Garbage Wontons

I promise I don't have this weird obsession with wonton wrappers (that would be garlic). It's just that when I buy wrappers to make something I never use the whole package. I always find myself with leftovers and not wanting to waste good food... so I just went with it. 

I call these Garbage Wontons because literally... this entire meal was made out of whatever was in my fridge. Leftovers, for the most part, of ingredients from other meals. Waste not, want not, right?

These are a bit tedious to make (about 20 minutes to make 15), so be prepared to spend a bit in the kitchen.

Ingredients

1/2 pound hot italian sausage

1/2 cup part skim ricotta

1/4 cup part skim mozzarella

Basil

Wonton Wrappers

Small bowl with a little bit of water (sealer for wontons)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Lay out your wonton and top with a generous tablespoon of sausage, a dab of ricotta, a pinch of mozzarella and a few strips of basil. Bet you just love the accuracy of this one, eh?

After you top your wonton, dip a finger lightly in your bowl of water. Put a layer of water around the edging of your wonton and bring all the corners to the top. Press the "seams" together hard enough so that stick. It took a few tries for me to get this just right, and I was worried that they would all pop open in the oven, but they didn't!

Other recipes that I've worked with say to bake wontons for 20 minutes or longer. I baked this set for about 15 minutes keeping a watchful eye on the edging. Once those "seams" were a crisp golden brown I took them out and boy, did they look tasty.

The salad that I made with this was also with leftovers from other meals. I threw together some spinach, my leftover chopped basil, some chopped red pepper and my part skim mozzarella. Before I topped the spinach I tossed some dressing on. Now, I loooooooooooove Ken's Honey Balsamic, but this would probably be pretty tasty with Italian dressing as well. The basil packed this salad with flavor, and I was pleasantly suprised at how filling the meal was.

Enjoy! I'd be interested on alterations you make.

Cheesy Chicken Meatballs

This recipe is from my Recipes page, but I made it the other night so I thought I would share anyway.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground chicken

1 slice bread, about 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

¼ cup milk

1 small onion, minced or grated

1 Tablespoon sour cream

1 egg

3/4 – 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

¼ cup mayonnaise

¾ cup mozzarella cheese

¼ cup parmesan cheese

I've only used this recipe as written by Olga's Flavor Factory, so I couldn't tell you if premade breadcrumbs would work just as well. Toast your slice of bread before shredding it to breadcrumbs. The original recipe calls for a food processor, but, I put mine in a bowl and used a large spoon and my hands to mash my slice. Note - The mixture for the meatballs is very, very, moist. No, you didn't do something wrong, it's just the ingredients. It's a bit sticky rolling them into bite sized portions, but well worth it.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix everything but the cheese and mayonnaise in a bowl. Once everything is combined, roll out bit sized meatballs onto a "buttered" pan or tin foil. 

Put your mayonnaise in a small ziplock bag and seal. Cut a tiny (and I mean tiny) hole in one corner of your bag. Top each meatball with a thin layer of the mayo. You could get artistic if you wanted to, but since the cheese will cover it and melt, it's not necessary. After that, top with cheese. 

Stick your meatballs in the oven and bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes. I usually do about 18. Just long enough that the cheese gets golden brown (like below) without melting off. Your meatballs will still be moist and the mayonnaise gives it a tangy taste (even when you use lowfat/nonfat).

You could serve with a salad or pasta. I've made it both ways... I've even put this on a grinder roll with some spaghetti sauce. The combinations are endless. 

*Chef's note - I'm finding the more I cook the better I'm getting at using the tools necessary. When you mince an onion, use a large knife. It sounds backwards but its much easier to cut smaller portions when your knife isn't sliding all over what you're attempting to slice. 

Enjoy!

Coming Up... Girls Night In

Every month or so the girls get together for the usual food, wine, sarcasm and bad movies. We haven't done it in quite some time but I'm pulling up some new ideas for snacks. So, coming next week...

Avocado Mousse Dip

Roasted Garlic and Sun Dried Tomato Cheese Spread

Carrot and Zucchini Bars with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

I'm thinking some Queso Fundido and/or a dessert too. Can you tell I obsess over the smallest get togethers?

I think we're going to give Sutter Home's Girl's Night In cocktail a try too!

I love Girl's Night.

Just Another Spicy Sunday

Note to self - when creating a recipe... WRITE IT DOWN!

I was finding myself inspired after a weekend of cooking saucy dishes so I decided to expirement with what I had in the fridge. Below is what I used and how I made this super simple, flavor packed dish. 

Cilantro Lime Chicken Wonton Tacos

Ingredients

Wonton wrappers

1 pound of Chicken

Cilantro

Taco Seasoning

1 Lime

Colby Jack Cheese

Avocado

Scallions

Sour Cream

Directions

This was probably the hardest part of the recipe, haha. Spray both sides of a deep baking dish with cooking spray. Gently (really gently) lay the wonton wrappers over the edge and bake in the oven at about 400 degrees until they are just crispy enough to hold their shape. 

Making shredded chicken is super easy. Put all of your raw chicken into a pot with water, and boil for about 20 minutes until cooked through and easily shredded with a fork.

Toss the chicken into the pan with taco seasoning, the juice of one whole lime and about 1/4 cup of chopped, fresh cilantro.

Cook to your liking. Since the chicken has already been boiled, essentially, it's already done. I like to saute my chicken with whatever juices I throw in there to really get some flavor.

