A Vegetarian Mexican Experience!!

When my Friend told me about this event, I thought ohh I can come up with something. Had to I love Mexican food, and had to do something. I was talking about it at work, and another friend of mine, Susan, said hmm we should make egg rolls. I thought yes..Mexican Vegetarian Egg rolls. So we made plans to do so. Well, Monday failed, some health issues with her family whom is much more important than my cooking. Which left us with today, Wednesday the day before its due. We actually did 2 events in one, the next will be posted in a few days, when I have some rest lol. Back to my egg rolls.
This event, Hosted at Dk's Culinary Bazaar wanted us to come up with a vegetarian Mexican item. Anything, appetizer, entry..anything. Leaving room for the creativity to flow freely. See me, I could easily be Vegetarian.. I love fruits and vegetables..but the issue is ..well I love meat. But I had no troubles putting that aside to come up with something. And man we had a blast doing so today. I know that an egg roll isn't very authentic, but I liked the idea of twisting something to fit the theme. So we went with it.
Now since they were dabbled the entire time, I don't have an actual recipe.. but I have everything we used, and the cool thing is, you don't need to be exact with them. Its really all a matter of taste for each person. Making them super easy, and open to many variations!! So we made a list and set out to come up with our Mexican Egg rolls. We thought of everything we could that sounded Mexican, flavor wise. And hit our local Walmart.
Our list consists of:

Spinach (I like the green it adds)
Red, Yellow, and Orange Bell peppers, Sliced into thin strips
Cilantro, finely chopped
Can of Black Beans, drained
Can of diced green chilies
Fresh Garlic, minced
Mushrooms,finely chopped
Bag of Shredded Cabbage
Onion, diced
Can diced tomatoes with chili's
1 bag each Lipton Mexican rice, and Spanish rice (we thought it would work for a binder and added flavor) (*Make the rice before you make fillings and start assembling the egg rolls)
Egg roll wrappers
Fresh corn Kernals...(we have hers frozen from her garden!! and of course, frozen or can would work as well, but my gosh her fresh corn was amazing and sweet!!)
Shredded Mexican Blend Cheese

The herbs we used were:
Coriander
Cumin
Ground Chili pepper
Red Pepper Flakes
Salt
Pepper

So, since we played, we actually made 3 different fillings. Using the ingredients to make variations.
For the first one, We put about 1 tbsp vegetable oil in skillet. We heated and then added our Pepper strips, Garlic and onions. We sauted for a few minutes and added the mushrooms, black beans, cabbage. We seasoned this one with the cumin, coriander, green chilis, and cilantro. We put in a good heaping scoop of the Mexican rice and made sure it was heated Through. Put the filling in a bowl to cool slightly. Once room temperature, sprinkle in a small amount of shredded cheese. Fill egg rolls and set aside. Fill a large frying skillet with a good deal of oil. You want it to go about half up the side of the egg roll. Heat until hot, then fry until each side is golden. Place on paper towels to drain and cool slightly. This had the best texture and hold together of the three, flavor was right on too, she preferred this one, I liked the 2nd one's flavor better. Both good =)

For the second filling, we took the peppers, onions, garlic, mushrooms, black beans, cabbage, green chili's, spinach, corn, cumin, coriander, pepper flakes, salt, pepper and cilantro. We left out rice and cheese. Now for this one, we felt that the filling wasn't sturdy enough. It definitely needs a binder, we thought either a rice or maybe even a shredded potato; But flavor wise, it was my favorite just lacking the sturdiness of the binder

And for the 3rd filling.. we took the peppers, garlic, onion, mushrooms, beans, corn, diced tomatoes, green chili's, cilantro, and used Spanish rice. We left out the added herbs to see how they affected the flavor. For both of us, the Spanish rice was too much. With it and the tomatoes that was all you tasted, and leaving out the herbs didn't help. The texture was good, but the flavors needed enhanced.
Obviously you cool the fillings and prepare as listed in the first variation, I just didn't want to take the time to fill that all out again ha-ha! Overall, we were very happy, infact are going to take a huge batch to work tomorrow =). I made a guacamole to go with mine. Fresh avocado, homemade salsa, cilantro, salt and pepper all mixed together.
I hope someone takes them on. They were easy, alot of fun and very tasty. We enjoyed the entire process and definitely the final outcome!!
Thanks for a great fun event!!

I want my..baby back..baby back..baby back ribs!!!

