The Nanny (cooking) Diaries: stuffed 'shrooms

For the past week, I have been living with a 12 year old picky eater (nannying while her parents take her big sister to college in New York.) To be fair, this particular 12 year old has reason to be picky... a deathly allergy (no kidding, deathly) to ALL nuts, egg whites, bananas, and avocados. Every time I feed her, i'm slightly terrified that I'm accidentally going to do her in with a rogue peanut or sneaky almond. Despite her picky-ness (chicken, ketchup, sourdough bread and munster cheese was basically her diet before I came along) I did get her to try (and like!) mushrooms by making her these delicious stuffed 'shrooms. Super easy, super quick, can't mess them up!

Stuffed 'Shrooms a la Avery

8 large white mushrooms, washed and dried
1/4 cup minced onion
2 tablespoons parsley
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup shredded parm. cheese
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove stems from mushrooms. Chop up the stems, and mix with all other ingredients. Mix in 2 tablespoons olive oil, and a dash of salt and pepper.

Place empty mushroom caps onto baking dish. Fill mushroom caps to the max! push the stuffing down there to make sure they are full to the brim.

 Drizzle with olive oil before popping them into the oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove and enjoy!!!

The finished product... these were devoured 5 second later

Frosting for Breakfast: Homemade Pop Tarts

After months of avoiding actually starting to train for my marathon, I finally gave in and went with our neighbor Pearl to her Saturday morning running group. Turns out, 15 miles is much easier with a group of people who are equally as miserable! After the run, everyone in the group made something to fill the serious calorie deficit we had created. I brought these little guys, home made pop tarts. They were a HIT, and they are a great excuse to eat frosting in the morning!

1 cup fresh cherries, pitted and diced
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons Corn Starch
2 Tablespoons water
1/2 tsp almond or vanilla almond extract
1 package prepared pie crust

preheat oven to 400.

-Heat cherries, sugar, corn starch, water and extract in medium saucepan, stirring occasionally until filling has thickened. Remove from heat and let cool.
-Roll out prepared pie crust and cut into even rectangles. I made mine about 2 inches x 1 inch, but you can make them as small or as large as you would like. Lightly score dough with a butter knife. Pair up the rectangles and make sure you have an even number.
-Spoon about a tablespoon of cooled cherry mixture onto one of the rectangles. Cover with another crust rectangle, and push edges together with a fork all the way around. Repeat with remaining rectangles.
-Transfer to a baking sheet and cook at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until the edges are just starting to turn brown. Let cool.

Frosting:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Food coloring (optional, but it makes them pretty)

-mix all ingredients together. Add more or less milk to reach desired consistency. Frost cooled pop tarts, and feel free to get crazy with some sprinkles!

Homemade ground turkey ravioli with lemon infused olive oil

Yes, we realize it has been a while since our last post...sorry!  I am going to blame it on an increase in the number of nights popcorn and pinot grigio are our dinner of choice.  Which I am going to subsequently blame on all of the fabulous reality TV Bravo currently has on (shout out to Andy Cohn, we love you...retweet us!!)  But last night we decided to put down the bottle, that's a lie, we still drank two bottles of wine, but I did prepare something that most would consider a socially acceptable meal: Ravioli stuffed with ground turkey and a lemon infused olive oil sauce

This homemade pasta recipe my dad and I learned in a cooking class we took before I moved.  It has also become a staple in the Dieter kitchen.  A few things you need in order to create this masterpiece, a kitchen aid mixer and the pasta attachment. Aside from those tools it's super easy!

Fresh Pasta Recipe:
2 Cups Flour (any variety you want)
2 Eggs
1 Tablespoon water (add a teaspoon at a time)

Mix flour and eggs together then slowly add water until the dough just barely holds together. It should be the consistency of a pie crust. Starting with largest setting (smallest number, 1) on your pasta attachment, feed half of the dough through. You will probably have to do it a few times until it all holds together. Feed through again on setting number 3 and so on until your pasta is the thickness you desire.

