Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Ninja Soccer Kick Win - Spectator Fail

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Watch the second time he kicks!

Chicken Police

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Bizkit the Sleep Walking Dog

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Fat Girl Falls Off Swing

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Listen to her ask them not to push her any higher bc she is scared. What friends...

Baby Panda Sneezing

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Breakdance Cat Attack

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FANTASY FACTORY MEATY FALLS

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Stringy Cheesy Egg Rolls

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I absolutely love these cheese sticks! After making these cheese sticks, I will never buy frozen cheese sticks again. This is one recipe that I was given and did not change a thing. There is very little prep time involved and only 2 minutes to cook. These are perfect for a snack, appetizer, or a small meal.

Ingredients
(Buy as much as you plan to cook!)
• Egg Roll Wraps
• Mozzarella String Cheese
• Cooking Oil
• Marinara Sauce

Cheese Sticks
1. We use a deep fat fryer.
2. Set deep fat fryer to 360° (or) Heat cooking oil in skillet
3. Place cheese stick on a corner of the egg roll wrapper and begin to roll.
4. Roll until a little over half way.
5. Wet the sides and fold over.
6. Wet the edges of the remaining unfolded egg roll wrap.
7. Roll the rest of the egg roll wrap around the cheese.
8. Fry for 2 min.
9. Place cooked cheese sticks on a paper towel to remove any excess grease.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Wonton Soup

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I love Chinese food but my son does not like it. However…he loves wonton soup. He would he eat it more often if I would cook it more. Making the wontons is a little time consuming if you do not make them on a regular basis. One thing about this soup is you can change so many things about it. All of the vegetables are optional and many of the spices can be changed to suit your tastes. I have looked up and put together several recipes to get it the way I liked it. I just recently started using ginger. Ginger is one of those things that amazes me because it smells so sweet yet it is spicy. I do not use much of it because it can drastically change the taste of the soup. We also just started using the water chestnuts. I have to say I really like them in the soup. We have always put mushrooms and bok choy in the soup!


Ingredients for Wontons

½ lb of ground pork
1 tsp sherry
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp green onions (finely chopped)
1 tsp mushrooms (finely chopped)
¼ tsp ginger (finely shredded)
½ tsp cornstarch
sprinkle of brown sugar
couple of grinds of white pepper
30-40 Wonton Wrappers

Ingredients for Soup

2 stalks bok choy
1 heaping cup of mushrooms sliced (we use baby portabellas)
1 (8oz) can sliced water chestnuts
2 tbs green onions (sliced)
¼ tsp ginger (finely shredded)
8 cups chicken broth
1 tbs soy sauce
1 dash sesame oil
1 dash sherry



Directions for Wontons

1. In a bowl mix ground pork, sherry, soy sauce, & sesame oil.
2. Finely chop mushrooms & green onions. Add to mixture.



3. Use a fine grater and shred ginger. Add to mixture.


4. Add cornstarch & brown sugar.

5. Use a white pepper grinder. Grind two times.
6. Make sure ingredients are mixed thoroughly.
7. Set bowl aside for 25 min to allow meat to absorb flavor and cornstarch to thicken the mixture.

***The way the wontons are folded are based on different cultures from what I have read. If you search the Internet you will find several ways to fold the wontons. I have tried all of the ways I have found and this is the one we like best. It stays together and does not burst. We also like the way the noodle hangs around the meat as well.

This is the most time consuming part of the directions. I have sat in a Chinese restaurant and watched a women make at least 100 of these in the time it takes me to make 30-40. The way she wrapped them was way more complicated than these directions and she used a butter knife to measure the meat and wrap it. I know I am a nerd but it is so cool to sit and watch her do this!

8. Place a wonton wrapper on a flat surface. Fill a small bowl or container with water.

9. Place 1 tsp of meat in the middle of the wonton wrapper.
10. Wet 2 sides of the wonton wrapper.
11. Fold the other two sides over to form a triangle. Press meat toward the center and squeeze out the air. Make sure you press the wrapper together well. If not the meat will come out of the wrapper.

12. Press in the bottom of the triangle where the meat is to make a u shape.

13. Grab the 2 ends of the u shape and pull them together.
14. Wet one of the tips and press the ends together securely. (I learned the hard way that if you do not press down all the ends securely, the meat will not stay in the wonton wrapper!)

15. I do not measure the meat out anymore so this recipe makes 30-40 wontons.


Directions for Soup

If you want a clear broth do NOT put the mushrooms, soy sauce, sesame oil, & cherry in the pot. These ingredients make the broth a light brown color.

1. While meat mixture is sitting begin preparing soup.
2. Cut the ends off of two stalks of bok choy and wash the stalks.

3. Begin to cut the bok choy with a diagonal cut from the end of the stalk. Continue to cut through the leafy part. Place in the pot. (Some of the recipes I have found say to use only the stalk. Some say to use only the leafy part. I use the whole stalk. When we have eaten this in the restaurants I always thought they used some kind of celery or cabbage or both. It was actually bok choy.)


4. Add sliced mushrooms to the pot. We use sliced baby portabella mushrooms.
5. Add sliced water chestnuts to the pot. I buy the whole water chestnuts because they are a good bit cheaper and I slice them myself.
6. Slice the green onions about 1/8 in long. Add to pot.
7. Use a fine grater and shred ginger. Add to pot.

8. Pour the chicken broth in the put.
9. Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, & cherry to the pot.
10. Mix all ingredients together and put the flame on medium.

Go back to the wontons and wrap them while the pot is heating up.

