Baked Southwestern Egg Rolls

I love, love, LOVE the Southwestern Egg Rolls from Chili's. In fact, that's the main reason I go there - to get those egg rolls. I've tried making copycat Southwestern Egg Rolls before and they've never turned out just right. I didn't want to put a lot of money into getting all the weird ingredients that the recipes called for. But that all changed...because of Pinterest! :)

About a week before my Shutterfly party, I was looking through Pinterest for some party food ideas and came across these Baked Southwestern Egg Rolls from Annie's Eats. They're made with simple enough ingredients and looked fairly easy to make.

The verdict? SOOOOOOO good! Seriously, if these could be considered a Thanksgiving food, I would have made these for Thanksgiving. And I've considered making these for dinner almost every night since the party too. It's too bad that I don't keep egg roll wrappers on hand! :)

So, since these are so absolutely delish, I just had to share the recipe with you! Pretty much everyone at the party agreed with me. I think the few who didn't don't quite share my love and enthusiasm for the real things.

Here is Annie's recipe with my variations. Annie made her's vegetarian, but I added chicken to mine. I also put out sour cream and ranch instead of salsa.

Ingredients for the Mixture:2 cups corn, thawed I (I used 1 can of corn because I was out of the frozen kind)
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (10 oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (I used about half of a 16oz package of frozen spinach. I was really tired of squeezing and chopping it, lol)
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend (I just used colby jack - it's what I had on hand)
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chiles, drained
4 green onions, chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
2 cups chicken (I used some pre-cooked on clearance chicken breasts from the store)
Also Need:
1 package egg roll wrappers
1 slightly beaten egg - used to seal the wrappers

Mix everything together and start rolling your egg rolls! If you've never used egg roll wrappers, you want to place them so one of the points is pointed at you (so you see a diamond rather than a square). This is where my 3 years of rolling tacos at Taco Time came in handy! Add a couple spoonfulls (I used about 1/4 cup of the mixture in each rolls) of the mixture to the middle of the wrapper. Take the corner closest to you and fold it over the misture then pull back slightly around the mixture. Fold the side corners over and then start rolling towards the top corner. After rolling almost completely, dip your fingers or a brush into the egg and rub onto the corner of the wrapper to seal it. Bake for about 10-15 minutes at 425 degrees.

You could potentially fry these, but I wasn't about to attempt that right before the party. I don't have a deep fryer and baking was much simpler. And much healthier! :)

I didn't want the rolls getting soggy or sticking together, so made the mixture the night before and let it sit in the fridge. Then about an hour before the party I rolled them all and put them in the oven about 10 minutes before the party started so that they would be nice and warm when the party started.
There were a few leftover after the party, so I put them in the fridge and then reheated them the next day by putting them in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Crispy and tasty just like the day before.

Yummy Dinner Rolls

These rolls are perfect for your Thanksgiving dinner - or any other dinner, for that matter! They turn out soft, a little sweet, and just melt in your mouth. The dough is very easy to work with and the recipe is pretty simple!

I came across this recipe on a message board that I used to frequent over on iVillage. Around Thanksgiving, we would all post our favorite recipes and this one happened to be posted. I was looking for a yummy roll recipe one day and remembered this one, so I tried it. It's now my go-to roll recipe. I made these for a Relief Society Enrichment one time and they were such a hit that I was asked specifically to bring these to the next 3 activities!

Unfortunately I don't have a picture right now. I made them for our Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday with my mom, but totally forgot to snap a picture. I'm making them again on Thursday for Thanksgiving at my Sister-in-Laws, so I'll try and remember to get a pic then. I'm also going to attempt making the dough ahead of time, freezing it, then driving an hour and half with them to dinner, then baking them. We'll see how that goes!

