SparkDad

There is one thing that is for sure, Stickman and Porkchop love Asian style dumplings. For the past six month I have, off and on, looked for wonton wrappers so that I could make some at home. Finally yesterday I found them at Wal-Mart. So I embarked on my first dumpling recipe.

I had 2 pounds of pork in the freezer so I decided to make pork dumplings.  ( This was WAY TOO MUCH! It mad almost 100 dumplings )

I used the recipe at http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Chinese-Dumplings and the recipe was pretty good, although is called for sesame oil in the ingredient list but never used it in the recipe : ( I used their triple boil method for cooking the dumplings which worked very well.

A couple of tips:

- Do not over pack the dumpling wrappers because they will bust open.

- Do not under pack the dumpling wrappers because they will bust open

I know! Confusing! You need just the right amount in there or they will be saggy or they will pop open! It just takes practice! We will be having these very often because the boys love them!

Lastly my new BBQ pit is wonderful but it is also stressful! It is very nice and I want to take good care of it so we bought a cover for it. Now this cover was a cheap one for sure but it protects it from the weather. The only problem with this cheap cover is that it keeps blowing off! In addition it is a light plastic and when we returned the holiday I noticed that it had become brittle and has a foot long tear in it, which is probably a result of it continuously blowing off.

So I set out to find a nice grill cover. I searched and found many sources for the covers but this one stood out.  It seems that the best ones have a heavy grade polyester on the outside and a plastic or PVC lining. They also have velcro adjustment straps instead of those cheap drawstrings. They are higher than I paid for my $14.99 plastic grill cover, but my $300 grill is worth it!  They even had a smaller one there in the same design for a smaller BBQ pit or kettle style pit.

I really like the chili pepper design so Mama if you are reading this post you can add this to my wish list.

- Spark Dad

One of my families favorite meals are homemade flautas. If you are not from Texas you might have never even seen this tasty, crunchy slice of heaven. Flautas are corn tortillas dipped in hot grease, wrapped around shredded beef of chicken and then deep fried. Very delicious. Very bad for you.

 

So tonight I set out to make them, but without all of the grease. Here is the recipe.

 

 

Ingredients:

 

3 Large Split Chicken Breasts

2 Tbs. Salt

2 Tbs Garlic

2 Tbs. Paprika

1 Can Pam or other cooking spray

10-20 Corn Tortillas

1 Plastic Bag

1 Cup Lettuce or Cabbage ( I did not have cabbage tonight )

1/2 Cup Fresh Tomato (Diced)

1/2 Cup Cheddar Cheese (leave out for a healthier meal)

2 Avocados

3 Limes

1/4 medium onion (diced)

1 small bottle of hot sauce (homemade is better)

 

1. Boil Chicken breasts until fully cooked. Remove skin and bones and wash thoroughly.

2. Shred chicken and place in a large bowl

3. Mix paprika, salt and garlic with shredded chicken. Set aside.

4. Slice open avocados, remove the meat inside and place in a small bowl. Using a fork mash up the avocado meat until the desired consistency. Squeeze in juice of 1 lime, add salt, 2 tbs of hot sauce. Mix well and set aside.

5. Slice lettuce or cabbage into small strips. Set aside.

6. Chop tomatoes. Set aside.

7. Spray bottom of a large pan and add in onion. Sauté onion on medium heat until caramelized.

8. Add in chicken mixture to the pan and cook for approximately 10-15 minutes. Do NOT overcook the chicken as it will dry the meat out. You are cooking it just long enough to let the chicken absorb the seasoning. Remove from heat.

9. Take about 6-8 tortillas and place in plastic bag. Do not seal the bag completely. Place in microwave for 2 minutes.

10. Remove tortillas from microwave and lay one tortilla flat. Make a line of chick on one end of  the tortilla. Roll the tortilla into a tight roll and place in baking dish.

11. Repeat until you have covered the bottom of the baking pan.

12. Spray the top of the flautas with pam and put in oven at 450-500 degrees. Cook each side for about 8 minutes or until golden brown.

