I mean, yeah, the real stuff is much better…but when it’s going in pizza sticks for kids?  I’m not wasting my money.  My kids like canned stinky cheese.  Actually, they love it…I think we go through a can a week or something.  Wait…I’m rambling on about stinky cheese, aren’t I?  Back to our regularly scheduled program.  Bake those sticks at 425 for about 15-20 minutes or until they’re a light golden brown.

 

That’s it, people.  Homemade pizza snacks.  They’re healthier.  They’re bigger.  They’re yummier.  And, let’s face it…they’re cuter.  Just look at them all lined up like the Rockettes…

You can’t tell me you’d rather eat a regtangular frozen piece of who knows what?

Up next…same type of a roll-up but another filling for a whole different flavor!

Taco Pasta

The other night I had thawed out and starting cooking some ground beef to make tacos.  I didn’t check to make sure we had everything we needed for tacos because, well, we always have what we need for tacos.  Always.  Except that night.  I opened the fridge to grab the tortillas and…um…hello??  Where are my tortillas?  I could have sworn that we had some, but no.  No tortillas.  Dug through the cabinets and found no hard taco shells either.  I was really in the mood for something of the mexican persuasion, so I was really bummed and agrivated.  And I had already started cooking the ground beef, so I had to do something with it.  And at that time, my friends, Taco Pasta was born.  I just made it up on the fly, and it turned out really good.  My husband says it was too much like “Hamburger Helper” for him, but he’s just weird, so I told him to bite me.  The kids and I thought it was great. 

So, to make this quick and easy Taco Pasta, you simple brown a pound of ground beef in a pan, throw in a can of black beans (rinsed and drained well), some tex-mex seasoning (I make my own – recipe below – but you can also use packaged taco seasoning), a little lime juice and some salsa – I just added until it looked moist enough.  If you didn’t have salsa, you could just add some choped onions, peppers, garlic and cook it along with the ground beef, then add some canned tomatoes.  That would work perfectly fine too, I’m sure. 

Then,  just boil some pasta until it’s al-dente (which means:  until  it’s done but still has a little bit of a ‘bite’ to it…it shouldn’t be total mush…mushy pasta…eww.)

Add the pasta to the meat mixture…

Then add a couple handfuls of shredded cheese…

Just cook through until the cheese melts and spoon it into serving bowls and top with a little more shredded cheese and some diced tomato.  (If we’d had an avocado, I’d have diced that up and put on top too.  But alas…no avocados in the house either)…

 

Like I said, the kids and I really like this and I thought it was a great quick-fix meal.  I may even try it using spanish rice instead of the pasta sometime…and maybe that would appease my Hamburger Helper-fearing husband.  He’s weird.  Did I mention that already?   And you could also do this with chicken instead of beef.

 

And here’s how I make my own Tex-Mex Seasoning.  You can adjust these spices to your tastes…

Combine the following in an airtight container:

2-1/2 tbsp chili powder

1-1/2 tbsp paprika

2 tbsp cumin

2 tsp oregano

1 tbsp garlic powder

1-1/2 tbsp onion powder

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (omit or use less if you like it mild, use more if you like it hot)

1 tsp salt

For one pound of ground beef, I use about 2 tablespoons or so of this seasoning.

 

If you have certain recipes or types of things you’d like to see here on my blog, please let me know…I’m always willing to experiment!

Quick Quesadillas – Choose your flavor!

Quesadillas are a great way to use up leftovers you find in the fridge.  Meat, vegetables, and cheese!  They’re so easy to throw to together too, that they make a perfect quick meal.  And you could even take them on the go!

Here’s how to make a simple quesadilla.

Put a little oil in a hot pan and place one tortilla in.

Now, add your fillings – cheese first, then any other items such as meat and veggies, then another bit of cheese.  The cheese on the top and bottom helps everything to hold together when you flip the quesadilla.  Cook until browned on the bottom.  On this quesadilla I used cheese and some leftover steak that I just cut into bite size pieces. 

Add a tortilla on top.  Before you flip, drizzle a little oil on the top tortilla.  Now flip and cook until browned on the bottom again. 

Remove from pan and cut into wedges.  Keep warm in 200 degree oven while you cook the rest of your quesadillas.

I also did potato quesadillas this day.  Just mix leftover baked potato (just the flesh, not the skin) and cheese and layer between two tortillas.

 

If you have leftover veggies such as peppers, onions, etc, throw those in the mix too! 

So next time you are cleaning out your fridge…make quesadillas for dinner!  They are a family favorite around here.

Tomorrow I’ll show you a great side dish to go with those quesadillas!