Ingredients:
1/2 c. warm water (for the yeast)
1 Tbsp. yeast
1 c. milk, scalded
1/4 c. shortening
1 tsp. salt
1/3 c. sugar
2 eggs
4-5 c. flour

Directions:
1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let it proof for a few minutes (but it really doesn't need to double in size)

2. Scald your milk. You can do this by microwaving it for about 2 minutes. I saw a tip somewhere (sorry, I don't have the source) that said to save part of the milk - about 1/4 c of it - before scalding. Microwave the 3/4 cup and then after it comes out of the microwave, add the remaining 1/4 cup of cold milk. This will help it cool down faster so that it doesn't ruin the eggs, melt the shortening, or ruin the yeast.

3. While the milk is cooling down, add the rest of your ingredients to a mixing bowl. Add the milk and yeast to the rest of the ingredients and mix slightly. Then add the flour, 1 cup at a time. Do NOT add too much flour otherwise your rolls will be chewy and dense. 5 cups is the most I will ever add. I made the mistake of trying to make the dough resemble bread and added about 6 cups one time. Not a good thing. The dough will still be pretty sticky, but that's okay!

4. Let the dough raise for 1 hour. Be sure to cover the bowl with a warm towel.

5. Shape into balls and put into muffin pans. The dough will be sticky, but just use some flour (the extra here won't hurt) to keep them from getting too sticky. Instead of kneading, just work them a bit as you shape them. I also prefer to cook mine in muffin tins. I find they cook better and more evenly. When I tried placing them in pans, the outside rolls would get really crispy and the ones in the middle were still doughy. In muffin tins, they each cook perfectly! Also, these really get big both while they raise and when they start to cook. So don't feel like you have to make them big when you shape them.

6. Let them raise again. My notes say to let them raise again for 1 hour, but I never let them go that long. I've let them go for as little as 20 minutes and they still bake perfectly.

7. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes or until they start to turn golden brown.

8. Remove from the oven and spread some butter across the tops (Either paint melted butter on the top or rub a stick of butter across the tops). Enjoy!

These are soooooo good! If you try them, let me know what you think!

Harvest Party Link Up

Halloween is over we just don't want the party to end. So of course, we need a new party! We knew you'd agree! How's about a Thanksgiving/Fall themed party?

<a href="http://lifeinthemotherhood.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee81/mrsdupree819/HarvestPartyButton150.png" border="0" alt="Life in the Motherhood"></a>

Just a few suggestions before joining the party...

1. We'd love it if you would be a LITM follower. You can join us through GFC, Facebook, Feedburner, and we're even both are on Pinterest!
2. We'd also really appreciate it if you would link back to us so that others can join the fun too. If you really loved us, you'd grab one of our awesome buttons (either the Harvest Party button above or the LITM button from the sidebar) :)
3. Remember to link to your specific post and not just to your blog. And please, no Etsy shops or giveaways. However, Pinterest boards are permitted :)
4. There's no limit to how many posts you can link up - we'd love to see everything you've got! Just make sure they're Fall or Thanksgiving related. Also, if you shared something in our Halloween party that could also be "fallish," feel free to link it up again!

Let the feasting begin!

                            &

Freezer Cookie Dough

I actually did something I saw on Pinterest! Granted, I can't find the actual pin, but that's beside the point. Once I discovered that using shortening in my cookies makes them turn out better, I decided I needed to use my Pinterest inspiration and throw some in the freezer for later!

Mix up your dough, form into balls, put on a cookie sheet lined with foil (foil isn't necessary but it eliminates some clean up), and stick it in the freezer for at least an hour. They can go for longer, and it won't hurt them, but if you're pressed for freezer space an hour will do. They just need to be frozen enough to be firm - you don't want them to be sticking together in the bag! After they're flash frozen, just throw them into a ziploc and put them back into the freezer.

When you're ready to bake, you can either let them thaw for a bit and cook for the normal time, or cook them frozen and add a few minutes to the baking time. Either way, you'll have fresh, warm cookies whenever you want! Yum!

And, as an added bonus, they're cheaper and better for you than the store-bought doughs!

Turkey Cake Balls

I know it's not even October yet and Thanksgiving is still almost 2 months away, but I'm feeling especially festive and in the mood for fall, so I thought I'd post these little guys today.

