Asian Turkey Meatball Wraps

This recipe was found during a search for Chinese foods. I really looked great, sounded great and probably would have been great had I not dried out the meatballs, substituted tomatoe for the red pepper (they are both red afterall) and actually had big carrots to shred instead of trying to shred baby carrots. I will definitely try this again only cook them in the microwave instead of broiling, using red pepper instead of tomato and buy a bag of shredded carrots.

Asian Turkey Meatball Wraps (my changes in red)

1 pound ground turkey
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root (used powder)

1 cup brown rice (used basmati)
1 cup water (followed directions on rice and adjusted accordingly)
16 large lettuce leaves (used iceberg, won't do that again)
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1 cup sliced red bell pepper
1 cup sliced radishes

1/3 cup light soy sauce
1/3 cup water
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root (used powder)
1 teaspoon sugar

In a medium bowl, mix together ground turkey, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon minced garlic and 2 teaspoons ginger. Form into 16 meatballs and roll into ovals. Cover and refrigerate.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine rice with 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, or until rice is tender.

Preheat the grill or broiler. Arrange rice, lettuce leaves, carrots, scallions, radishes and red peppers onto a serving platter or place each into a small bowl.

In a medium bowl, mix together 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup water, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons garlic, 1 tablespoon ginger, and sugar. Divide into 4 small dipping bowls.

Thread two meatballs onto each 10 inch skewer. Grill or broil for 10 to 12 minutes, turning occasionally to brown all sides. If broiling, line the broiler pan with aluminum foil and drain fat after 6 minutes.

To eat, place a leaf of lettuce onto the palm of your hand, spoon on a little rice, then a meat roll, and a few of the vegetables. Roll up and dip in dipping sauce or spoon sauce over.

Recipe-- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2009 Allrecipes.com

Picture--© Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

Almond Jello

I found this recipe while searching for different Chinese recipes to try during our unit. I didn't want stir fry and eggrolls all the time. This is definately an interesting twist on jello but is really quite good despite the odd look it has. Next time I will use more natural ingredients including agar-agar and evaporated cane juice following this recipe a bit more closly.

Almond Jello Recipe (my changes in red)

3 cups evaporated milk (not condensed)
1 cup sugar
2 packages unflavored gelatin
4 tsp amond extract, divided
1 (14 oz) fruit cocktail

Take 1 cup evaporated milk, the gelatin and sugar and disolve over low heat.
Add 2 tsp almond extract
Take remaining 2 cups milk and mix with remaining 2 tsp almond extract, stir and add into hot milk. (I let the milk get almost to the boiling point.)
Stir until well blended.
Pour into a bowl and cool in fridge 2-3 hours. (I had to put it in the freezer for about an hour to have it done in time for supper)
When firm, cut into cubes adding the fruit cocktail, including liquid.
Mix lightly and serve.

Recipe © 2009 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved. http://www.recipezaar.com

Picture © 2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

Mary Todd Lincoln's Cake

For Cool's birthday and President's Day the picklets and I made Mary Todd Lincoln's Cake. Good enough for a President and good enough for us! It was delish! The almonds make all the difference.

The author of the article said it took her 4 hours beginning to end to make the cake but I found it took about half an hour to prepare then half an hour to bake. Of course I used a hand mixer and a stand mixer. But I still don't think it would take 4 hours.

Here is the recipe:

MARY TODD LINCOLN CAKE
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter (Smart Balance)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 c. cake flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat and 1 1/4 cup white flour)
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 1/3 cups milk
1 cup finely chopped almonds
6 egg whites - stiffly beaten

Cream sugar, butter and vanilla. Sift together cake flour and baking powder three times.
Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Stir in almonds. Gently fold in the egg whites.
Pour into two greased and floured 9 x 11/2-inch round baking pans.
Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.
Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

WHITE FROSTING
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
dash salt
2 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla

Bring to boiling, sugar, water, cream of tartar and salt.
Boil until sugar dissolves. Put egg whites in mixing bowl.
Start beater and while egg whites are beating, very slowly add hot syrup.
Beat until stiff peaks form, about 7 minutes.
Beat in vanilla for one more minute.

Peanut Butter and Banana Egg Rolls

This idea came from The Simple Cajun Life blog. These are really yummy!

What I did was this:

Mashed two bananas in a bowl. Added a couple of glops of peanut butter and mixed. Put the mixture into eggroll wrappers, roll like an eggroll (instructions on wrapper package) and fry up in butter. I kept warm in low oven until we were ready to eat them. Before serving I sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Bacon and Egg Fried Rice

Simple and yummy!

Bacon and Egg Fried Rice

basmati rice, cooked (I made 4-6 servings which was 1 1/2 cups rice to 3 cups water)
1/4 cup Bac-Uns
6 eggs
3 TBS onion, diced
3 TBS soy sauce, plus extra for the table
sesame oil
butter

Saute onion in a little butter until a little soft. Add eggs and Bac-Uns and scramble until soft set. Move eggs off to one side of the pan, add a little oil and cooked rice. Mix eggs with rice and serve with extra soy sauce if wanted.

Guacamole

For lunch today we had taco salads. For the dressing I made homemade guacamole with some avocados I had in the fridge. Yum! I know, if I would look, I could probably find a "real" recipe but we have made guacamole this way since we started making it and I guess we must live by the old adage...if it ain't broken, don't fix it.

Guacamole ala Gerky (today's recipe)

5 avocados diced
1/2 carton grape tomatoes diced
1/2 red onion diced
1 capful of lemon juice
1/4 tsp Nature's Seasoning
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Mix all together and eat. YUM!
To keep it green, place a couple of avocado pits in it.

Chinese Noodle Soup

2 boxes chicken broth
1 boxrice noodles(the clear kind)
1 lb snow peas
2 shredded carrots
1 large onion chopped
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 TBs soy sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
1 tsp sesame oil

Boil broth. Add veggies. Reduce heat, cover and let cook 5-8 minutes. Add nooodles and cook according to package directions. Stir in sesame oil. Serve with toasted sesame seeds if desired.