Baked Pork Egg Rolls

I made the most delicious food this week.

Each new recipe I tried not only was a success, but was so good I wanted to make it again and again and again.

That doesn't always happen you know.



Sometimes (or you know, every single night) I spend hours on pinterest pinning and reading all these beautiful and delicious recipes....and then I never make them.

Or I make them and they turn out like crap.
Or I make them, but change all of the ingredients and they turn out delicious!

On that note...

BIGGEST INTERNET RECIPE PET PEEVE EVER: When someone comments on a recipe that it was so gross and they'd never make it again or it was ridiculously hard and impossible even for a genius....BUT THEY DIDN'T FOLLOW ANY OF THE DIRECTIONS!

OR

THEY CHANGED HALF THE INGREDIENTS!

Ok, listen. You have all the right in the world to use whatever ingredients or technique you so choose...
BUT if someone posts a recipe saying "this is good if you use this and do it this way"....you really don't have the right to change everything and then give the original recipe a bad review.

This hasn't happened to me.

But every time I read a recipe I read the comments to see what the general feedback is and there's always that one person that's like "Well I changed the first five ingredients...and I didn't cook it as long as you said. I definitely will not recommend this recipe to anyone!"

So please...change all the ingredients if you want (I do it all the time.) Experiment with cooking time. Change it however you want...but know that if it turns out super disgusting, it might not be the ORIGINAL recipes fault.

I'm just saying....

Ok I'll get off my little rant. I started out trying to tell you that I always read pinterest recipes and never try them. And this week all the ones I tried were AMAZING.

Starting with these baked egg rolls.

My husband and I rarely eat any fried food. But I have a thing for asian food, specifically all the asian food that is fried.

So a recipe that is baked (and therefore must be in the "incredibly healthy"category) is worth trying.



Also, unlike Spring Rolls these egg rolls are REALLY easy to make. (I'm not dissing the spring rolls, but those took forever to roll.) It just takes a little water on the corners of the egg roll wrappers and they roll right up. 



The original recipe didn't include any pork, but I wanted the egg rolls to be a bit more filling so I decided to add ground pork.

Super great addition!

I'm usually not a huge fan of egg rolls with just cabbage.
Egg rolls with pork...YES.



Serve with rice and dipping sauce. I made a 50/50 soy/rice vinegar dipping sauce and bought a bottle of sweet chili sauce (my fav!)

Baked Pork Egg Rolls

Ingredients:
1 lb ground pork
1 bag cole slaw
1 pkg egg roll wrappers
Kikkoman garlic teriyaki sauce
soy sauce
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp ground ginger
salt and pepper
cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.

Put the coleslaw in a microwave safe bowl with a very small splash of water and microwave for 5 minutes. Drain any extra liquid.

 Brown the ground pork. Season and pour a splash of the garlic teriyaki in right before it's completely cooked (I just poured some in, it was probably a couple tablespoons at most) just so it's slightly flavored but not completely wet.

In a large bowl mix the cooked ground pork, heated coleslaw, garlic, ginger, a little salt and pepper, and a splash of soy sauce. Place a bit of filling in the center of each egg roll wrapper. Keep a small bowl of water next to you and with your finger rub a little water around each corner. Fold three corners in and then roll towards the remaining corner. Make sure the inside of that last corner has water on it so when it wraps around it will stick to the roll.

Place the egg rolls on a greased baking sheet and spray the tops of the egg rolls with cooking spray.

Bake 15 minutes and then flip the egg rolls. Bake an additional 10-15 minutes.
Let cool a few minutes before serving. Serve with sweet chili sauce or soy.

These were best served fresh, although I had a few left over that I reheated the next day and they tasted fine. The wrapper just wasn't as crispy.

Recipe adapted from: Joyful Abode

Tuna Cakes

I have like 20 other posts that are waiting to be published. But I made this tonight and it was so good I wanted to share it immediately.

We are seriously past grocery day and I was too lazy to go to the store, so I went to one of those websites where you put in all the ingredients you have in your fridge and it gives you recipe possibilities.

Well, needless to say....I have a ton of tuna and thought , "hey if this is gross I'll make tuna sandwiches."

So. Not. Gross.

The base of this recipe is literally tuna, eggs, and breadcrumbs...but that sounds seriously boring.

So I doctored it up a bit.

Please make this...someday when you are searching your cupboards looking for something other than crackers and water.

Try these tuna cakes. They are definitely going on my list of recipe staples.

Tuna Cakes

Ingredients:
2 cans tuna
2 eggs
3/4 cup home style stuffing
2 tsp. Dijon style mustard
3 tsp. Teriyaki sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Salt and pepper to taste. Form 4 tuna patties and fry in sesame oil (or any cooking oil, that's just what I had) until golden on both sides.

I served with brown rice and topped with sweet chili sauce. It was a slightly Asian tasting meal. Super tasty served this way.

Recipe inspired by: My Fridge Food

I kind of want to go make these right now.

Chipotle Mayo

This post is a quickie.



This is one of those recipes that hardly even counts as a recipe.

You can be so bad at cooking that you're basically the anti-cook. BUT even anti-cooks can make a sandwich. I threw a baby shower (actually TWO baby showers) for my sister and my sister-in-law and served up a sandwich bar. It was a hit! I had a bunch of different toppings and different condiments; one obviously being Chipotle Mayo.