Last year, right around Thanksgiving, I hosted a Shutterfly Party (through HouseParty.com) and I decided to do something holiday themed and make Turkey cake pops as part of the refreshments.

I'd like to say that they were easy, but not really. They were pretty time consuming. If you've ever made cake pops, you know what I mean.

I used Bakerella's method to make the actual cake ball - crumbled cake a store bought frosting. I then coated them with Almond Bark (it's like the Wilton Candy Melts, but cheaper) and decorated them.

Here's what I used:

-Almond Bark (probably almost 2 packages)
-Indian Candy Corn - like the regular candy corn but it's brown and red instead of orange and yellow. Also, you want the whole candy corns for feathers and then a bunch of the white tips broken off for the beaks.
-Butter cream frosting in light brown, white, red and black
-Decorating bags (4) and tips #12, 1, 2, &3
-Pretzel sticks, halved

1. Cover the cake balls with the Almond Bark
2. As you're coating them, stick in the pretzels for legs and the candy corn for feathers. I actually didn't do this. I coated them and stuck in feathers as I went, but I wish I'd done the pretzels then too. If you look closely you can see where I had to use butter cream to get the legs to stick or where the coating cracked as I stuck in the pretzels.
3. After the coating has hardened, pipe on the turkey "head" using the light brown frosting. I used a #12 tip to make the job quicker. It was just a simple ball shape.
4. Using the white and black frosting, make the eyes. For the whites of the eyes I think I used tip #3. For the black, I used tip #1.
5. Using the white ends of the candy corn, stick them on the head to make a beak.
6. With the red frosting, pipe a little "gobbler" onto the turkey heads using tip #2 or 3.

Sorry - no pics of the process. This was done pre-blog.

Look at those funny little minions!

Thanks to all the fabulous bloggers out there who take the time and effort to host these spectacular parties!! We're linking up here:


Mondays:
Just Something I Whipped Up, Craftastic Monday, Turquoise Lovin', Making the World Cuter Mondays, Making Mondays Marvelous, Creative Me Mondays, Made By You Mondays, Craft-O-Maniac Monday, Made with Love, More the Merrier


Tuesdays:
Get You Craft On, Tuesday Confessional, Who's Got Glam, Ta-Da Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesdays, Take a Look Tuesdays, Show Me What You Got, Tuesday Tutorials, Too Cute Tuesdays, Craft & Tell, Tutorials & Tips Tuesday


Wednesdays:
Whatever Goes Wednesday, Idea Sharing Wednesday, What I Made Wednesday, DIY Under $5, Woot Woot Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Lil' Luna Link Party, Hoo's Got Talent, We Can Do it Cheaper, Look What I Made, What I Whipped up Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday


Thursdays:
Strut Your Stuff, DIY Diva Thursdays, Hookin' Up With House of Hepworths, Get Your Brag On


Fridays:
Frugal Friday, Creative-ly U, Feature Yourself Friday, PityParty, Look At Me, Show & Share, Fantabulous Friday, Tickled Pink Fridays, I'm Lovin' It


Saturdays/Sundays:
Lovely Little Linkup, Weekend Wander, Sundae Scoop, Sunday Showcase Party, Think Pink Sundays, Anything Goes, Whatcha Got Weekend, Free For All

Chicken Enchilada Stacker

This recipe is quickly becoming my favorite way to make enchiladas. Stacking is so much easier than rolling! This is an adaptation of a recipe my mom picked up at Macey's (a local grocery store). It's sooooo yummy!

The original recipe called for ground beef, red enchilada sauce, and an exorbitant amount of beans and green chilis. I modified it based on what our family likes - chicken, green enchilada sauce, and easy on the beans and chilis.

Chicken Enchilada Stackers

Shredded Chicken - about 1-1.5lbs
Cheese - whichever kind you prefer -about 8oz
Tortillas - about 6 (the original recipe called for 10" but I only had 8" on hand)
1 can Refried Beans (I used pureed pinto beans instead)
1 can olives, sliced (can use precut)
2 cans enchilada sauce
1 can diced green chilis, drained (not pictured)

You'll also need a cookie sheet and foil. I lined my cookie sheet with foil (which doesn't affect anything except clean up), but you'll also need it to cover the stack while it's in the oven.