I have nothing against veggies, I love them in fact..But there is just something about hunks of meat, tender juicy meat. I would become a vegetarian easily if it wasn't the fact that I love me some meat ha-ha. And here is the first slab of the season. My husband found that I had 1 slab left in the freezer, and has been waiting peacefully for me to make them. I had to wait for a day off, because for my method it takes a few hours to make them. I must say, one of the best things I got out of school..was the rib day in Meat Cutting class. Our Chef came in with a case of baby backs, and a case of spare ribs and we set out to make a slew of sauces and grill some ribs. There were several different ways we were shown about how to make them. But this is my favorite. Well 1 of them.. there is another, but I have been using this one more.
So, I don't so much have a recipe because I have taken to shaking a little of this and a little of that on them. Usually toward the end, just before grilling I slather them with which ever BBQ sauce I have on hand and get em going. For me grilling them is strictly for flavor, it caramelizes that sauce, gets them a little crispy and a bit of that smokiness from the coals. But tonight, its rainy and I switched it up a bit.

So here is what I do for mine:Preheat oven to 375.
Line a Jelly roll pan with foil. (that just happens to be the one I use.. any sheet pan will work)
Take your slab ( you can fit 2 easily.. maybe 3 depending on the size of your sheet pan. Try not to overlap them though) and place meat side up.
Season with your choice of seasonings. I use on a regular basis...Salt, pepper, pepper flakes, Paprika, a spicy garlic bread rub I have (sounds weird, but its got great flavor..garlic, peppers, herbs.. all the stuff I enjoy haha). Its really up to you, add as much or as little heat as you like.
Take another piece of foil and seal the ribs, make sure the foil covers the entire pan. You want the steam from the juices to stay in with the ribs.

Cook in the center of your oven, for about 2-3 hrs, depending on size and amount of ribs. If your oven runs hot, start checking about the 1.5 hr mark. I take my tongs and lift one side, to see if they start to pull away from the bones. You want that tender falling apart rib. If ..like me.. You plan to grill them, you want to pull them out before they are falling off the bone, or you will loose the rib meat on the grill..and that is simply blasphemy. When they are ready, pull them out and have your grill heated. I use a coal grill, so when I see them getting close, I get it heated. The ribs can sit in their sauce until the grill is ready. You will only use the grill for 15 min maybe 20. You will put your sauced up ribs on the grill to caramelize the sauce, keep them heated and get that great flavor. Watch them so they don't burn, they should be about falling from the bone at this point. The grill will finish that off for you =).

Now tonight, with the rain, I decided to do something different. I did the usual until the end. I took a bit of grape jelly, honey, Teriyaki sauce and pepper flakes. I heated in the microwave for about 20 seconds to get all melted and thinned out. I basted the ribs the last 30 mins of cooking with the foil off. I probably had about 2 tbsp of honey, 4 Tbsp of the jelly and 3-4 shakes of the teriyaki sauce. I do something similar to this with chicken which we love. The out come was the fantastically sticky, finger licken good glaze on the ribs. Tender and oh so tasty!! I paired them with some Lipton Teriyaki noodles and some veggies. It was soo yummy I just had to post about them ;).

Banana Bread Bake off!!

Who Doesn't like Banana bread? I mean I know there are a few out there, but for the most part I think everyone likes that super moist sweet bread often studded with nuts. When I saw the bake off event up hosted by Not Quite Nigella I couldn't pass up the chance to play with some banana bread. The only problem with these events are that my mind gets going with what I can come up with to impress people or to be different. Mostly to be different. I love to play with flavors and take something simple slightly over the top. So what can I do with banana bread? Chocolate of course, but thats a typical thought, or I can do a peanut butter one..but again to me that is pretty typical, mainly because I love Peanut butter and banana's together. Fine lets get a look in the freezer where I keep my stash so its always on hand. What is left?? a ton of peanut butter chips..(how the hell did I end up with 4 bags of those???) and butterscotch chips. (crap not even chocolate chips, I need to get shopping soon ha-ha). Well what about nuts what do I have?? Hazel nuts.. don't use them!! You know that the second you do you will need them so leave those alone. Pecans..and Macacadamia nuts. So I thought what to make? Well caramel and banana's go pretty well, and butterscotch is a caramel flavor. So I decided on doing Butterscotch Macadamia nut Banana bread. I pulled out a few recipes I had to see which I thought would be best and settled on the one to tweak.

