Oven Baked Taquitos

Taquitos are such a great potluck item just cut them in half with kitchen scissors and serve with you're favorite dips. Kids love these and they can easily be frozen and reheated in the microwave or oven at 375F for 8-12 minutes. 

Makes 15-20 Taquitos

Ingredients:

2/3 cup Monterrey Jack cheese, grated

1/2 cup prepared salsa

2 cups cooked chicken, shredded

1/2 tsp taco seasoning

Salt and Pepper to taste

15-20 Corn tortillas, white or yellow

Non-stick spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.

Mix cheese with chicken and add sprinkle, salt and taco seasoning and mix well.

Wrap 10 tortillas in damp paper towels and microwave for 1 minute then start making the taquitos by spraying each tortilla on both sides with non-stick spray then put a small portion of the chicken mixture in a line in the middle and tightly roll up; repeat and place seem side down on the lined baking. Bake for 14-16 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

Cool for 6-10 minutes and serve with warm queso, guacamole or salsa and enjoy. :-)

 

Cheesy Spinach Rolls

Perfect party appetizer!

Ingredients:
1 bag of pre-washed baby spinach
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 egg+1 tablespoon water, beaten together in a small bowl.
1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 teaspoon grated, Romano cheese
2 green onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1 pinch freshly cracked black pepper
1 pinch kosher salt
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 dash of dried oregano
1 dash of dried basil
flour for the surface

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and have a strainer in the sink ready for spinach.

1. In a medium-sized pot add about 1 inch of water and heat to medium-high.
Once water starts to boil add in spinach and lemon juice, stir spinach while it wilts down.

2. Once spinach is dark green in color and has shrunk in size pour spinach into a strainer, rinse with cold water until spinach is cool to touch.

3. Place a bowl inside strainer and push down to drain water out of spinach get as much water out as possible you don't want soggy pastry. If it still has a lot of water put spinach between several layers of paper towels and squeeze tightly.

4. Mix together in a small bowl, cheeses, green onion, garlic, and all other seasonings with a spoon until combined.

5. Sprinkle a clean surface with flour, remove 1 puff pastry sheet out so the short end is facing you. Lightly brush pastry with egg wash.

6. Now, break up spinach into small pieces, evenly distribute over pastry and sprinkle the cheese mixture evenly over spinach.

7. Next, carefully lift the short edge closest to you, fold forward like a jelly roll, freeze for 15 minutes It will make the roll much easier to slice.

8. After 15 minutes have passed. Using a sharp knife, cut into 20 1/2 inch pieces. Place rolls onto two baking sheets, brush with egg wash, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes, cheese should be bubbly and pastry should be golden brown in color.

Let cool for 5-10 minutes, if you can wait that long. :)

Yummy!

Oven Baked Wings

Tasty and simple, not much else anyone can ask for.

Ingredients:
3-4lbs chicken wings, drums and flats separated and tips removed
4 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 medium onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves
2 cups dark brown sugar
2 cups soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
cooking spray

Directions: 
1. Whisk dark brown sugar and soy sauce in a medium-sized bowl until sugar is dissolved, stir in ginger, salt and red pepper flakes.

2. Put wings into a large zip-lock bag add in soy sauce mixture, onions and garlic. Seal the top and turn the bag around to coat all wings with marinade. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight rotating the bag every few hours.

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a roasting pan with foil and spray with cooking spray*

3. Remove wings from bag letting excess liquid drip off place wings skin side up onto foil lined pan, throw out the marinade and bake wings for 1 hour until wing meat is no longer pink. Let cool for a few minutes.


Serve hot with steamed veggies and white rice.

Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps

Lettuce wraps, great for an appetizer with friends or for a quick dinner. Either way, delicious! This is also a kid approved recipe, my almost two-year-old son Gavin dove into the turkey so fast I had a hard time taking pictures lol :-).

