Tofu Egg Rolls

It's Monday again, and that means I completed another goal towards my 52 week challenge over the weekend. This week it was tofu and I really struggled with whether I was even going to do it since I loathe tofu. I've had it on several occasions out at restaurants and have never liked it. It's spongy, the consistency is weird, and it doesn't really taste like anything.

In the spirit of the challenge, I decided to do it anyway. Hence, something sort of safe, tofu egg rolls.

Last week while visiting some of my favorite blogs, I came across this recipe for chicken egg rolls. I figured tofu could be easily substituted, so that's what I did - but I also made half of them with chicken in case the tofu ones were totally gross. My husband had one of each and he said he liked the tofu ones better - go figure!

Tofu Egg Rolls
adapted from Elly Says Opa!

Ingredients
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided
1 package of extra firm tofu
4 scallions, sliced, white and green parts divided
2 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce, divided
4 cups coleslaw mix
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4″ knob of ginger, peeled and grated
2 cups fresh bean sprouts
1 package egg roll wrappers (the package I picked up contained 15 wrappers and was perfect for this recipe)
1 Tbsp. cornstarch, mixed with 3 tbsp cold water
cooking spray

Directions
Before starting, your tofu will need to be drained. Do this by setting on a plate with a paper towel underneath and on top of the tofu block. Place a heavy pan on top of the paper towel and press down. I let my sit like that for about a half hour before I used it and it seemed to work out okay.

Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in wok or large pan over high heat for 2 minutes. Add tofu to the wok; cook about 2-3 minutes, breaking up as  you cook, before adding 1 Tbsp. of the soy sauce and the scallion whites. Continue to cook until chicken is browned and nearly cooked through, about 2-3 more minutes. Remove chicken to a plate and set aside to cool.

To the same pan, add the remaining 1 Tbsp. of vegetable oil. Stir in the coleslaw mix, garlic, ginger, and remaining Tbsp. of soy sauce. Use tongs to “toss” the vegetables. Cook, over high heat, for about 2 minutes or, until cabbage begins to wilt. Toss in the bean sprouts and scallion greens, and cook for about 1 minute more. Remove from the heat.

Combine the tofu and vegetables, mixing well. Place a colander in your sink, or over a large bowl. Add the egg roll mixture to the colander. Using several layers of paper towels, press down firmly on the egg roll filling, pressing out as much moisture as possible. Repeat process several times. Let filling cool before rolling into wrappers. (Make sure you don't skip this step - otherwise your egg rolls will end up soggy.)

Here's what the mixture looks like after it's drained.

Preheat the oven to 425.  Wrap the rolls according to the package directions, dipping your finger in the cornstarch/water mixture and then using it to seal the roll. Place the rolls on a baking sheet, spray with cooking oil. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

These egg rolls turned out fantastic. Since it's only me and my husband, I froze the ones we didn't eat so that we'll have something quick to eat in the future if dinner plans go awry. 

Jjinmandu: Korean Steamed Dumplings (and I'm Baaaaack!)

To everyone who is still following this blog after a long two year hiatus, thanks for sticking by me (or not cleaning out your blog reader of choice)! Anyway, I've decided to make 2013 the year of getting back to the things I love, and cooking is one of them.

While I was away, I had a beautiful baby girl named Norah. She kept me very busy over the last year, but that's a take for another blog. If you're interested please visit, Playing Peekaboo for updates.


Anyway, I figured I'd kick off the new year with a challenge of sorts, and one of my favorite places on the internet, reddit, had just the thing for me. A group of people there are doing a 52 week challenge where they cook according to a theme each week. If you'd like to join in on the fun, here is a link to the official 2013 list.

All the veggies ready to be mixed.

Since I found this a little late, my challenge will only be for 50 weeks, starting off with a Korean dish. I'm not a huge fan of kimchi, so I knew this would be tough. I do love dumplings, though, and it turns out the Koreans have their own version called Jjinmandu.


Here is a link to the original recipe. As I mentioned above, since I don't like kimchi, so I substituted napa cabbage (something I've never had before).

Beef, veggies and spices mixed.