A few notes: I didn't use all of both cans of enchilada sauce - maybe about 1.5 cans. If you had one bigger can (the 15-16oz size) of enchilada sauce, that would probably be perfect. I also only used about half of the can of olives and maybe 1/2 - 2/3 of the beans. If you use the 8" tortillas, you'll only get about 4 servings. If you use the 10" you should be able to get 6 (the original recipe called for 10" and was supposed to yield 6 servings).

1. Mix about 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce into the chicken.
2. To begin your stack, start with a tortilla. Cover with about 1/3 of the chicken mixture. Top with about 1/4 cup cheese.

3. Layer another tortilla. Cover with beans, enchilada sauce, diced chilis, and olives. I can't give you measurements because I just did what looked good.

4. Repeat the layers of chicken and cheese, then beans.
5. Add another layer of chicken and cheese. Top with last tortilla.

6. Cover with foil and put into a 375 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes. Insert a fork/knife to check for doneness (it should be hot). When it's hot in the middle and starting to crisp at the edges, remove the foil.
7. Top with enchilada sauce, the remainder of the cheese and, if desired, olives and chilis. Put it back into the oven until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

8. Slice, serve, and enjoy!!!

P'Zookies

Have you ever heard of P'Zookies? It's a yummy mixture of warm, gooey cookie dough, ice cream, and whatever toppings your heart desires! It's heaven in a bowl! I've only seen these done at a local restaurant and they're so ooey-gooey good! Then I saw them done as individual servings over at Our Best Bites and knew I had to try it out. These are one of my favorite indulgences - when the stars align and I have both ice cream and cookie dough in the house!!

You can do this with either store bought or homemade cookie dough. I did mine in one of our regular ceramic (not sure what it really is) bowls that is oven safe. Make sure to use an oven safe dish! Put some cookie dough in the bowl (no need to spread or smoosh it). You could use any kind of cookie dough. Mine is chocolate chip.

Bake in a 325 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes (until it turns golden brown - or until it's the doneneess you prefer).

Let it cool for 10 minutes. Your tongue will thank me. And I promise it will still be gooey and the ice cream will still get melty.

Top with ice cream and any other toppings (caramel, chocolate, butterscotch, etc). I used a chocolate/vanilla ice cream and didn't have any toppings to go with it. It was still delish without additional toppings. Enjoy!

Chicken Bacon Alfredo Pizza

I mentioned this pizza in my Cheese Stick Recipe post and thought that I should show you my pizza too.

What you'll need:

• Pizza Dough (I HIGHLY reccommend this Breadstick dough from Our Best Bites)
• Garlic Bread Seasoning (also from Our Best Bites)
• 1/2 c butter or margarine
• Alfredo Sauce, approx 1/8 - 1/4 cup
• Bacon Pieces (depending on how much you like - I LOVE bacon)
• About 1 cup cubed/diced/shredded Chicken (cooked and seasoned to your preference) (I'm using canned chicken this time)
• 5-6oz of shredded Mozarella Cheese
• Corn Meal or Corn Grits (if using a pizza stone - optional)
• Any additional toppings - tomatoes, onions, etc

1. Follow the recipe here but stop before you cut and twist the dough into breadsticks. Instead, spread some corn meal/grits onto a pizza stone or pan and roll out the dough. Let it rise for a half hour or so. (Here is where I use the Corn Meal. Spread a bit onto your pizza stone before rolling the dough onto the stone. Technically you're supposed to preheat your stone and then put your dough on. I did that the first time I used my stone, but it was such a pain in the butt to try and move the dough. Now I just put down some Corn Meal and roll the dough straight onto the pizza stone without preheating it. The Corn Meal keeps the dough from sticking too much. Flour does NOT work so well to keep the dough from sticking. I may have tried that, very unsuccessfully.)