Filling Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil plus 1 tablespoon for later
1 lb ground turkey
1/4 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
1 red onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 8oz can water chestnuts, drained and minced
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 to1 teaspoon Sambal Oelek chili paste or to taste
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
 salt and pepper to taste
 ---
12 butter lettuce leaves rinsed and patted dry
1 carrot, split length-wise and thinly sliced
2 green onions, chopped for garnish

Dipping sauce:
4 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
pinch of sugar
1 teaspoon Sambal Oelek chili paste
1 garlic clove, minced
Directions:

1. Add vegetable oil to a medium sized skillet and set to medium-high heat, swirl the oil around in the pan. Next, add turkey stirring frequently and crumbling using the back of a wooden spoon. Season meat with Chinese five spice and ginger, cook until meat is no longer pink, set aside on a plate and wipe skillet clean with a paper towel.

2. Heat skillet to medium-high heat, add in 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil swirl to coat. Cook the red onion stirring occasionally once onions turn slightly transparent add in garlic, water chestnuts, green onions, chili paste, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil. Stir constantly to combine ingredients and mix in cooked turkey, season with salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat.

3. In a small bowl combine all dipping sauce ingredients  and stir until sugar is dissolved.

4. To assemble wraps spoon some of the filling into a lettuce leaf, top with sliced carrots, green onions, drizzle some sauce over the top and gather lettuce together like a taco to eat.
Enjoy!

 My Son Gavin 10 days from 2 years old, loving the lettuce wraps :)

Chicken Flautas

What a simple yet so delicious dish this is. Everyone enjoys flautas, doesn't matter the age or background. Have a potluck and everyone can help shred the chicken and roll them up. There are plenty of options for dips but they don't really even need anything else, these can also be frozen* and reheated in just a few minutes for a quick snack.

Ingredients:

For chicken:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (can also use a store bought rotisserie chicken, I prefer my own seasoning)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon spice blend

kosher salt and black pepper to taste

For frying:

36 taco size yellow corn tortillas

peanut oil for frying (enough to fill a pot about 2 1/2 - 3 inches deep)

tooth picks

Directions: preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a roasting pan with aluminum foil.

1. Place chicken breasts in the roasting pan and brush chicken generously with olive oil, coating both sides. 

2. Next season with salt, pepper, and spice blend. Bake for 30 minutes, until juices run clear. Loosely cover chicken breasts with aluminum foil to keep the meat juicy, let it rest for 10 minutes.

Heat oil in a 5qt dutch oven until a thermometer registers to 350 degrees F.

3. Once the chicken has rested shred it using two forks, one stuck in the meat to keep it in place and the other pulling away to tear into strips, do this to all the chicken.

4. To the hot oil add a corn tortilla let it cook for only 5-10 seconds and turn quickly for another 5 seconds, (this makes the tortilla pliable) transfer to paper towels to drain for about a minute. Then, sprinkle some chicken shreds in the center of the tortilla and roll the chicken up tightly inside the tortilla, use a toothpick to pierce and secure the flauta to ensure filling stays inside. Return the filled tortilla to the oil and turn to cook all sides, once the tortilla has a golden crunchy shell, remove from oil and transfer to paper towels to drain again. Repeat with the rest of the filling. 

 Serve with queso, bean dip, guacamole or alongside beans and rice.

BE CAREFUL IT WILL BE HOT, LET THEM COOL FOR A FEW MINUTES BEFORE EATING.

To reheat, bake in a 400 degrees F oven for about 7 minutes.

**Freezing instructions: after the flautas are cooked, place on a parchment lined baking sheet and freeze for 30 minutes, then transfer to a ziplock freezer bag. To reheat flautas place on a baking sheet and bake in a 450 degree oven for 10-15 minutes, until golden and crispy**  

EASY Tuna Ceviche

Ceviche is typically made with raw seafood and is refrigerated in lime or lemon juice to "cook" the fish with the acidity, but my version of ceviche I use canned tuna and I adding celery to give it that extra crunch! Eat your ceviche with tortilla chips or plantain chips.

