Egg Roll Wrappers

After working all day, I traveled to three stores last night to find egg roll wrappers. Who would’ve thought they’d be so hard to find! Eventually, I gave up. Instead, I looked up the ingredients of egg roll wrappers and set my sights on making it happen in my kitchen. And it happened. And I’ll never buy them again because these were just too easy. I noticed they didn’t crisp up quite the same, but it’s easily fixed with a quick bake in the oven after frying them or tossing them in a dry skillet to “toast” them once they’re done. But, in all reality, I just ate them as is and didn’t miss the super crisp bite. It was crispy enough for me. 😉

Ingredients:
2 1/4 c flour
1/2 ice cold water
1 t. salt
1 large egg, beaten

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until combined. Cover and let rest for up to an hour. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for about 3 minutes, adding flour to the workspace if needed. The dough should be soft, pliable, and have good elasticity but not too sticky. Cut the dough into 12 equal(ish) pieces. Do the best you can, but there’s no need to bust out the scale here.

Use your fingers to gently flatten the dough, and then using a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough into a very thin piece. Mine had no actual shape to them. I started with wanting them square, then moved to circle, then just wanted them thin enough to do what they had to do.

Use wax paper or parchment paper to separate them as you make them (don’t be like me). You definitely don’t want to stack the raw egg rolls on top of each other. When I was ready to fill them, I pulled the edges a bit to restretch the dough… think of what it looks like when someone is working a pizza dough. Fill them with your desired filling (I’ll post one soon). Once I have my filling in there, I fold the sides in and roll it up. I use a bit of egg to seal the dough on the seam.

Warm a cast-iron skillet that’s filled about halfway with vegetable oil over medium heat. Cook the egg rolls for about 3 minutes or until the desired color, turning often.

Enjoy!

Spicy Garbanzos

Y’all… chickpeas are easily one of my favorite things to eat. They’re good so many different ways; roasted, pan cooked, fried, raw, on salads, in soups, in anything! I love them!

Because I love them so much, I’m always finding new ways to enjoy them. For these ones I’m sharing today, I ate some of them with my breakfast and the rest sat on my counter and I literally ate them all day and finished them off at dinnertime. I was hooked!

Ingredients:
Olive Oil
1 can garbanzos, drained, rinsed, and patted dry
1/2 tsp crushed fennel seeds*
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Tahini sauce
Kalamata olives, to taste
2-4 T (yes, tablespoons) butter (I’ll let you be the judge of it!)
Sprig of rosemary
1 tsp, or so, fresh squeezed lemon (about 1/4 of the lemon)

Heat a good swirl of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garbanzo beans and cook for about 10 minutes, adjust heat if they’re cooking a bit too fast – but don’t turn it up if you think they’re cooking too slow… hear me here. 😉

Add the seasonings and stir to combine. I have a couple things to say here… if you’re using olives and salted butter, you might skip the salt and taste it when it’s nearly done to see if you need it. If you do, throw it in there, if not then just skip it. I wish I could tell you how much tahini to use – I dipped a butter knife into the jar and whatever was on it is what I swirled all over the beans; super scientific guess would be a teaspoon? Half? I dunno. At the same time, because the olives were next to the tahini in the fridge, I decided they should go in there, too, and so I lived boldly with my love for olives and tossed them in there.

By now, the beans should be fairly crisp and they’ve taken on all that good flavor from the spices – we add the butter, in pats all over the pan. I did 4 tablespoons, but I might’ve only done three had I gone a bit slower. Even then, some folks might find it too rich, but I love butter soooooo… I did not. And a sprig of rosemary if you have it – you won’t regret this decision. Continue to stir while the butter browns being careful not to burn it – about 2 minutes.

To serve, give it a squeeze of lemon juice fresh from a lemon. I didn’t have a lemon so I didn’t do it, but I wished I had a lemon because I would’ve done it. I put an egg on top of mine and enjoyed it that way and I also ate them plain. If you’re following a vegetarian or vegan diet (using a butter alternative), the fennel mixed with the meaty texture of the beans is almost like enjoying some breakfast sausage! Enjoy!

*get out that mortar and pestle to crush the fennel seeds! It releases all kinds of fresh oils and spicy notes from the seed. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you can put them in a resealable bag and beat the tar of of them with a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin. Also, if you have a grinder (a spice one or any other kind – I’m not here to judge you!), that will work just fine, too! Only crush or grind what you need because it loses its flavor pretty quickly.

Sheet Pan Potatoes (and other stuff)

I spent about a year as a vegan when I was going through some eliminating diet things back in the day. It was fine… in the end, my body was okay with animal proteins, so I added them back. Every now and then, though, I still like to make meatless meals that are hearty and filling. This one had cheese, so it’s technically vegetarian, but you catch my drift.

For the record, this is the first recipe I’m sharing here, and I made it a couple weeks ago before I knew the food blog was gonna be a thing. My measurements while making this were non-existent. I’m going to do my best to approximate what they should be, but shoo… do yo’ thang and I’m sure it’ll be delicious.

A couple things to note: the amount of potatoes really depends on the size of the potatoes and how much you want of each kind. I think sweet potatoes add a lovely depth of flavor, but you’re welcome to skip them if you’d prefer to only use russets. Also, in the recipe, I note that You shouldn’t be shy with the salt, and I mean it. Undersalted food is a tragedy. For this dish, I used kosher salt – it has larger grains and adds good flavor.

• 

• 

• 

Ingredients:
2-3 large baking russet potatoes, ~ 1 inch chunks
2-3 large sweet potatoes, ~1 inch chunks
1 small sweet onion, large dice
cherry tomatoes, halved
1 large zucchini, quartered and chunked
15 oz can of black beans, rinsed
10 oz frozen corn, thawed
2 c. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
1/2 t. coriander
1/2 t. smoked paprika
1 T. garlic and herb seasoning (I get mine at Aldi!)
1 t. crushed red pepper flakes
1 t. garlic powder

Preheat oven to 400. Cover a large sheet pan with parchment paper. Toss the potatoes with a good round of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread in an even layer on the sheet pan. Roast in the oven for about 25 minutes. While that’s cooking, chop the rest of your veggies.

After 25 minutes, remove the sheet pan, add the remaining veggies and the black beans. Give another drizzle of olive oil over the pan and mix. Add some more salt and pepper and the rest of the seasonings. This is where I’ll have to trust you to make the right choices since I didn’t measure! Don’t be shy with that salt, either. Mix well.

You’re doing great.

Place sheet pan back in the oven for about 20 minutes. Remove, stir, check for doneness with your potatoes. If they need a bit more time, put them back in for 4 minute intervals, until done. Roasting potatoes is very finicky and dependent on how your oven cooks or if you have other things in there with it. Once the potatoes are done (fork tender), cover with shredded cheese and add back into the oven until it’s melty. And beautiful. And lovely. Enjoy!