Oven Fried Pizza Puffs

After making the "Oven Fried Chimichangas" & dating a boy who grew up in Chicago, Jeremy requested I make a rendition of the "Pizza puff"..... I don't have a deep fryer, so we tried to "oven fried" method again. This is my first recipe I've really just made up...so bear with me!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups cooked/chopped sausage
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2/3 marinara or spaghetti sauce (we used a Tomato/Basil sauce)
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped vidalia onion
• 1/4 pepperoni (I cut them in half)
• 5 burrito sized flour tortillas
• Olive oil or cooking spray

• Preheat oven to 400
• Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray or rub some olive oil on the foil
• Mix together the sausage, cheese, sauce, onion, pepper, pepperoni, and italian seasoning
• Put spoonfuls inside the tortilla's and fold closed so all sides are closed
• Place the tortillas on the cookie sheet and either spray with cooking spray or rub with olive oil
• Place in oven for 25 minutes

This may not look all that appetizing, considering I took it when I was almost done eating, but I wanted you to be able to see the inside of the puff!


Enjoy! We did!

Oven Fried Chicken Chimichangas & Fried Corn Cakes

After visiting my sister in Augusta this past weekend and talking about cooking....I am obsessed with 2 ipad apps she suggested to me.....if you have an iPad, I definitely suggest them...."Epicurius" & "Big Oven"
So.....needless to say, these recipes were adapted from both.
I realized when I was almost done cooking that I had not taken ANY pictures, so there are very few in this post....sorry.


Oven Fried Chicken Chimichanga Ingredients:

• Burrito size flour tortillas ( recipe says it makes 4....I made 6)
• 1.5 cups cooked chicken shredded or cut into bite size pieces
• 2/3 cup salsa
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions (including some tops)
• 2 tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
• cooking spray
• Mexican cheese or salsa to top

Fried Corn Cakes Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (I used a bit more for some spice)
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp white distilled vinegar
• 2 cups frozen white shoe peg corn kernels, thawed (you can use yellow corn if you prefer) 
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 2 tbsp canola oil (or more as needed)

Before cooking anything, go ahead and preheat the oven to 400

Oven Fried Chicken Chimichangas Directions:

• Line baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray
• In large bowl, mix chicken, salsa, cumin, oregano, cheese, green onions,  and cilantro.
• Place 2/3 to 1/2 cup of mixture in center of tortilla, fold sides over filling, tucking in the ends and place seam side down on the baking sheet
• Spray tops and sides of tortillas with cooking spray (I just brushed oil over mine)
• Bake in oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown and crisp
• Serve with melted cheese or salsa on top (or whichever garnish you prefer)

Corn Cake Directions:

• Blend flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cayenne pepper in a large bowl.
• Add milk, egg and vinegar to the bowl and whisk to combine.
• Mix in corn and green onions
• Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
• Crop batter by 1/4 cupfuls into the skillet (Like pancakes)
• cook cakes until brown and cooked through (about 3 minutes on each side)
• repeat until all batter is used, adding additional oil as needed (I added a little each time, so they didn't burn on the bottoms)
• Transfer to aluminum foil lined baking sheet, and place in oven to warm 

Finished product:

Enjoy!

Chicken Stir-Fry w/ Rice Noodles

I have been slacking.....I made this last week.
I adapted this recipe from a Paula Deen Recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken tenderloins
• 1 bunch fresh broccoli cut into florets
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 red bell pepper chopped
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 1 8oz can sliced water chestnuts (drained)---I forgot to buy these, I was very disappointed.
• 1 cup chicken broth (I used more b/c I boiled my chicken before hand and shredded it)
• 1/4 cup hoison sauce (found in asian foods section at grocery store)
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. powdered ginger
• 2 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 package rice noodles cooked (or rice...whichever you prefer)
• 1 package frozen egg rolls (yeah...I slacked on that one...whatever)

Directions:

• In a small bowl combine chicken broth, hoison sauce, soy sauce, ginger, and cornstarch. Set aside.
• Heat 2 tbsp oil over med-high heat in wok or large skillet
•  Add chicken and cook for 4-5 mints or until lightly browned, I boiled my chicken in 1 cup of chicken broth/1 cup water for about 45 minutes, drained it and shredded it, so when I added it to the oil, I added it with my veggies....
• After chicken cooks for 4-5 minutes, add in broccoli, carrots, pepper, and onion, cooking for an additional 5 minutes 
• Stir in water chestnuts (if you remembered to buy them...unlike me)
• Add sauce mixture to wok/skillet and bring to boil.
• Reduce heat to med or med-low and let simmer for 4-5 minutes, stir occasionally, until the sauce thickens and coats the mixture.
• Serve over hot rice noodles or rice. (when I made my rice noodles, I mixed together another batch of the sauce I used for the stir fry to toss with the rice noodles.
• During cooking, I baked some frozen "Chung's" Chicken egg rolls. 

Enjoy. 

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Back to the crock pot....honestly, the best invention EVER!
I found this recipe at "Crepes of Wrath"

Ingredients:

• 2.5 lbs pork butt roast (bone in)   [this was enough meat for about 4 people]
• 1/4 cup +  tbsp light brown sugar
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 onion diced (I only had 1/2 an onion, still worked well)
• 1 6oz can tomato paste
• 4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 4 tbsp. molasses
• 3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp chili powder (use less if you don't want it spicy)
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp dry ground mustard
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• a pack of buns
• BBQ sauce if you want (we didn't need any....very juicy, lots of flavor!)

Side: We just had some veggies -- asparagus,carrots, onion....

Directions:

• Cut excess fat off the meat, place in the crock pot.
• Pour all the other ingredients into the crock pot (except the buns and bbq sauce of course)
• Turn the crock pot on low for 8 hours
• (I was home parts of the day, so every now and then I stirred everything and flipped the meat, but it wasn't necessary)
• About 30 minutes before you serve, shred the meat using 2 forks and remove the bone.
• Once the meat is shredded, turn your crock pot on warm

• Serve whenever you're ready
• I put the buns in the oven to warm for a few minutes before serving (we just used little "sammie" buns

• ENJOY!

Easy Cheese Steak subs!

Last night I could NOT decide what to make. I thought about doing a soup and sandwich, but no soups were sounding very appetizing...I ended up picking something easy...cheese steaks....something my mom made us growing up, and very simple to make!

For a side, frozen sweet potato fries.....we went simple last night!!

Ingredients:
1 Box Steakums (they are found in the frozen food section)
1 green pepper sliced
1 onion sliced
1 bag shredded cheese (I bought Hot pepper blend shredded cheese for some spice)
1 pack of hoagies/subs

1 bag frozen orieda sweet potato fries

Preheat oven to 400 - add fries
Heat a skillet over medium-high heat (no oil needed...the meat has enough grease in it)
Cook 1 side of the steakum for about 1 min, turn over and cook for 30-60sec....remove from skillet
I cooked about 5 or 6 of the steakums and made 3 subs.
While cooking the meat, I added the onions and peppers and cooked them on the other half of my skillet for about 5-10 min.
When the meat is done, cut open your subs, add some meat, top with onions and peppers, top with cheese and wrap the whole thing in foil (leave room at the top so the cheese doesn't stick to the foil)
I put the subs in during the last 5 minutes that the fries were cooking just to add some crisp to the bread and melt the cheese.
When it's all done, remove the subs from the foil and plate!

Very Simple and Fast!!

Tomorrow I'm making pulled pork BBQ sandwiches for dinner...