Once your chicken is cooked and your wonton wrappers are shaped and crispy, fill each wrapper with your cheese, chicken, avocado and top with scallions. I put some sour cream and taco sauce on the side, but it was completely unnecessary since the chicken itself was spicy and packed with lime flavor.

Simple. Pretty. Delicious.

Enjoy!

Favorite sites...

What are yours?

Just to name a few of mine... 

http://knockoffdecor.com/

http://thefauxmartha.com/

http://thepioneerwoman.com/

Fabulous Website

So I was perusing today for various things in various places, and I stumbled across this website. 

www.foodsnots.com

This is just, awesome. I love the site. It's spunky, fun the name totally cracks me up and you should check it out!

Crabby Crab Cakes

I really dig this recipe. I'm not a big seafood person, but this blog, and my love for cooking has forced me to branch out and try new things. A few notes, I love lime, so I put tons of extra lime juice in the crab cakes and sauce. The original recipe (found here) calls for "fresh shelled crab". Although I'm sure the quality of the finished product would be better with fresh crab, from one working mom to the world - yeah right. A word to the wise - chipotle chilis in adobo = super spicy. Recipe calls for 1 tsp and I put in half a chili. HOT! HOT! HOT! But that's how I like it. Adjust the heat to your taste.

Baked Lump Crab Cakes with Chipotle Lime Sauce 

Crab Cakes 

• 9 ounces lump crab meat, picked free of shells
• 1/2 cup (about 13) reduced fat Ritz crackers, crushed
• 1 whole egg plus 1 egg white, beaten
• 2 finely chopped scallions
• 2 tbsp finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1 tbsp low fat mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro (or parsley)
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• salt and pepper to taste
• cooking spray

Zesty Chipotle Lime Sauce

• 1 tbsp roasted peppers (jarred)
• 1/4 cup light mayonnaise
• 1 tsp minced canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
• 1 tsp fresh lime juice

In a large bowl, combine crushed crackers, eggs, scallions, pepper, mayo, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper. 

Mix well.

Fold in crab meat, careful not to over mix so the crab remains in large chunks.

Gently shape into patties using a 1/2 cup measuring cup. *With canned crab there really aren't large chunks of meat. Chill in the refrigerator at least 1/2 hour before baking. I would suggest refrigerating the patties longer than 30 minutes to help keep their shape.

  

Preheat oven to 400°. Grease a baking sheet with cooking spray. Bake about 8-10 minutes on each side, until nicely browned.

Red Pepper Chipotle Lime Sauce:

In a small blender (or magic bullet) puree mayonnaise, lime juice, roasted pepper and chipotle pepper.

Plate it and voila! Serve with a salad and crisp white wine. :)

Holy Souffle!

Souffle. Any novice's best challenge. However, since this was a bread and not a dessert, it was actually pretty easy! Since this recipe was from Real Simple, that is not really suprising. 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter, plus more for the dish
• 10 slices (about 10 ounces) stale soft white or sourdough bread, crusts removed and torn into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 cups hot milk
• 1 small onion, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
• 4 eggs, separated
• 7 ounces Swiss cheese, grated
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper 

Preheat oven to 400° F.
Butter a 2- to 2 1/2-quart soufflé or baking dish; set aside.

Place the bread in a shallow bowl and pour the milk over it. Set aside until the liquid is absorbed.

Meanwhile, melt the 2 tablespoons of butter in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and sauté until tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

 

Mash the bread with your hands or a spoon and stir in the onions.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, cheese, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne.

 

Pour the mixture over the bread, stirring until well combined.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold them into the bread mixture in 3 additions.

Transfer to the soufflé dish and bake in oven until golden and firm, 45 to 50 minutes.

Golden brown and DONE!

Some notes...

• Don't worry so much about having exactly 1/4 inch rounds on the onion. Slice your onion as thin as possible so it sautes evenly. If it's not exactly right, they'll cook more in the oven. 
• I didn't use butter on the dish - I used a non-stick spray. Simple way to cut out calories and fat. If you choose to do the same, really spray the pan so your souffle doesn't stick to the bottom.
• The recipe says cook until golden and firm, however, your souffle will be a little soft. There's a lot of liquid in there. I baked mine for a total of about 55 minutes. It was still very moist in the middle. I think next time I would add a bit of spice to kick it up.

Real Simple - Love this magazine/website. The recipe is here.

Smoky Sweet Potato Hummus

Feel like making a simple, healthy, tasty treat? This is all you need!

Find the original recipe here.

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 teaspoon chopped chipotle chili, canned in adobo sauce

1 garlic clove chopped

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons tahini

course sea salt and freshly ground pepper

After you bake the sweet potatos for about an hour (I know it's hot) it's super easy to peel the skins right off the potatos pretty quickly after the come out of the oven.  Literally, toss everything in a medium sized food processor and puree until thick and slightly lumpy.

My sister and I ate this as a late night snack with some homemade flour tortillas that had been toasted crispy, and Ritz crackers. No guilt. Enjoy!

Recipes!!!

So - as I'm getting the hang of this blogging thing I added just a few unaltered recipes to my Recipe page. The links for all the recipes will take you directly to the creator that well, um, created them. I have made, tasted, reheated, and shared every recipe that I post here and if I have any helpful tips (or alterations) I will be sure to share!

Bon appetit! 

Oh - and don't forget the "fine wines and other class stuff"page! Awesome cocktails available there. It is the weekend after all! 

Coming Soon!

The blogging of the fabulousness that is  "Cook, Craft, Wine, Repeat". 

Oh yeah - we're gonna get our "bake" on.