Ingredients:

2 cans of solid white tuna, drained and chopped

2 medium sized tomatoes, diced

1/2 of a medium sized onion, diced

1/2 a stalk of celery, finely chopped

1 jalapeno, finely chopped and seeded

1 garlic clove, minced

juice from 2 lemons

a small handful of fresh cilantro, chopped

pinch of salt and pepper

Directions:

1. To a blender add in tomatoes, onion, and jalapeno, blend to desired consistency.**

2. Mix all ingredients together, cover, and refrigerate for 20 minutes. (This really brings out all of the flavors.)

Serve with tortilla chips or plantain chips

** If you want a chunky ceviche skip the blending step and mix all the ingredients together**

Sweet n' Spicy Shrimp

 This shrimp is great for shrimp tacos or just plain with a few side dishes it can be a full meal.

 

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons Rebecca's 8 Spice Blend

1 teaspoon sugar

pinch of salt

8 large shrimps deviened, shelled with tails left on

1 tablespoon oil

Directions:

1. Mix spice blend with sugar and salt, toss shrimp in seasoning.

2.Heat oil  to medium heat in a medium-sized skillet add shrimps to pan. The shrimps cook very quickly so keep checking the other side, they are done when they curl and are pink in color.

*The shrimp can be skewered and grilled, but make sure you soak the bamboo skewers for at least 30 minutes before putting on the grill.*

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Spring Rolls are filled with all different kinds of fillings, these being my favorite combination, change it up with your own meats and veggies.

Makes 8 rolls

Ingredients:

8 thin slices of Chinese Barbecue Pork (Char Siu)

8 raw jumbo shrimp, deveined with shells and tails removed

1 cup Basic Sticky Rice

1 cup rice vermicelli noodles

8 rice paper sheets (spring roll wrappers)

8 small iceberg lettuce, leaves (rinsed and patted dry)

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

water for boiling shrimp, plus extra for noodles

warm water for rice paper sheets

hoisin sauce for dipping

Directions:

1. Bring a small pot of water to a boil, add vermicelli noodles, let them cook for about 5 minutes, strain them through a fine colander and rinse with cold water; shake off the as much water as you can, set aside.

2. Bring a medium sized pot of water to a boil, add in salt, sugar, and shrimp. Cook for 4 minutes, or until shrimps have curled and are pink. Remove from water, rinse with cold water and pat dry; set aside.

3. Pour warm water into a large circular dish, push 1 piece of rice paper into the water, so it is completely submerged. Remove once the paper is pliable.

4. Lay rice paper on a flat surface and start layering the ingredients however you want, when it comes to rolling it, I place all the ingredients in the center and roll it like a burrito bringing in the two sides toward each other then rolling from front to back but use whatever works for you.

Serve cold or at room temperature, with hoisin sauce for dipping.

Shrimp first.

I put wax paper down and sprayed a teeny bit of non-stick spray to keep it from sticking

Then pork.

Lettuce next.

Now, the rice.

Lastly, rice noodles.

Finished!

Serve with hoisin sauce for dipping!

Chinese Barbecue Pork (Char Siu)

Chinese BBQ Pork is such a great snack. I enjoy it both cold or hot, either way the meat is very tender and juicy the cut of meat I used was $4.74 for the two pounds and there is plenty of great things that can be made of the leftovers such as: fried rice, steamed pork buns, Vietnamese Spring rolls, egg rolls, dumplings etc.. The list just goes on and on!

You can also buy a store bought Chinese BBQ sauce but I like to make my own and freeze the extras to use as a dipping sauce for my Gyoza. Make Char Siu Bao Pork Buns.

*Ingredients can be found at your local Asian food market*

Chinese BBQ Sauce Ingredients:

3/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup hoisin sauce

1 teaspoon oyster sauce

3/4 cup rice cooking wine

4 teaspoons sesame oil

3/4 cup sugar

5 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 of a onion, cut into chunks (save the other half for later)

5 garlic cloves, crushed

1 1inch piece of ginger, peeled and cut into chunks

1 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

3 tablespoons cold water

Pork Ingredients:

1 2lb boneless pork sirloin roast, cut length-wise to make two 1lb roasts

1/2 of a onion, cut into chunks

1 1inch piece of ginger, peeled and cut into chunks

5 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons rice cooking wine

1 tablespoon sesame oil

water for boiling

Sauce Directions:

1. Mix water and cornstarch together until smooth, set aside.

2. To a medium-sized pot add; all sauce ingredients, adding the cornstarch water mixture in last. 

3. Whisk and heat to low-medium, simmer for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon (watch it and do not let it burn on the bottom). Sauce should have thickened a good amount, remove from heat and pour through a strainer, set the sauce aside to cool.