2. Mix 1 1/2 TBSP Garlic Bread Sesoning and 1/2 c butter or margarine together. Heat in microwave until melted.
3. After the dough has risen, spread the butter mixture onto the dough, covering completely.

4. Spread the Alfredo sauce on top of the butter, making sure to leave an inch or so around the edge for a crust. I find I like the pizza better if I don't use quite as much sauce. I think I use maybe 1/4 cup total.
5. Sprinkle the chicken, bacon and any other toppings (I used tomatoes) on after the sauce.

6. Top with mozzarella cheese and slide that puppy into the oven. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes (or until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is golden brown.

7. Remove from the oven and coat the crust again with the garlic butter mixture. Cut, serve, and enjoy!

We like to dip this in either Alfredo sauce or the remainder of the garlic butter mixture. That might sound weird, but it's no different than dipping in in the garlic butter from Papa Johns. The homemade mixture is just better (trust me, I've tried them both).

Doesn't this just look heavenly!?

The garlic butter is really what makes this pizza sooo good. The first time I made this pizza, I didn't use the garlic butter and the pizza was okay. The next time I made it, I got the crazy idea to spread the garlic butter on first and Oh.M.Gee!!! Adding the garlic butter took this pizza to a whole new level. Yum!

Homemade Scrubs

I have a couple of homemade scrubs I wanted to share with all of you. It's nice because you know what you are putting on your skin and the ingredients 'should' be ready at hand.

The first scrub is an idea I got from a good friend. She posted this on Facebook and I knew I had to make it not just for me but for my neighbors. It's a peppermint scrub!

Peppermint Scrub

Ingredients:
1cup of sugar
1/3 cup of mineral oil (I just used hypoallergenic baby oil)
2 T of corn syrup
1/2 tsp of peppermint extract
1 drop of green food coloring




Just mix this all together until all the sugar is moistened. I actually added a little bit more baby oil to mine. I put mine in some cute little half pint jars. For gifts just tie a cute ribbon around your jar. If your skin is super sensitive to breakouts try the scrub twice and if your skin breaks out stop using. You should exfoliate your face at least once a week...twice if you can to help keep dead skin from building up and getting into your pores. :)

The other scrub is even easier! Cut a lemon in half and put some sugar on it. Put it on your face and scrub away. Lemon helps with getting rid of age spots, light blemish scar coloring, and freckles(if you want them gone...though I love freckles). You could also put some lemon juice onto a cotton ball along with sugar and that should work fine too.

I hope you all have fun with your homemade scrubs!! Keep coming back for more beauty tips, tricks, and tutorials!

This post was written by ~ Heather :)



We're linking up with these super awesome parties:


Whatever Goes Wednesday, Idea Sharing Wednseday, What I Made Wednesday, Creative-ly U, Feature Yourself Friday, Just Something I Whipped Up, Frugal Friday, DIY Under $5, Lovely Little Linkup, Craftastic Monday, Woot Woot Wednesday, Strut Your Stuff, Our House of Joyful Noise, Get You Craft On, Wow Me Wednesday, Weekend Wander, Turquoise Lovin'

My Favorite Cake Recipe

I recently posted about my R2D2 Cake (INSERT LINK) and thought that I would share my most favorite cake recipe with you all. I can't say that it's MY recipe, because it's an altered version of one I found online. You can find the original recipe at Christy Cooks. It's the Almond Sour Cream Cake. I just call it Sour Cream Cake, because I mostly don't like nutty things. Also because I had no almond flavoring at the time.

I don't have any pictures of the cake itself, just the frosted and finished products. But seriously, this cake is SOOOOO good. I get so many compliments on it. It's firm enough for carving (think 3D Lightning McQueen).

But it's still so soft and moist and yummy. It's heaven. It doesn't even need frosting to be good. Yeah, it's that good. It's also sweet, but not TOO sweet. Mmmm...