Ravioli Stuffing:
1 Pound Ground Turkey (browned in frying pan with garlic and onion)
1/4 Cup Fresh Parmesan Cheese (grated)
1/4 Cup Bread Crumbs
Seasoning (I used an Italian blend, some garlic salt, pepper and rosemary from our herb garden)

To fill the ravioli I use this nifty little ravioli tray.  Lay the fresh pasta dough on the tray then fill with turkey filling, fold a layer of dough over and roll flat. Once you've filled all your ravioli just boil the little guys for 2-3 minutes!

Lemon Infused Olive Oil:
1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 Lemon (cut in slices)
Rosemary and Parsley (again, from our herb garden!)

Heat olive oil, lemon and herbs over low heat while you prepare the rest of this dish. Drizzle overtop for a delicious and light sauce!

Once you have the basics down (making the pasta) you can fill the ravioli with pretty much anything, cook it various ways and top it with tons of sauce options. ENJOY!!

Grilled Fish and Veggies a la Harry Potter for a Mexican Friend

Alec Lopez loves Harry Potter, don't let him tell you otherwise.

We know this because the whole time I cooked him dinner (the past 2 hours) he has been sitting on the couch, eyes glued to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone." Every once and a while, a "yum. smells like chicken" would be muttered (fish... chicken... what's the difference, really) but other than that, the kid was straight-up enchanted with the world of Hogwarts. Really, this obsession is coming on at a perfect time, because movie 8 comes out in a few short weeks and it would be embarrassing if he showed up at the midnight premiere not knowing his Potter facts. 

The menu tonight (ingredients courtesy of Harry Potter's #1 fan himself) was:

Citrus and beer grilled halibut

Corn, ham and tomato mixed veggies

homemade pita bread and tzatziki (see previous post for recipe)

fudge brownies with fresh whipped cream

I took pictures of the cooking process, only to realize after that I didn't have a memory card in my camera... it's been one of those days. 

The recipe for the fish and veggies can be found Here (I substituted halibut for flounder, only difference was increase grilling time to about 20 minutes.)

The brownie recipe can be found here (for fresh whipped cream, just take 1 small container whiping cream, beat with 1/2 cup powder sugar and two table spoons vanilla until desired consistency. serve with warm brownies for some serious deliciousness.)

Olive Garden Inspired Soup, Salad and Bread sticks

Last night's activity...

This is why we couldn't go to Olive Garden today. Actually, to be accurate, this along with our friend/neighbor Pearl's bottle of Kettle One is why we couldn't go to Olive Garden. Or to our friend Heather's cookout (sorry Heather!) This is why we watched reality TV for 7 hours today, and saw about 347 Olive Garden commercials, giving us a ridiculous craving for some soup, salad and bread sticks action (those annoying commercials are shockingly effective.) However, neither one of us were in any state to put on socially acceptable outfits, comb our hair, or even drive a car, forcing us to make some home-made Olive Garden yums. We opted for the "Soup, Salad and Bread sticks" option.

The Menu:
Spinach salad with olive vinigerate and homemade cheesy croutons (no real recipe here, just throw spinach into a bowl, throw some butter-covered bread into the oven and top with shredded cheese)
Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks
Italian Meatball Wedding Soup

First up..
Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks
1.5 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons fresh dill
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1/2 cup milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
4 tablespoons butter

preheat oven to 425. Mix all dry ingredients in large metal bowl. Add milk, 2 tablespoons melted butter and 1/2 cup shredded cheese and mix until incorporated. Dough should be a kind-of-sticky ball (you can always add more flour if it's too sticky)

Roll out dough into rectangle, about 1 foot long and 1/2 foot tall.

Take remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and place on cookie sheet. Throw in the oven for about 2 minutes or until melted. Remove pan and sprinkle butter with salt or garlic salt.

 Take rolled out dough rectangle and place on butter-covered cookie sheet. Carefully cut rectangle of dough into strips, but don't pull them apart. (the butter will creep in between the cuts and make them crispy)

Bake bread sticks at 425 for ten minutes. Take them out of the oven, flip them over and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of shredded cheese. Put them back in the oven and bake for another 5 minutes, or until slightly brown on both sides.


great to dip in...
Italian Meatball Wedding Soup 

Meatballs:
1 pound ground turkey, beef, chicken, or any other animal that lives on a farm
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg
1/2 cup shredded cheese (parm or cheddar work best)
1 tablespoon fresh dill
1 teaspoon dried parsley
pinch of salt and peppa

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine all ingredients in bowl. Roll into around 1-inch balls, throw on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until brown on edges. Roll them around after about 15 minutes for even baking.

