Friday, January 18, 2013

Egg Rolls? No--Cheese Sticks!

This is a Pinterest recipe courtesy of Taste of Home.

Our Take: These cheese sticks were fun and easy to make. You can serve them with marinara or sweet and sour sauce. We bake them, and we serve with sweet and sour sauce. You know they have big bags of cheese sticks at the grocery store. You bring them home, bake them, and they  never taste good. Mainly, that's because they are baked, not fried. These are great baked as long as you eat them straight out of the oven. It is a Taste of Home Recipe, and they suggest frying them. It's a fun recipe for the kiddos because they can help wrap the string cheese.

We bake six at a time.
You will need six pieces of string cheese and six egg roll wrappers. We bake at 350 degrees for 17 minutes. Wrapping instructions are listed on the packaging.

The deep frying instructions are listed  below from the Taste of Home Website.

Here's the website: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Mozzarella-Stick?pmcode=IKLDC05S&_mid=838832&_rid=838832.650200.781355


Ingredients

  • 12 pieces string cheese
  • 12 egg roll wrappers
  • Oil for deep-fat frying
  • Marinara or spaghetti sauce

Directions

  • Place a piece of string cheese near the bottom corner of one egg roll wrapper (keep remaining wrappers covered with a damp paper towel until ready to use). Fold bottom corner over cheese. Roll up halfway; fold sides toward center over cheese. Moisten remaining corner with water; roll up tightly to seal. Repeat with remaining wrappers and cheese.
  • In an electric skillet, heat 1/2 in. of oil to 375°.
  • Fry sticks, a few at a time, for 30-60 seconds on each side or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve with marinara sauce. Yield: 1 dozen.
 

Mozzarella Sticks by Taste of Home


Spinach, Cheese, and Gaahlic Tortellini


Spinach, Cheese, and Gaahlic Tortellini

1 25 ounce jar of Emeril's Gaahlic Pasta Sauce
1 26 ounce jar of Classico Four Cheese Pasta Sauce
1 pound ground turkey
1 20 ounce package Buitoni Spinach and Cheese Tortellini

Put a pot of water on to boil. Cook the ground turkey with a little olive oil. It has very little fat, so you will need a few dashes of oil. We use Tuscan Herb Olive Oil from The Crushed Olive. After the turkey is cooked, add the pasta sauces. Add your pasta to the water and cook as directed.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain and mix with the pasta sauce. Serve with a tasty mixed herb salad. The three of us can easily make two meals off this recipe. Yes, the picture makes it look like Hamburger Helper, but it sure doesn't taste like Hamburger Helper!!


Monday, January 14, 2013

Pinterest Easy Potato Soup-Freezer Ready



Our Take: We made this yesterday, and we have plenty of leftovers for supper tonight. It was fabulous! We put ours in a dutch oven and cooked it on the stove top for four hours, and then we added the cream for thirty minutes. We added crumbled bacon with shredded cheese to go with the green onion on top. We also used squared, southern style hash browns. This is a great and simple soup recipe! Freeze in bags or freezer safe container for quick meals.

Laura Browe from Twirl posted this recipe.
http://worthyoftheprize.blogspot.com/2012/10/paula-deen-easy-crock-pot-potato-soup.html

Instructions:
1 bag frozen hash brown potatoes--we used squared, southern style potatoes--30 ounces
2 cans low sodium chicken broth--28 ounces total
1 can cream of chicken soup--10.75 ounces
1/2 chopped onion
As much black pepper as you like
1 package of cream cheese--8 ounces
Garnish with chopped green onions, crumbled bacon and shredded cheese

Directions:
1. In a slow cooker, combine potatoes, broth, soup, onion, and pepper. 
2. Cover, and cook on low for 5 hours.
3. Stir in cream cheese, cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until combined. 
4. Garnish with green onion.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Diced Italian Potatoes

**You can freeze smaller portions of these potatoes in bags. Just pop them in the oven after they have thawed in the fridge over night.

Dice enough potatoes to cover the bottom of a 9x11 baking dish. Spray Pam on baking dish. Throw in potatoes. Cover with as much olive oil as you like. Use a salt free Italian seasoning grinder and add as much seasoning as you like. Stir to coat and bake at 350 for about an hour. I stir them about every 20 minutes to give them some love. We cook this dish for family gatherings. I used to make it with an Italian seasoning packet and butter, but I've tried to cut as much sodium out of our food as possible.

Asian Broccoli Salad

What you will need:
1 bag broccoli coleslaw mix
4 chopped green onions
Couple pinches of sesame seeds
Couple pinches of chia seeds if you have them
1 3 oz package of chicken flavored Raman noodles
1/2 cup oil of your choice
2 Tbsp sugar
Couple dashes of soy sauce

Open one corner of the noodles. Take out the flavor packet. Hold the package closed and beat the noodles until they are crushed.
Mix the first five together in a bowl. Leave the chicken flavor packet for the last three ingredients. Mix the last three ingredients and the flavor packet in a second bowl. Place both bowls in refrigerator for five minutes.
Take both bowls out, mix together, and serve!