Strawberry Mango Salsa

Strawberry Mango Salsa

     I just got back from a little vacation down in Florida. I was loving the sun, the heat and the beautiful ocean, not to mention the food and drinks. It's such a different feel when one is in Florida. Everyone is kicked back and relaxed. Seems like everyone is happy. And who wouldn't be if you could sit by the ocean and soak up the rays with a cold drink in your hand. Simply paradise.

     I'm kind of stuck on the whole tropical food and drink thing right now. So I decided to make some Strawberry Mango Salsa. Fresh fruit is so plentiful in Florida that it's a shame not to keep enjoying those same great dishes even though I'm back in Minnesota.

    It seems that everything you eat or drink is fresh. The drinks are fruity and refreshing and the food was fresh and flavorful. I started out with this salsa because of the yummy fruit flavors. It is sweet with a hint of cilantro and onion it makes it hard to stop eating. This salsa would be good with cinnamon flavored tortilla chips, but regular chips are just as good.

     The next few posts will be focused on the great food that I had on vacation, so prepare yourself for some great tropical and seafood type dishes over the next few posts. But for now enjoy this salsa. I'm sure you're going to love it.

Strawberry Mango Salsa
2 mangos
1 lb of fresh strawberrys
1/2 red onion, diced
cilantro, chopped fine
tortilla chips

Clean and cut mango into small pieces and put in bowl. Clean and dice strawberries and add to mangos. Chop 1/2 a red onion into small pieces and add to fruit. Chop cilantro fine and add to bowl. (I just eyeballed the cilantro. Add as much as you like.) Mix together and then put in the fridge to marinate.Stir salsa before serving and enjoy with tortilla chips.

Corn Dip

Corn Dip with Ritz Crackers

     I just found my new favorite dip. I just can't stop eating this stuff. It is so good that I literally have to tell myself enough and put it away.

     I first tasted this dip when a friend of mine brought it in to work. She was having it for a snack and let me try some. It was so amazing that I had to find the recipe right away. I looked on Pinterest and found a ton of different recipes, but of course I decided to kind of make my own.

    When I first made this dip it was during the winter,  a couple of months ago, when my husband and I were having our friends over. I served it with tortilla chips and it was a big hit. I soon had my daughter hooked on it too. I have finally concocted my own recipe for making this dip. It's still quick and easy and very delicious.

     You can eat this dip with tortilla chips or any kind of cracker. I really prefer tortilla chips, but choose whatever you like. You can't go wrong with the kind of dipper your using. Enjoy!

Corn Dip
1 C sour cream
1 C Mayo
2 C shredded Cheddar cheese
1-11oz can of Mexican corn, drained
1- 15.25 oz can of corn, drained
1- 10 oz can of diced tomatoes with green chilies (Rotel),drained
3- Green onions, chopped
1- 4oz can of diced green chilies

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and chill for at least an hour. Serve with tortilla chips or crackers.

Antipasto Kabobs

Antipasto Kabobs

Today I will be going to a family gather. It is suppose to be a pool party, but I don't think the sun knew anything about our plans. It has been ungodly hot for the past week and wouldn't you know it today it is cloudy out. However the temperature is in the 70's. I'm still going to go in the pool if I can persuade others to go in too.

This party just so happens to be a potluck. I am bringing one of my favorite appetizers for summer. It is a recipe that I got from a Taste of Home recipe book. I like it because it is quick and goes well with a cold beverage, if you know what I mean.

I have tweaked this recipe for those that don't like olives, which happens to be my children. Instead of olives I use cubed cheese. You can use any type of cheese that you like. Pepper Jack cheese though is really good on these kabobs.

So I need to be getting to my party so here is the recipe. It's easy enough to still make it for Labor day festivities. Enjoy!

My pretty platter of appetizers.

Antipasto Kabobs
1 pkg (9ounces) refrigerated cheese tortellini
40 pimiento-stuffed olives
40 large pitted ripe olives
3/4 C Italian salad dressing
40 thin slices pepperoni
20 thin slices hard salami, halved

Cook tortellini according to package directions; drain and rinse in cold water.
In a resealable plastic bag, combine the tortellini, olives and salad dressing. Seal and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
Drain and discard dressing. For each appetizer, thread a stuffed olive, folded pepperoni slice, tortellini, folded salami piece and ripe olive on a toothpick.

Makes 40 appetizers

Slider Mini Burgers

Slider Mini Burger

How many of you have gone out to eat at one of those family friendly bar/restaurants and just loved the idea of a mini hamburger or better known to most of us as a slider? For some reason having a mini burger sounds really appealing. The name even sounds appealing. "Slider." Now no place else but in a bar/restaurant would this word sound like something edible, but it is. Despite the name we all have come to know these little burgers to be delicious and ever so cute to eat.

Now I decide today to kind of make my own version of sliders at home. It really isn't all that hard to do and these little burgers grill up in no time at all. Most of the ingredients are things I would think most people have on hand. As for the buns I used the Hawaiian Sweet rolls, but you could use some little dinner rolls and they would work just as well. The Hawaiian rolls, though, were the perfect size for the sliders. I top the little burgers off with some pepper jack cheese, but I think you could use whatever kind of cheese you like or have on hand.

So be adventurous and make your own Slider Mini Burger. The skies the limit.

Slider Mini Burgers
1lb of burger
1/2 C of bread crumbs
1 egg
1 T powdered ranch dressing
1-2 t Worcestershire sauce
1 T red pepper flakes
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 C chopped red onion
slices of cheese
Hawaiian rolls

In a bowl mix burger, bread crumbs and egg until well combined. Add ranch dressing, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes, garlic and red onion. Mix Well. Shape meat mixture into 9 mini burgers and grill. Add a small slice of cheese to top of burger. Close lid of grill and let cheese melt. Serve on mini buns with ketchup and mustard.