So if you are an anti-cook and are incapable of making anything impressive over the stove, make a bunch of sandwiches with homemade dressings. (Or better yet, get all the sandwich stuff and make your guests make their own! You can't mess that up)

It's impressive and it's easy.
I will definitely be making this again if only to have on hand in my refrigerator.

Chipotle Mayo

Ingredients:
1 cup mayo (NOT miracle whip)
2 chipotles in adobo sauce
1 tablespoon adobo sauce
1/2 lime, juice

Directions:
Toss all ingredients in a food processor and puree until desired consistency. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Doesn't get much easier than that!

Recipe from: Food Network, Bobby Flay

Summer Salad

I warned you that summer was here and therefore I am busy.



You haven't seen many blog posts this season, but don't worry. I have about a billion lined up just waiting for text.

This summer has been a mixture of crazy and fun. Let me just cue you in on a few points.

My sister is pregnant.
My sister in law is pregnant.
My OTHER sister in law is pregnant.
I'M PREGNANT! (6 weeks...)

My parents took on a new church in a new area.
They're moving.

We vacationed, put on a conference with 1000 teenagers, updated multiple areas of our house. We went to the beach, traveled, had multiple sets of company.

I planned two elaborate baby showers...and am currently making plans for a wedding I'm in this fall.
AND I HAVE A CHILD UNDER THE AGE OF 1. That right there tops everything.

Those are just a FEW of the major things we took part in this summer, but here's something to know: during all of those previously mentioned fun and crazy things, we ate food! I know... you're surprised.

So I have many recipes, some crappy pictures, and about 20 blog posts waiting to be published. Over the next few weeks I'll share some of the things I made this summer.



Starting with this salad.

I don't even know what to say about this salad other than OOHHH EMMMM GEEEEE!

It is SO good.

I called it a "Summer Salad" because I don't know where the recipe originally came from; therefore, I don't know what it's originally called. Plus I made it this summer...and it has so many delicious things in it that I couldn't call it a chicken salad, or even a berry salad. So it's a summer salad.

If this isn't summery, then I don't know what is.

Summer Salad

Ingredients:
1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
Mixture of romaine lettuce and spring mix
1 lb strawberries, sliced
1 cup blueberries
2/3 cup blue cheese
1 cup honey roasted peanuts
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp. olive oil

Directions:
I personally don't think you can wreck salad...so that's why I don't have real quantity measurements for the lettuce. Start with as much lettuce as you think appropriate (I probably did 6 or 7 cups) in a large serving bowl (this is a large salad.) Place the shredded chicken in the center of the lettuce. Spread the berries around the outside of the chicken. Sprinkle the blue cheese over the whole thing. Spread the peanuts in the center and drizzle lemon juice and olive oil over the entire salad. Finish with salt and pepper.

If you are skeptical of the dressing, you could leave it out and serve something else on the side. But know this: every time I've had this or made this people wonder what in the world is in the dressing...and NO ONE has ever said they didn't like it.



Recipe from: I'm not sure, but I wish I had made it up.

Strawberry Shortcake Cake

I originally titled this post, "The Perfect Summer Cake."



And quite honestly, it IS the perfect summer cake. I've made it four times already this summer and every single time it tasted perfect.



I've made this cake a few different ways: four full layers (which, by the way, makes the cake literally a foot tall), four half layers, two full layers, and finally (as you can see in this photo) zebra.



I found out the hard way that layering four full layers made the cake look super cool, but it barely even fit in the fridge. It was so tall that cutting a piece took 2 large knives, 4 hands, and a quick plate. 

Looked impressive. 

Ridiculously unpractical.

So, this time I decided to zebra the layers. This particular batter was a little bit thicker than I would have preferred, so the layers didn't spread as evenly or pretty as I would have liked. But the effect was still impressive.

If you've never made a zebra cake before, its SO easy. You just pour 1/3 cup of white batter in the center of the pan; and then 1/3 cup of red batter in the center of the white batter. Keep pouring directly in the center with alternating colors until the pan is filled (per baking directions.)



In between each layer (no matter how many layers you do) spread a generous amount of whipped cream and chopped strawberries. 

The original recipe calls for white cake mix and red velvet cake mix. I've made it that way and it is delicious. But this time I couldn't find red velvet cake mix anywhere. So I substituted with strawberry cake mix. 

Either one you choose tastes amazing.



Even with four layers this cake was incredibly light and refreshing.

AND its made with cake mix! So consider it quick and easy.

Strawberry Shortcake Cake

Ingredients:
Box white cake
Box red velvet cake
2 16 oz containers of whipped cream
1 lb strawberries, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

Mix cake mixes according to directions on box. Lightly grease two 9 inch cake pans. To zebra the layers pour 1/3 cup of white batter in the center of the pan; and then 1/3 cup of red batter in the center of the white batter. Keep pouring directly in the center with alternating colors until both pans are filled (about 2/3 full.)

Bake for 30 minutes or until center is set (use a knife or toothpick to test...if it comes out clean it's done!)

Once both layers are completely cooled, spread whipped cream on top of the bottom layer. Top with strawberries and second layer. Frost the entire cake with remaining whipped cream and top with strawberries.

If you are going to travel with this cake I've found it to be easier to just assemble on site. Whipped cream doesn't hold up as well as frosting in heat or in travel, so keep it in the fridge until ready to serve.

Recipe adapted from: I am baker



This really is the perfect summer cake.