Obviously we had to somehow incorporate cheese into these little guys... SO YUMMY

Soup:
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup small pasta
5 cups fresh baby spinach (stems removed)

Place chopped carrots, celery and onion with olive oil in large soup pot and sautee for about 10 minutes or until veggies are soft.

Add broth and white wine, bring to boil (should take about 15 minutes.) Add pasta and cooked meatballs and cook for 5 minutes (I choose letter pasta because we like to spell inappropriate words while eating)

Tah-Dah! Almost as good as O.G's

 Add spinach and cook for about 3 minutes or until wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1/2 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper)

Cheesy Artichoke Bread... fat kid wednesday

Most of the time, we eat pretty healthy (not counting our frequent wine-and-popcorn-for-dinner nights, which we've recently reduced from 5 to around 2 per week.) But every once and a while, we...are...fat kids. 

We left a party early to go get Gumby's pokey sticks... and got caught. Fat. Kid. Moment.

We put cheese on places it just does not belong, we eat cookie dough by the bowl, we leave in the middle of movies because we get yogurt-land cravings (sorry "Social Network", you weren't interesting enough to keep us from red velvet cake batter fro-yo.) When we're craving inappropriately unhealthy amount of food, we have a couple of go-tos... puppy chow, homemade caramel corn (recipe to come soon) and this little gem... cheesy artichoke bread. 

Click here for the recipe!

Tzatziki Dip (so good you'll eat it plain)

Both Dieter and I have spent some time living abroad, and both agree that it was probably the coolest/most exciting time of our lives to date, not to mention the most time we've ever spent apart from one another! (Dieter spent a fabulous month roaming around Italy while I took a semester to live in Athens, Greece and bum around the Islands.)

                                                                    Dieter being fabulous in Rome

                                                           Mairz hanging out in front of the acropolis

 Both of us returned much wiser, much tanner and with some fantastic recipes. While living in Greece, my diet consisted of pita bread, greek veggies (eggplant, tomato and olives were a common dinner) and a seriously unhealthy amount of fresh feta cheese. I took away a massive amount of amazing recipes, but this one happens to be mine (and dieter's) favorite.


Tzatziki dip (pronounced za-zee-kee... greeks and their words, out of control)

Tzatiki
2 cups plain greek yogurt
1 Cucumber
7 garlic cloves (thats right, 7. No making out after eating this)
1 bunch fresh dill
dash of olive oil

Peel skin off of cucumber. Then, into a large bowl, use a carrot peeler to peel off thin slices of cucumber. Once cucumber is completely shredded, take shredded pieces and put into paper towel. then, (and this is important) squeeze EVERY OUNCE of water out of the cucumber. This might take a couple of paper towels, but it's important to remove allllllll water, or the dip will turn out runny and icky. Once cucumber shreds are dry, set aside.

Place two cups of plain, greek yogurt into large bowl. throw in about 2 tablespoon GOOD olive oil (I'm a poor recent college grad, and I still pay the big bucks for good olive oil. no excuses) Chop 7 cloves of garlic into teeny tiny pieces, and stir into yogurt. Take cucumber shreds and stir in as well.

Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for at least 1/2 hour. Right before serving, chop about 1/2 cup dill and stir in as well.

Serve with pita chips, crackers, or if you're anything like us, a spoon.

The Seriously Epic Tale of the Teal Door

First and foremost... the story of the teal door is NOT over with this post. We have some seriously awesome visions of turning him (yes, its a boy door) into an amazing table in the future, we are just in the process of taking carpenter applications. (Actually, we're just hoping one of our friends here in San Diego has some big-kid tools and knowledge of how to actually make a table. Being ladies... we have no idea.)