Hmong Eggrolls

Well if you checked out my facebook page at all you've seen the pictures from my Monday night PLC (Professional Learning Community) meeting at work. The whole elementary got together and learned the art of making authentic Hmong eggrolls. We all had a great time learning how to make eggrolls and wished we would have done it sooner.We all kept saying "Why did we wait til the end of the year to do this?"

We had several patient and talented teachers that taught us the art of making these delicious eggrolls. So I want to start by thanking them all for helping us learn how to make this yummy treat . Thank you Mia, Mor Chia, Crystal, Nou, Pa, and Pakou.

I also especially want to thank Sam for organizing this activity. She did an amazing job! Not only did we learn how to make eggrolls we all brought a recipe to share and we had an apron contest. Our winner for the apron contest was Jenna. She was over come with joy (notice the tears) tee hee!

Jenna being crowned by Sam for the best apron.

On that night we made like 300 eggrolls. We needed to cut the recipe down to a more manageable size and Mia was kind enough to write down the recipe for me to share with all of you. I hope you enjoy making these as much as we all did. Happy egg-rolling!

  Egg Roll
1lb. ground pork or beef
1/2 chopped cabbage
3 chopped green onions
1 bunch of cilantro chopped, if desired
4 shredded carrots or 1/2 bag
2 T Hoisen sauce
2-3 T soy sauce
1/4 box Vermicillian Noodles (look for pink bag at Oriental foods store or buy other thin rice noodles in oriental foods dept.)
fish sauce
25 pkg. bag of egg roll wrappers

1. 1-2 hours prior.Pre-soak noodles in hot water and put aside.
2. Chop 1/2 head of cabbage, 3 green onions, shred carrots. Option: use coleslaw mix and green onions.
3. In a large mixing bowl combine the cabbage, onions, carrots, the noodles cut intosmall pieces, soy sauce, Hoisen sauce and fish sauce. Ground pork should be pre-prepared for the filling by pan-frying until nearly cooked, not completely. Then add to the filling mix. Mix all of the ingredients together well.
4. Add 3 whole eggs and 2 egg whites (keep the yolks to use as glue). Mix all lf the ingredients together. (Note: you do not have to separate egg whites)
5. Open the bag of egg roll wraps and place one at a time on the counter or on a plate in front of you so it is in a diamond position. Take 2 tablespoons of meat/vegetable mixture and place it on one of the corners of the wrap.Gently fold over the wrap forward. Fold over both edges of wrap into the center. Roll it until you only have a small corner left then dip your finger in the egg yolk and place a small amount on the final tip of the wrap and seal the roll shut. 
6. Continue this same procedure until all mix or wraps are used up. At some point drain the mixture of excess liquid to prevent your eggrolls from being soggy or tearing.
7. Place 1 inch of oil in a large skillet and heat at medium heat on the stove. Carefully place eggrolls in the hot oil and cook for 15 minutes (remember to flip several times while cooking. Egg rolls should be a golden brown in color. Remove carefully with a tong or spatula and place on a plate lined with paper towels. You'll know it's ready by testing with a slight tap on the shell to determine if it is hardened.
8. They are now ready to eat as soon as they cool down for a few minutes. Uncooked eggrolls can be stored in the freezer until you are ready to make them.

Note: Eggroll wrapper pack needs to be set out so it can thaw. It's best to not thoroughly thaw out the wrappers. Thaw only enough so you can peel  then without tearing, because they are delicate.

 

All hands were on deck for the rolling of the eggrolls. If you want to see more pictures from this night go to my facebook page and check them out.

Also if you haven't liked my facebook page yet please do and tell a friend about my page and blog. Thanks for visiting.

Southwestern Wontons

Southwestern Wontons

Today I've got a little twist on the Asian wonton. This time I'm going with a southwestern twist. Ever since I went to Tucson a couple of years ago I can't get enough of that TexMex, southwestern flair and these wontons are just the ticket.

These wontons are easy to make and they don't really take a lot of time either. You can even get the wontons made up ahead of time place them in the fridge and cook them later.

When making these wontons you have to think ahead a little though. I had cooked a couple of chicken breasts in my mini crockpot (one of the best little gifts I've ever gotten) the day before and then shredded it and put it in the fridge. That way it was ready to go when assembling them.

I did make these on the same day I made the Orange chicken, but we had plenty of them left over for the next couple of days. My family was happy to heat them up in the microwave for a little snack.

Also be aware that you will have left over black beans to deal with. I just used them up in another recipe, so don't worry you won't be able to get rid of them. You can add them to salads, Spanish rice, tacos or Southwestern egg rolls.

Southwestern Wontons
olive oil
1/4 C diced onion
1/4 C red bell pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 C frozen corn
1/4 C black beans, drained and rinsed
1 C shredded chicken
1/4 t pepper
1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese
2 T dry ranch dressing
a sprinkle or two of red pepper flakes
24 Wonton wraps
canola oil for frying

1. Heat some oil in a frying pan over medium heat and saute onions and pepper for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add the corn, beans and chicken. Stir well to combine. Remove from heat and add pepper and stir in cheese and dry ranch dressing.
3. Scoop about 1 teaspoon of chicken mixture into the center of wonton wrap. Wet two sides of wrap and fold over to form a triangle. Press out any air pockets so they seal well. 
4. Heat oil in a pan. When oil is hot place a few wontons at a time into the oil. Cook about a minute per side or until golden brown and crispy. Place on a pan and put in a warm oven until ready to serve.