Southwestern Egg Rolls

Happy hour is a regular occurrence for us, but with this beautiful weather we're already having, we're about to change our HH location from a restaurant to our back porch.  We've found that these egg rolls are very good with a cold drink after a long day at work.  They're really good!  We'll be making these often.

The recipe below makes 6 egg rolls, but you could easily double or triple it for your crowd.  I used cilantro instead of parsley.  To make it easy on yourself, use rotisserie chicken or Crock Pot Salsa chicken; I bet you could even use canned chicken.  If you wanted a meatless recipe, you could leave out the chicken and use more black beans for protein.

Southwestern Egg Rolls

1 Tbsp vegetable oil6 (6 inch) flour tortillas
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast half, cooked and shredded
2 Tbsp minced green onion
2 Tbsp minced red bell pepper
1/3 cup corn kernels
1/4 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
2 Tbsp diced jalapeno peppers
1/2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley or cilantro
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/3 tsp salt
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper
3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat oven to 450. 

Heat vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in green onion and red pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes, until tender. Add shredded chicken into the pan with onion and red pepper. Mix in corn, black beans, jalapeno peppers, parsley, cumin, chili powder, salt and cayenne pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes, until well blended and tender. Remove from heat and stir in Monterey Jack cheese so that it melts.


Wrap tortillas with a clean, lightly moist cloth. Microwave on high approximately 1 minute, or until hot and pliable. Spoon even amounts of mixture into each tortilla.  Fold ends of tortillas, then roll tightly around mixture. Secure with toothpicks.

Place egg rolls on baking sheets sparyed with cooking spray.  Bake for 15 minutes in preheated oven, turning tortillas after 8 minutes for even browning.  Cut diagonally, and serve warm.

Christmas Bark

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a wonderful 2011, and I hope 2012 will bring even more blessings. 

I probably should have posted this Christmas Bark recipe last week, but I was having too much fun with my family to worry about that.  Besides, Christmas isn't the only time of year you can make this.  If you're sticking to your new year's resolutions to be healthier, just bookmark this recipe until you've changed your mind a bit.  It's worth it.

Christmas Bark

1 sleeve saltine crackers
1 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 (12oz) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Place crackers in one layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet with sides. Melt butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. After it comes to a bubble, cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour butter-sugar mixture over the crackers. Spread evenly. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate morsels. When they start to melt, spread evenly over entire layer of crackers.  Sprinkle chopped pecans on top; refrigerate 1 hour. Remove from refrigerator and crack into pieces.

Club Sandwich Puffs

This is another recipe I adapted from Plain Chicken.  They were so good, and they're a great appetizer or snack for tailgating.  They're quick to put together, and you probably have most of the ingredients in your refrigerator already.  Try them!  They're great fresh out of the oven. 

Club Sandwich Puffs

1 oz deli ham, chopped
1 oz deli turkey, chopped
2 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
1 tsp minced onion flakes
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 egg
1 Tbsp honey mustard
1 (8oz) package refrigerated crescent rolls

Preheat oven to 350.  In a small bowl, combine finely chopped ham, turkey, bacon bits, onion flakes, cheese, honey mustard, and egg.  Mix well.

Lightly spray a mini-muffin tin with cooking spray.  Unroll crescent rolls and press into one large rectangle; cut rectangle into 24  squares.  Press dough squares into muffin cups and shape up around the edges.  Fill each muffin cup with some of the meat mixture.  Bake 13-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Pepperoni Pizza Bites

These never stood a chance.  They were so good!  I got the idea for these from the Buffalo Chicken Pizza Bites; the recipe is so adaptable and wonderful because you can add any fillings you want.  (I even tried a few of the pizza dough squares with a different sweet filling--cream cheese and strawberry jelly rolled in some cinnamon-sugar, which was also delicious.)  These are so quick, and they were the perfect snack for the first weekend of college football!