The Teal Door: One day (last Sunday) Dieter found an old, beat up, teal door in our alley. Being the crafty girl she is, she saw some serious potential in it. That night (yes, we waited until dark because we felt sketchy just taking a giant door in broad daylight) we grabbed the door and threw it in our garage. (backstory: we have a history of stealing oddly large objects and walking them home... see picture where we decided we should walk home from the bars with a giant plumbing tube... which, by the way, should never be used as a pole-vaulting device, but thats another story.)

Because we are impatient and wanted to do something with the door NOW, we decided that it would be a great kitchen decoration until it becomes a table. So...

We cleaned it (and made sure there were no gross bugs that we were about to infest our apartment with... we're keeping our fingers crossed nothing with scales or fur crawls out of it)

                                             Kitchen corner before being teal-doored




Fabulous kitchen corner with the door! (We have been informed by Russell, our next door neighbor, that a door in the corner is very French. Or Tuscan. He's not totally sure)

This was the easiest decorating project we've had to-date. Now go take a look in your local alley and see what you find! ( Please bring a friend if your going after dark)

Orange Chicken with Crispy Parmesan Asparagus

Mairz shared the lovely photos from dinner below and here are the recipes! If you order Orange Chicken from the take-out menu at your local Chinese place I highly recommend giving this a try. Delicious!

Orange Chicken:
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into cubes
1 1/2 cups cornstarch
1 cup panko bread crumbs
2 eggs, beaten
salt
pepper
Vegetable oil (for frying)

Combine cornstarch, salt and pepper. Prepare 3 separate bowls, one with beaten eggs, one with bread crumbs and one with cornstarch. Dip cubed chicken in egg mixture, toss in cornstarch, return to eggs then dip in bread crumbs. This creates the perfect amount of crisp! After all of your chicken is coated, heat a pan with vegetable oil to 375 degrees. Fry the chicken in batches until completely cooked.

Orange Sauce:
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ginger root, grated
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon orange zest
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water

In a large saucepan over medium heat combine 1 1/2 cups water, orange juice, rice vinegar and soy sauce. Heat liquids for a few minutes to blend them well. Stir in brown sugar, orange zest, ginger, garlic. Increase heat and bring to a boil.

Combine 3 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1/4 cup water and mix thoroughly. Slowly stir mixture into sauce until it thickens. Pour sauce over breaded chicken and enjoy!!

I used this recipe for the crispy parmesan asparagus - mine didn't turn out quite as crispy and are still a work in progress. But were delicious nonetheless.

Happy cooking! xoxo,
Dieter

Dieter does Dinner

Living with Dieter is great for a berjillion reasons (house is always clean, get access to cool dog, always have someone to drink wine with, and living with best friend are just a few) and when she cooks me dinner, I can't help but think how much I've lucked out on this bomb-ass roommate. Tonight she cooked Orange Chicken with Parmesan asparagus, all while I drank wine and laid on the floor watching SNL.

I'll let Dieter post the recipe, but here are some pics of the amazing meal!

The chef hard at work. Yes, we have tons of cute aprons, but sometimes you just want to cook in your sweats 

Mozzarella and I waiting waiting patiently 

Parmesan crusted asparagus waiting to be cooked

DELICIOUS orange chicken nugs

She cooks best when shes painfully sunburnt

Detox Soup

Every once and a while, I clean my room. Not like put my clothes away, make my bed clean (which, for the record, I do twice, maybe thrice a week) but like throw out old tee-shirts, re-arrange my closet, clean out all my purses and clean under my bed cleaning. I'm also a believer that people should do that with their bodies every once in a while. Back in college, I used to do this via special K... two weeks of eating nothing but organic yogurt and special K cereal. It always sucked the first few days, but really did work! This year, I decided to change things up and do a one-month detox with actual food ( no hate special k!) Week one consisted of NO dairy, gluten (wheat), processed foods, anything with "sugar" or any sort of fake sugar in the ingredients, nothing out of a can or a package, and no caffeine. So what did I eat? Not much. TONS of fruits and veggies, quinoa (a grain that does not have gluten... almost as good as rice or pasta) and lots of bananas and organic almond butter (ingredients: almonds, salt.) This detox soup was really yummy and actually pretty filling, I ate it for lunch every day that week!