13. Remove from oven, place on plate and garnish with lettuce or cabbage, guacamole, tomatos and hot sauce.

 

Serve with Mexican rice. Serves 6-8.

 

Enjoy!

 

- Spark Dad

 

Today we had a small party in celebration of the Dia de la Candelaria. This celebration falls 40 days after Christmas and for Catholics it is the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin. You can read a lot more about the tradition here – Article about Dia de la Candelaria

 

The reason that we hosted the party is because early in January we attended a party at some friends house celebrating King’s day. During this party it is traditional to have “King Cake” or “Rosca de Reyes”. Hidden in that cake is a plastic baby Jesus. Tradition says that whomever finds the baby must host the next celebration on the Dia de la Candelaria. Well as you can guess we found the baby!

 

For the party I made a new spin on an old dish. I made Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Casserole.

Note: I did not take photos of the finished product so the photo at left is not of mine but they looked A LOT like it!

 

Ingredients

1 12oz tub of low far Sour Cream

1 Large can of Green Enchilada Sauce

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

10-15 Corn Tortillas

5-6 Chicken Breasts

1 lb Mexican Cheese

2 Tbs. Garlic

2 Tbs. Salt

 

Steps

 

1. Boil chick in large pot on medium heat until cooked fully ( about 1 hour )
2. Drain Chicken and let cool, retain about 1 cup of chicken broth
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
4. Wash and shred chicken and place in a large bowl
5. Season chicken with garlic and salt
6. Mix Cream of Chicken soup with chicken broth
7. In large casserole dish layer 4-6 corn tortillas
8. Pour in 1/3 of the green enchilada sauce
9. Add in 1/3 of sour cream and mix with the enchilada sauce
10. Add 1/3 of shredded chicken
11. Cover chicken with an ample layer of cheese
12. Repeat this process of layering until chicken is all used
13. Top the layers with leftover enchilada sauce, sour cream and cheese
14. Cook in over for 30-45 minutes

Serves 8

 

Hopefully you have been to the Weight Loss Challenge page and read about my attempt to lose 30 pounds by April 1. Today was a good day for me in controlling my diet. I ate very healthy choices. Exercise did not come into the game today however because the kids were home today.

 

I wanted to share a simple health snack with you. Mama introduced me to it. You find this concoction in Mexico nearly all over the country. They put chili on all sorts of fruits. Mangos, oranges, you name it! It is a delicious example of Mexican tradition.  I am not sure what to call it. Maybe the chili orange? You read on and decide.

 

 

 

The ingredients are simple an Orange (or almost any sweet fruit) and Trechas Chili Powder.

 

Steps:

 

1. Slice the orange

2. Remove the seeds

3. Sprinkle the orange with the Trechas

4. Eat!

 

Simple! Tasty! Healthy!

 

- Spark Dad

For cake makers fondant is one of the most wonderful concoctions ever created. Fondant is a mixture of marshmallow and confectioners sugar. It is fantastic for making edible creative items for cakes.

I found this awesome cake at the OvenHaven blog.

Mama had recently used fondant to make a very cool Mario Bros. cake for Skeeter’s 9th birthday. You can see the photos below!

I have included a recipe for the fondant below, courtesy of AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 (16 ounce) package miniature marshmallows
• 4 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 pounds confectioners’ sugar, divided

Directions

1. Place the butter in a shallow bowl, and set aside.
2. Place the marshmallows in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on High for 30 seconds to 1 minute to start melting the marshmallows. Carefully stir the water and vanilla extract into the hot marshmallows, and stir until the mixture is smooth. Slowly beat in the confectioners’ sugar, a cup at a time, until you have a sticky dough. Reserve 1 cup of powdered sugar for kneading. The dough will be very stiff.
3. Rub your hands thoroughly with butter, and begin kneading the sticky dough. As you knead, the dough will become workable and pliable. Turn the dough out onto a working surface dusted with confectioners’ sugar and continue kneading until the fondant is smooth and no longer sticky to the touch, 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Form the fondant into a ball, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. To use, allow the fondant to come to room temperature, and roll it out onto a flat surface dusted with confectioners’ sugar.

Skeeter’s 9th Birthday Cake