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

 

Good morning! This morning I encountered an old nemesis, Arroz con Leche.  If you are not familiar with the Mexican traditions it is the same thing as rice pudding. It is Very delicious. The problem is that I hardly ever make it correctly. The rice is either burned or not quite done and Skeeter loves Arroz con Leche.  Today I got it right!

 

Here is the recipe.

• 4 Cups Water
• 2 Cups Mahatma Rice
• 1 Tbs. Vanilla Extract
• 2 Cups sugar
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 2 Tbs. Cinnamon Powder
• 2 cups 1% milk
• 1 tsp oil

1. Add water, oil and cinnamon stick to medium saucepan and bring to boil
2. Add rice and cook until water is almost gone on Medium temp.
3. Add milk, sugar (or sugar replacement) and vanilla. Cook 8 minutes stirring frequently
4. Remove from heat and cover for 10 minutes.
5. Serve hot with a bit of cold milk and cinnamon sprinkled on top.

 

Enjoy!