Butterscotch Macadamia Nut Banana Bread:

2 1/4 c all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 lrg eggs
1 1/3 c mashed ripe banana
3 tbsp sour cream
3/4 c chopped macadamia nuts
1 1/2 c butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350, Spray a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan with non stick pan spray. (ok I used my largest pan and I will say there was a ton of batter!! If I had them ready I would have divided the batter between 2 pans.)
Into a bowl sift together the flour, the baking powder, the baking soda and the salt. In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream the butter with the sugar, beat in the vanilla, the eggs, 1 at a time, the banana and the sour cream. Add the flour mixture ( I kept about 1/4 of a cup of the flour mixture in the bowl and added the nuts and chips to it, to help them stay up in the batter and not sink), beat the batter until it is just combined, and stir in the nuts and chips. Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake the bread in the middle of the preheated oven for 40-50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool the bread on a rack. Cooled bread can be wrapped well in plastic wrap and foil, chilled for 1 wk or frozen for 1 month.

I put off baking the bread until the 3rd. Kept rethinking and making sure I really liked the idea. I was able to get it made a few hours before work (those lucky lucky people whom get all my treats!). So I got my 3 pics and took it in for the taste test. Mind you I have never made it with this combo before and didn't even taste it myself yet ha-ha. They saw it from a distance. I walked into the hospital and 3 of them waiting for the shift said "YAY what did you bring us????" I said "You will see ". I had to drop some off in our diet office (they demand to be served first lol) and the rest to the kitchen. They jumped on it. I had nothing but "oh my god what is in this bread" It was gone so fast, and I barely got a small piece of this amazingly moist and oh so tasty banana bread. I will tell you that this may be the ONLY recipe I will make from now on, It was awesome. They all wanted the recipe and more banana bread!! Hope you all enjoy it if you make it, it is definitely one of my new favorites =).
Thanks for the chance to create it!!

April Challenge: CheeseCake Popsapalooza!!

This months Challenge comes to us DBer's from Elle of Feeding my Enthusiasms and Deborah of Taste and Tell ,They Gave us CheeseCake Pops. How fun are these??
Of course, I was perplexed. With such an open use of creativity I had no idea what way to go with them. So many ideas were running through my head. What could I coat them in, what could I stuff them with. My gosh the things a person could do with this challenge. Well again, what do I do. Of course it took me most of the month to decide what to do, leaving me with really only 1 day to do it all in. I came home from work, and started the batch at 9pm. Figuring the next day I could scoop and roll.. freeze and then dip. I knew the Hubby wasn't going to eat them (again picky ass he is..) So to work they would go. And I thought, man 1 batch will not be enough for work, and the hell I will get from the people whom didn't get any. So the next day, I made another batch. Thats right, 2 batches. The first already set in the fridge, made exactly as the recipe states. No alterations, I just used vanilla for the base flavor. Since I did that, I figured I would play with the other batch. I divided the batter, 1 pan I added Almond extract, the other I added peppermint oil, and chopped up peppermint patties; And into the oven they went. I have to say, my biggest problem is that I let myself do far too many ideas. I ended spending so very many hours working on these today, my only day off, and I am exhausted!! But I am happy, I think they came out great and am sure work will love them tomorrow.Now, what kind are they you ask? In all I have 7 varieties. I took the first batch, filled 1/4 with pieces of chopped Peanut butter cups then coated them with peanut butter candy coating and bits of those same cups, I took another 1/4 and filled that with chopped up snickers bar coated with milk chocolate candy coating, 1/4 was rolled in Oreo cookie crumbs and drizzled with chocolate candy coating, and the last 1/4 was rolled in simple graham cracker crumbs and drizzled in chocolate. The next batch I took the peppermint pan, rolled it and dipped it in dark chocolate mint candy coating and sprinkled with chopped up peppermint patties, the other pan was divided, 1/2 was rolled plain and dipped in dark chocolate, the last 1/2 I rolled with chopped up Maraschino cherries dipped in dark chocolate then sprinkled with chopped almonds.
There you go, my Cheesecake Popsapalooza..and the name..well I never thought I would get done ha-ha!
With out further ado, the recipe:

Cheesecake Pops

Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature

2 cups sugar

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

5 large eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ cup heavy cream

Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Over all, it really was very simple, very tasty and quite fun to do. Just do not do like me and think you can make 125 cheesecake pops in 1 day, its very hard for 1 person ha-ha!
And work, they loved them!! Recipes all around and raves. What a fantastic Recipe! I loved them!!

My New Timer!!!

With all the Cupcake Hero's I have been doing, I wont deny that I find myself looking for cupcakes everywhere I turn. How can one not look for those cute little confections anywhere they go?? So at work the other day, I went into the gift shop, and what do I see?? Only the MOST adorable kitchen time ever!! And its Green ...my favorite color!! I just had to share it with everyone!!
I know, I know..It looks like an Ice Cream cone.. But I swear .. Packaging says CUPCAKE!! And thats what I say!! ha-ha, I like it anyway!