Ingredients
4 packs 1 pack wonton skins (rounds) square
1 lb ground beef
1 cup kimchi napa cabbage
1 bunch bu chu (Korean chives)
½ onion, finely chopped
3 green onions, finely chopped
3 tbsp cloves minced garlic
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt 
2 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp juice of ginger 
1 egg, beaten (to seal wonton skin)

Directions
Combine all except egg and wonton skins. Mix well with hands. Brush the ends of each wonton skin with beaten egg and add about a half tablespoon of beef mixture on top. Fold wonton over and press ends to seal. Submerge in boiling water for about 2-3 minutes. 

Wonton Jacuzzi!

Notes
Just a few notes on this one:

1. Don't add too many wontons to the pot at once or they will start sticking to one another and break.
2. When setting them out to dry, lay them flat and do not pile them on top of one another. As they dry, they get very sticky and end up forming one giant mass of wonton. (Yes, this happened to me.)
3. Side note: The won ton wraps were made by a company called "melissa's" so I just had to get them!

Has anyone else made wontons? How did you get them not to stick? If not, are you participating in any challenges? Link them up in the comments. I'd love to see what you're cooking!

Eggplant Dip for I Heart Cooking Clubs

Awhile back, I participated in a blog roundup called Tyler Florence Fridays. Well, that roundup sadly came to an end a few months ago. Lucky for me, the people who ran that blog have started up something new called I Heart Cooking Clubs. All the recipes submitted are by a certain chef, just how Tyler Florence Fridays worked, only the chef on I Heart Cooking Clubs changes every few months.

In April, they are featuring the recipes of Mark Bittman. When I first read who the chef was, I though, who the heck is that?. Then when I was searching for recipes, I realized I actually followed his NY Times blog Bitten. Duh, Melissa. An interesting thing about Mark Bittman is that he's never had any formal training, he's never worked at a restaurant. So I guess that means there is hope for all of us cooking enthusiasts yet. Read more about Mark and his philosophy on eating simple here.

If you know anything about Mark Bittman, you'll know he's all about simple and easy. He frequently posts "101" lists on his blog, which go through 101 ways to make something quick. Some of these lists include, 101 salads, 101 make-aheads, etc. I got the recipe below from "101 20-minute dishes for Inspired PIcnics"

This is a departure from my normal recipe post because the recipe is so simple. It doesn't even require an ingredient list.

Eggplant Hummus Dip
from Mark Bittman's 101 20-minute dishes for inspired picnics , #22

Cook whole unpeeled eggplant in a dry, hot skillet, turning occasionally, until collapsed and soft. (Or grill, or roast, or hold with a fork over an open flame.) While it’s cooling, whisk together tahini, lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic and parsley in a bowl. Chop the eggplant flesh (leave the peel behind) and roughly mash in the bowl. Add red pepper flakes if you like. Serve with pita



Chef's Notes:
Yup, that's the whole recipe. You thought I was kidding when I said he was a simple cook, didn't you? Since there aren't any measurements, I'll list the amounts I used:

1 large eggplant
1/4 c. hummus (my grocery store was out of plain old tahini)
1 tablespoon of lemon juice - but I ended up squirting in a little bit more after I tasted it
three shakes of salt and pepper
1 clove garlic (if I was just using tahini, I probably would have used 2, but hummus already has garlic in it.)
I'm not sure of the amount of parsley, but after it was chopped, it was about a palmful
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

This is for the potluck roundup on I Heart Cooking Clubs, so I guess it's appropriate that I'm taking it to a BBQ tonight. I'm excited to see what everyone thinks!

Home made French Fries

I served these french fries with the Black Bean burgers in the previous post. They came out pretty good, and even tasted okay the next night when we reheated them in the microwave.

Home-made French Fries

Ingredients

2 baking potatoes
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt (you could probably add more salt if you wanted, but I like my fries more on the spicy side than the salty side)
olive oil cooking spray

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400.

Peel and slice the potatoes into wedges. Once sliced, place the wedges into a large mixing bowl and coat with 2 or three sprays of cooking spray. Add the spices above and toss to coat the fries.

Spread the seasoned fries out on a non-stick baking sheet. Place in oven and bake until golden brown - about 15 minutes.