11. When you are almost finished wrapping the wontons, turn the heat up to high.
12. Once you have a rolling boil, carefully drop the wontons in one by one. If you pressed the ends together well you do not have to be too careful. The wontons will not stick together if you put them in one by one.


13. Mix the soup up and return to a rolling boil.
14. Cook an additional 5 minutes.

15. Use a big serving spoon (We use a 1 cup soup spoon) to transfer to individual bowls. Make sure you have broth, vegetables, and 2-4 wontons in each bowl.

16. (Optional) Sprinkle with a few green onions. Add soy sauce to taste. If you use soy sauce you should not need any salt because the soy sauce is very salty.

If you do not eat all of the soup you may want to take the wontons out of the soup and place it in 2 separate containers before refrigerating. The soup will become very thick if you leave them in. Some of the recipes I have found actually boil the wontons in water and drain like noodles. I like to cook them in the chicken broth because of the flavor.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Nachi Nachos & Burritos

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This is one of the first things my Dad taught me how to cook. This is also one of the things that we all eat. We started off with just nachos and my son convinced me it would be good in a burrito too.

I love spicy food so I always put jalapenos on my nachos. My son does not like to eat the jalapenos but we still cook his nachos with them because he likes the flavor it gives them then he pulls them off. When we make the burritos I always sprinkle jalapeno juice over the mix. We love sour cream and eat a lot of it. We will not eat nachos or burritos without sour cream. However, we do not usually eat them with guacamole because I am the only one who eats it. If I serve this to guests I serve it with sour cream and guacamole.

Ingredients
1 lb Ground Meat
1 Packet Taco Seasoning
1 -16oz Can of Refried Beans
1 Bag of Tortilla Chips (round or triangle shaped)
1 Pack of Burrito Wraps
1 Block of Cheese Shredded (we like sharp cheddar)
Optional Ingredients
Sliced Jalapenos
Sour Cream
Guacamole
Shredded Lettuce
Diced Tomatoes
Taco Sauce
(For the beans & seasoning we like Casa Fiesta. We use Louisiana brand jalapenos.)

Nachi Nachos & Burrito Mix
• Brown ground meat in a skillet on medium heat.
• Mix taco seasoning according to packet directions.
• Add the refried beans and mix thoroughly.
• If mixture is too thick add 1tbs of water at a time until desired consistency is reached.
• Turn heat down to medium-low and cook about 5 minutes.




Nachi Nachos
• Heat oven to 350°
• Place nacho chips on an air bake sheet.
• Spoon 1tbs of mixture on each nacho.
• Put a generous amount of shredded cheese on each nacho.
• Place a sliced jalapeno on each nacho.
• Bake until cheese is melted.
• Serve with any additional ingredients from optional ingredients above.




Burritos
• Place a burrito wrap on plate.
• Fill wrap with mixture.
• Put a generous amount of shredded cheese over mixture.
• Put any additional ingredients from optional ingredients above.
• Wrap the burrito up. – Fold top and bottom over then fold each side over then flip burrito over.
• Sprinkle cheese over top of burrito.


We do not do well with actually eating leftovers but we always finish the nacho mix off! When we heat it up we sprinkle a little water over the mix so it is not too dry. I also started putting a little jalapeno juice in it to kick up the spice.

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Monday, November 21, 2011

Si Senorita, Chips & Salsa Please!

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I LOVE salsa! We keep fresh salsa in the fridge at all times. I like a thin salsa, not chunky. After making this salsa I realized I love the smell of cumin. This salsa is so easy to make & so good!

***Since this is a fresh salsa, it will not last as long as store bought salsa in the fridge.

Ingredients
10-12 sliced jalapeno peppers (we like the “Louisiana” brand)
½ small yellow onion
1 (14.5 oz) can of diced tomatoes and green chilies
1 (14.5 oz) can of whole tomatoes (do not drain)
¾ tsp garlic salt
¼ tsp sugar
½ tsp cumin


• Put jalapenos and onions in the blender on chop.
• Add both cans of tomatoes.
• Add salt, sugar, and cumin.
• Blend all ingredients on chop.
• Pour the salsa in a covered container.
• Chill salsa in the fridge for a couple of hours to absorb flavor.
• Keep unused salsa in the fridge!
• Serve chilled or warmed!


Tortilla Chips
• We really like “Tia Rosa Megathin Tortilla Chips”
• Put chips in a microwaveable container.
• Sprinkle salt and spices on chips (we use “Rex Cajun Creole Seasoning”)
• Microwave for 15 seconds at a time…until you reach the desired temperature. Shake in between to evenly heat.

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Sunday, November 20, 2011

My Crockpot Italian Chicken

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I have been finding many versions of this recipe on the internet. Many of the pictures that they have linked to this recipe on Pinterest are actually a much more complicated dish. I tried it...then made it my own! We prefer dark meat chicken and we put mushrooms in everything. So here is my take on it.

Crockpot Italian Chicken Pasta

4 Chicken Thighs (fat and bones removed)
1 Packet of Zesty Italian Dressing Spices
1 8oz Cream Cheese (softened)
1 4oz Can of Mushrooms (or 1 cup fresh portobello mushrooms)
2 10.75oz Cans of Cream of Chicken & Mushroom
1/2lb Dry Rotini Pasta

Soften cream cheese. 
Cut and remove the fat and bones from the chicken thighs.
Place all ingredients in the crockpot.
Cook on low for 4 hours.
About 20 minutes before the dish is finished, cook and drain pasta.
When the italian chicken is finished, turn the crockpot to low and pour the pasta in.
Let the pasta sit in the sauce for 10 minutes to absorb the flavor.
Serve & enjoy!
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