Here's the recipe as I make it:

Ingredients:
1 box of cake mix (I particularly love the white, but you could use any flavor)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 c water
1/8 c vegetable oil
2 tsp REAL vanilla extract (the imitation stuff really does make a difference)
1 c sour cream (go for the full fat stuff :))
4 large eggs

Really the only alteration I made to the ingredients was omitting the almond extract and adding more vanilla. Follow the directions that the original recipe outlines.

I just thought you all might like to know about this little gem of a recipe. If you try it out, let me know what you think. I promise you won't be disappointed!!!

AMAZING Cheesy Bread Sticks!

Ummm, so these things are pretty much to die for. Look at these babies...

Seriously. Dominoes, Pizza Hut, and Papa Johns have nothing on these sweet morsels from heaven.

I can't take all the credit though. The recipes actually come from Our Best Bites. If you haven't ever been over there, you definitely need to go now. Your tummy will thank you later! I can't say the same for your thighs though. I'm not responsible for anything that happens in that department.

Are you done drooling yet? Do you have a list of things to pick up at the store so you can make a few of those delish recipes? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Back to the Cheese Sticks. This combines two of their recipes - the Breadsticks and the Garlic Bread Seasoning. I have to say, the Garlic Bread Seasoning is really what makes this stuff so yummy. I also use it on my Chicken Bacon Alfredo Pizza (that Hubs BEGS for) or any kind of pizza or calzone I make. The breadstick recipe is also what I use as the crust for my pizzas and calzones now too. However, you could really use any breadstick/pizza dough recipe you prefer. It's the Seasoning that you don't want to mess around with.

Anyway, make your favorite dough and roll it out onto a large cookie sheet. When I make pizza, I split it so that 2/3 is pizza and 1/3 is cheese sticks.

The recipe I'm using says to let the dough rise for another half hour to 45 minutes. If it goes longer, no big deal. They'll just be nice and fluffy! But, the best way is to do what your recipe says. While they're rising, you want to get everything else ready. If you haven't already mixed up the Seasoning, then definitely do that now. Take about 1 1/2 TBSP of the seasoning to about 1/2 cup of butter or margarine. That's the measurement Our Best Bites give in their recipe. Though, I don't even measure it out anymore. Melt the seasoning and butter mixture in the microwave until it's nice and melty and spreadable.

This next part works best if you have some kind of brush - a pastry brush, or even an unused (only used for food) paint brush. You could spread it with a spoon or a knife, but they tend to catch the dough and then you wind up with wrinkles and tears. Spread  the mixture out onto the dough - don't be afraid to use it!

After you've put the butter mixture on, you need to spread a little Alfredo sauce on top. I personally prefer the Classico brand, but use whatever kind you like or have on hand. DON'T go crazy with the Alfredo sauce - otherwise you wind up with very saucy breadsticks. If you like sauce with your breadstick, then you can always dip your breadsticks in it later.  Just trust me, do NOT go crazy spreading Alfredo sauce onto the dough. When I split the dough and use it for pizza and breadsticks, I only use maybe 3-4 TBSP of Alfredo sauce for the cheese sticks.

Next comes the cheese. You can use any kind of cheese you want. I prefer some mozzarella and a touch of cheddar. I love the way the Mozzarella melts how it gets all gooey when you pull it apart. Don't go overboard with the cheese either. A little bit goes a long way. When I make pizza and cheese sticks together, I only use about an 8oz pkg of mozzarella cheese on both items.

Stick those puppies in the oven at 350 for about 10-15 minutes. The cheese should be nice and bubbly on top and crust should just be golden brown.

Cut with a pizza cutter and serve while they're warm. You can serve with a little Alfredo sauce for dipping. Or, my favorite way, is to dip them in a little bit of the melted butter/seasoning mixture. SOOOOOOO good!!!

Though they don't even have to be warm for people to enjoy. I doubled this batch - making about 3 cookie sheets full of cheese sticks - for a family reunion. They finished cooking around 11 and sat uneaten until 2 and every last one of these babies were eaten. People were raving about them and asking me for the recipe. My Stepdad also claims that these are better than the Olive Garden's breadsticks. And he loves the breadsticks from the OG. That's a success in my book.