Pepperoni Pizza Bites

1 can refrigerated pizza dough
15 slices pepperoni, roughly chopped
3 oz cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp tomato sauce
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Mozzarella cheese, for sprinkling
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425, and thoroughly spray mini-muffin tin with cooking spray.  In a small bowl, combine pepperoni, cream cheese, tomato sauce, and Parmesan cheese.  Set aside. 
Unroll pizza dough into a large rectangle onto a cookie sheet or other large surface.  Cut into 24 small squares (easiest with a pizza cutter).  Put 1 teaspoon of pepperoni mixture in the center of each square, and pinch together seams of dough.  Place seam-side down in mini-muffin tin, and sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese.  Bake 8-10 minutes and serve with pizza sauce if desired.

Soft Pretzels

Most nights during the summer at Biz's house, you will find a Braves game on TV (that is, when Mediacom is actually working, but that's another story).  Since we've been watching a lot of baseball lately, I wanted to make something you might eat at a ballpark.  Deciding against hot dogs and nachos (I love real nachos, but not that bright orange cheese you get at the ballpark), I opted for a soft pretzel.  These are good, and they were fun to make.

The recipe calls for four cups of flour--one cup of bread flour and three cups of all-purpose flour--but I used all all-purpose.  It also says to knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.  There was nothing elastic about my dough, but I kneaded it until it was smooth, and it was fine.  It makes a dozen big pretzels, so I'm saving some for later.  When you want one, just warm it up in the microwave, and then brush some butter on it with whatever else you want to top it with--kosher salt, garlic salt, cinnamon sugar, etc.  Serve with whatever dipping sauce you like and enjoy!

Soft Pretzels

1 (0.25 ounce) pkg active dry yeast
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/8 salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup bread flour
2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp baking soda
2 Tbsp butter, melted
kosher salt

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast, brown sugar, and salt in the 1 1/2 cups warm water.  Stir in flour, and knead dough on floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.  Place in a greased bowl (I used probably 1-2 Tbsp vegetable oil), and turn to coat the surface.  Cover, and let rise for one hour.

Combine two cups of warm water and baking soda in an 8" square pan.  After the dough has risen, cut into twelve pieces.  Roll each piece into a three-foot rope.  Twist into a pretzel shape, and dip into the water-baking soda solution.  Blot pretzel on a paper towel, place on a cookie sheet, and let rise for 15-20 more minutes. 

Bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes.  Brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with salt.  Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Pizza Bites

We're at the beach for a few days, so we needed a good snack that would fit into the cooler and wouldn't require any utensils.  Of course, Plain Chicken had the perfect answer: buffalo chicken pizza bites!  It's all the tastiness of buffalo chicken dip in pizza crust.  Yes, please! 

Of course, I immediately regretted making them, since bite-sized snacks are pretty much my kryptonite.  It's the same with the sausage balls; I eat one, and then I have to eat four more.  Honestly, I'm hoping everyone else will finish these off before I do. 

Buffalo Chicken Pizza Bites

2 cans refrigerated pizza dough

1 (12.5oz) can white meat chicken, drained

3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided

3 oz cream cheese, softened

2 Tbsp Frank's Hot Sauce

4 tsp Ranch dressing

cooking spray

Dipping Sauce

1 cup Ranch dressing

1/3 cup Frank's Hot Sauce

Preheat oven to 425.  Mix together chicken, cream cheese, Frank's Hot Sauce, Ranch dressing, and 1/2 cup Cheddar. 

Unroll one roll of pizza dough into a large rectangle.  Cut dough into 24 squares (easiest with a pizza cutter).  Place 1 tsp of chicken mixture in the center of each square.  Lift up the corners of each square and press seams together.  Place, seam-side-down, into a sprayed mini-muffin tin.  Spray tops of rolls with cooking spray, and sprnkle remaining 1/4 cup Cheddar. 

Place rolls in oven, and bake 8-10 minutes.  While pizza bites are baking, mix together remaining Ranch and hot sauce.  Serve warm with dipping sauce.