Pork Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, to the water add; ginger, garlic, onion, crushed pepper flakes, sugar, soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil and lastly pork roasts. Let cook for 3 minutes.

2. Remove pork from water and pat dry with paper towels, generously baste all sides of the pork, and transfer to a roasting pan with a wire rack in the bottom. Pour 1 cup of water to the bottom of the pan, this will steam the pork and prevent the sauce drippings from burning on the bottom of the pan.

3. Transfer roasting pan to oven cooking for 30-35 minutes basting every 10 minutes. The pork is done when a meat thermometer shows 155 degrees F.

4. Let rest for 15 minutes, then thinly slice and enjoy with toasted sesame seeds. Some enjoy spicy Chinese mustard and soy sauce for dipping.

Chinese BBQ Sauce ready for storing.

Pork after being boiled.

Basting the pork.

Done cooking.

Resting for 15 minutes.

 Sliced and ready to eat!

Pepperoni Bread

A perfect party food, or after school snack. Something that adults and kids can both enjoy!

Ingredients:

Easy pizza dough

1 1/4 cups warm water (105-115)

 1 package active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons olive oil, vegetable oil is fine also

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 to 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour

Filling

1 teaspoon dried basil

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

1 package sliced pepperoni

1 1/2-2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. In a medium sized bowl add water and sprinkle yeast on top, once it starts to dissolve add the sugar and whisk to combine. Let rest for 5 minutes.

2. Mix in salt and add 2 cups of flour, stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until flour dissolves. Add the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time stirring well after each time until dough is firm and no longer sticky. Then move dough onto a floured surface.

3. Sprinkle hands with flour and knead the dough for about 4 minutes until fluffy and springy.

Place dough in a oiled large- size bowl turning to oil all sides of dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place until dough has doubled in size; about 1 hour.

Punch down dough several times to let out air and move to a floured surface and knead for 1 minute.

4. Combine butter and seasonings. Brush on dough, some to brush on top later.

    Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

5. Roll the dough into a large rectangle, brush with butter mixture and arrange pepperoni's to cover the entire dough surface leaving a 1 inch border then sprinkle cheese evenly leaving the same border. beginning with a long end, roll up the dough like a jelly roll. tuck each side under and move roll seam side down to a non-stick sprayed baking sheet. Cover it with oiled plastic wrap, let dough rest for another 15 minutes in a warm place.

6. Remove plastic wrap brush the remaining butter mixture on top, bake for about 35 minutes until it is golden brown.

7. Slide onto a wire rack let cool for 15 minutes and cute into thick slices, serve warm with warm marinara sauce.

Sweet Sticky Wings

These wings are simply addicting! They are so easy to make especially if done in the slow-cooker. These make a great party food or a main course,either way these will be the hit of the party.

Ingredients:

3-4lbs wings tips removed and drums and flats separated

1 cup Soy sauce

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup low fat margarine or butter

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce (Mae Ploy)

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon ginger powder

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 medium onion cut into chunks

6 smashed garlic cloves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

1. Place wings in a large ziplock freezer bag with onions and garlic, set aside.

2. Heat soy sauce, sugar, margarine, water, sesame oil, chili sauce, dry mustard, ginger and crushed red pepper flakes over a medium heat stirring occasionally until margarine and sugar are completely dissolved; set aside to cool.

3. Pour sauce into the wing bag and turn to coat, refrigerate at least 2 hours to over night. (the longer you marinate the more flavorful they will be.)

4. Pour bag ingredients into a foil lined baking dish and bake for 1 1/4-1 1/2 hours turning occasionally.

These can also be cooked in a slow-cooker on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.