On a sad note.. I didn't get the Cupcake Hero done this month =(. Not only could I not come up with something worthy of the Ingredient of choice, I simply didn't have the time =(. I just barely got the Challenge done, and that took me all day today ha-ha. But, I still can't wait to see what everyone came up with!!

Cinnamon Chips with Fruit Salsa

Once a month, My weekend has a carry in at work. I always try to bring something interesting and different. This weekend was hard, I usually know right away what I want to make, I could com up with nothing. I thought to do the Challenge..but am still torn on how I want to do it, I could do my Cupcake hero, but I must confess, I have NO idea what to do for that this month. So I went to work, Saturday perplexed trying to figure out what everyone else was going to do on Sunday so that maybe something would come to mind.
What did I find out you ask..that no one else had a clue at what they were going to bring either. Sigh, I can't not bring anything, I always have cool stuff, what the heck am I going to do???
I sat at the desk and started browsing random recipe sites, in hopes for ideas, but man I didn't even know if I wanted to do a dessert or something savory. How could I be at such a loss???
Then I see something that catches my eye...fruit salsa..hmm what is this??
So I look at it, and a couple different ones, and become intrigued. Hmm..I think I may have found it. I tested the chips that were with it, omg, they are soo good!! and decided to take the recipe and kind of make it my own. It was soo good and refreshing, and apparently addicting!!
So I give you,
Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Chips :

For the chips:

Flour tortilla's
Cinnamon
Granulated Sugar
Melted butter

Heat oven to 350. Mix Granulated sugar and Cinnamon to choice of flavor. Take tortilla and brush each side with melted butter, cut into strips or small triangles with a pizza cutter. Dredge each piece into the cinnamon/sugar mixture and place on sheet tray. ( I used a large tray with holes). Bake a single layer for 8-10 min, or until lightly toasted. Put in bowl. Continue with desired amount of tortilla's.
I did mine the day before, they kept, super crispy over night, I brought the left overs home to see how long they will keep crisp! They are so very good, and am considering playing with variations ;)...garlic herb butter and Parmesan cheese is gonna be the next one I think!

For the Salsa:

1 pint Strawberries, Rinsed, and finely chopped
2 fugi apples, peeled, cored, and finely chopped
1/4 of a pineapple, finely chopped
4 kiwi, peeled and finely diced
the zest of half an orange
1 Tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp white sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
couple sprigs of mint, chopped
(I had a half a pineapple, that I just used the other 1/4 for something else)
*I changed the fruit from the recipe that I found, and added the zest & mint. I am sure you can use any mix of fruits and or zest that you like.

Mix all ingredients together and chill over night. Let sit at room temp just before serving. Serve with Cinnamon chips.

See its super easy, and very tasty. I was very pleased!!

Strawberry Blueberry Muffins..

In the mood for Blueberry muffins, I pulled out my mother in laws recipe that I got a few years ago. I got into my stash of frozen blue berries, and found that I only had about 1 cup of them. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups. So I thought hmm what to add, why not Strawberries!! Since I did have some sitting around, they weren't that sweet ripe they should be, but they weren't bad and the flavors of the muffin should sweeten them up =). So I cut up another 1/2 cup of strawberries and put them both in the freezer to wait until I was ready for them. I also added the zest of one Orange to the liquid ingredients, how can you go wrong with good citrus zest ;).
The Recipe is very simple, and oh so tasty, I am thinking any fruit or berry would be quite wonderful in them, and intend on playing with them. Sadly I planned on using this wonderful Cinnamon sprinkle I have from pampered chef on them in place of the sugar..but...I even forgot the sugar!! NOO!!! I ran to the kitchen and the timer beeped..sigh no chance now lol well next time!
SO with out further ado... I give you

Strawberry Blueberry Muffins..

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter milk (or I used 1 tblsp lemon juice and filled the rest with milk to make my own )
2 eggs, beaten
1 stick butter, melted
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries ** ok here is where I did 1 cup berries and 1/2 cup strawberries chopped =) I would say 1 1/2 cups fruit or berries!
zest of 1 orange

Preheat oven to 400, paper 2 12 ct cupcake pans.
Sift dry ingredients together into a large bowl. Make a well, add buttermilk, eggs, butter and zest. Mix well. Fold in berries. Fill muffin papers half full. Top with sugar. Bake at 400 for about 15- 20 min. Mine took 15min so depends on the oven I would say.

See, super easy, and very yummy!!
Enjoy!sigh.. I need to take better pics =( they just don't do these yummy muffins justice lol.