Corn Chips

I discovered something when we made fajitas last week. I despise corn tortillas. The texture must be an aquired taste. In any case, the next time we make anything that requires tortillas I will stick with the flour ones.

In my haste, I purchased a pack of 30 corn tortillas, so now what could I do? When life gives you lousy tortillas, make chips! I did some perusing online and after looking at several recipes on how to make corn chips, I decided on a hybrid blend of all of them.



Crispy Corn Chips
A mish-mash of about 12 different recipes

Ingredients
10 corn tortillas
1/8 cup olive oil
about 1/8 teaspoon each of:
black pepper
cayenne pepper
salt
garlic powder
onion powder

Directions
Pour olive oil into a small measuring cup. I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup I had in the kitchen, but any will do. Add spices to the cup and mix.

Cut the corn tortillas into eights using a pizza cutter. Spread as many as can fit onto a non-stick baking sheet. Using a pastry brush, brush each triangle with the olive oil/spice mixture.

Bake for 10 minutes at 350, rotating the baking sheet after 5 minutes. Let cool and serve with salsa or guacamole.

Honey BBQ Chicken Wings

Last Sunday, the Eagles played the Cardinals for a chance to go to Superbowl XLIII. As my husband and I watched the game, we enjoyed some appetizers. One was the ever easy "chips and salsa", requiring only a drive to the grocery store. I also made us a batch of wings. Since I don't really like hot sauce, hot wings are very low on my "to eat" list. I found a recipe for honey BBQ wings on recipezaar and decided these were the wings I would make.

Honey BBQ Chicken Wings
adapted from recipezaar.com (additions in italics)

Ingredients

For the wings:
18 chicken wings
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne


1 teaspoon McCormick Grillmates chicken rub
cooking spray parchment paper

For the Sauce:
1 cup barbecue sauce, preferably Hickory Smoke Flavor
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons hot sauce
4 tablespoons butter smart balance butter spread
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder


Directions

Wash, dry, and season the wings with the salt, garlic, pepper, cayenne, sugar, and paprika. Preheat the oven to 375.



Spray a cookie sheet with a generous spray of cooking spray. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Place the wings in a single layer on the cookie sheet, and place in the oven.

Cook for 35-40 minutes, depending on the size of the wings, turning once.

While they are baking, make the sauce by slowly simmering the sauce ingredients over the lowest heat.



When the wings are done baking, carefully dip them in the sauce, and place them back in the oven for another 5 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling.



Review

There were really great. As always, wings are a bit messy, but they were totally worth it. Even though the game was a bust (maybe next year, Eagles?) the wings were a hit. We've been invited to a Superbowl party next weekend, and I think I might bring these.

New Year's Eve

One of our close friends purchased a house this year, and after a couple months of fixing it up, it was finally ready for its debut on New Year's Eve. The party was a pot luck of sorts, and I was volunteered by the hostess to bring the following items:

Black Bean Hummus
Asparagus Roll Ups
A Dessert of my choosing - I chose Cappuccino Cakes out of my new Chocolate cookbook.

You can view the hummus recipe in an earlier post here. Check out my next post for the Cappuccino Cakes.

Asparagus Roll Ups

A couple months ago, I was looking for a really simple appetizer recipe that I could whip up in a couple minutes to take to a bridal shower. The bridesmaids, me included, decided we could cut costs a little bit if we all made one appetizer and one dessert. Since it was for about 60 people, you might understand why I wanted something relatively easy. These roll ups fit the bill perfectly.

Ingredients

One can of Pillsbury breadsticks
24 asparagus stalks
ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese, shredded

Directions



Open the can of breadsticks and cut each in half (so you end up with 24 pieces of dough, instead of 12).



Snap the white part of the asparagus off of the stalks and twist a piece of dough around each of the 24.

Sprinkle with black pepper and Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 375 F for about 12 minutes, or until breadsticks start to turn golden brown.

Black Bean Hummus

Now that the Phillies are in the World Series, the husband and I need something to snack on while we are watching.  Cue my favorite dip: black bean hummus. I make this all the time, and I have a friend that requests I make it whenever we get together, so I guess you can call it my signature appetizer. 

I already posted this recipe as one of my first blog posts, but I thought I'd add another, so you can see what it looks like when it's done.