Detox almond-kale-ginger-potato soup (inspired by Martha Stewart chicken-almond soup)

5 cups veggie (or chicken) stock

1 Small yellow onion, diced

1 large sweet potato, chopped up

2 garlic cloves, minced

8 oz chicken tenders, chopped up and baked at 400 degrees for 40 minutes (optional, I made it veggie-only)

1/2 cup organic almond butter (no added sugars)

2 cups kale, chopped

2 Tablespoons minced fresh ginger

salt and pepper

1) shop up and put onion,sweet potato and garlic onto cookie sheet, drizle with olive oil and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes (make sure they don't brown, just soften up a bit)

2) combine stock, baked onion sweet potato and garlic and chicken (optional) bring to a boil, reduce heat cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. 

3) in a small bowl, combine almond butter and about 1.5-2 cups of the simmering chicken broth, stir together and put aside. 

4) add kale and ginger to remaning simmering broth and veggies, simmer for about 5 minutes. 

5) stir in almond butter and broth mixture into broth and veggies, simmer for about 5 more minutes. 

6) Season with salt and pepper, and enjoy!!!! 

Happy Valentine's Day!!

In honor of this holiday that I happen to L-O-V-E, here is an easy recipe for a tasty treat...Heart Shaped Brownie "Cookies"

Ingredients:

1 Box Brownie Mix (or if you are feeling ambitious make your favorite homemade brownie recipe)

8 Oz. Package of Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar

1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Strawberries

Directions:

Prepare brownies according to directions on box. Pour batter into pan, creating a thin layer (about 1/2 inch thick). Bake brownies at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow them to cool completely. Then cut into hearts - either one big heart or multiple smaller hearts totally up to you :-)

Next you want to make the frosting; simply combine all ingredients (cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla) and mix completely. Frost the brownies then add strawberries to finish! 

These delish treats are the perfect combo of chocolately sweet and cheesy goodness with natural sugars from the strawberries and they will have anyone you share them with thinking you are a the ultimate Domestic Diva!!

Enjoy, and Happy Valentine's Day!!

xoxo,

Dieter

Big-Ass Cookies from an Old Geezer Recipe

After decorating our walls with vintage cookbook covers, we thought we should maybe actually read some of these geezer recipes. One of these old timers was a recipe for "Old Fashion Bakers Dozen Cookies." Now.... the words "old fashion" in a cookbook from 1940 leads me to believe that this recipe was created by people dwelling in caves, hunting and gathering (baking ingredients AND buffalo.) 

Giant cookie (notice cute wall behind giant cookie)

Old Fashion Bakers Dozen Cookies

Makes 13 BIG ASS cookies( or 24 normal people cookies)

3 cups flour

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

6 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and salt together. Give it a lil' stir and set aside. 

Cream together shortening, butter and sugar. Add eggs, milk and lemon rind. 

Use a wooden spoon to stir flour into butter mix

Take 1/3 cup batter and make into ball. Put on lightly greased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly with bake of a spatula. Repeat until cookie sheet is full. 

Bake on lightly greased baking sheet at 350 for 15 minutes, or until edges are brown. 

(be sure to space these guys out, they are HUGE!

While cookies are cooling, do some sit-ups, do 10 minutes of yoga, just do something to burn off the 3240 calories you are about to binge on, because these cookies are AWESOME

Vintage Cookbook Wall...Antique store treasure hunting

(Dieter and Mairz in the kitchen)

"Sunday Funday" used to mean waking up at noon, going to get breakfast, and spending the day drinking... anything and everything. Now, "Sunday Funday" means waking up at 7:00 AM, walking to brunch, and spending the day in Ocean Beach shopping for antiques. (Well... this isn't completely true, if there is football on we revert back to the good ol' boozin' sunday.)

This week, we found some awesome/hilarious cookbooks from the 50's and 60's. We LOVED the covers, and Dieter came up with the idea to buy a bunch of them and frame them for our big blank yellow kitchen wall!

First thing, we found our favorite 8 pictures and threw them in some nice $2.00 Ikea frames. Then,  we figured out the design we wanted on the floor. 

After some serious discussion (a solid two, maybe three minutes) we decided on a design we liked and hung um' up!  (we threw in some shelving as well... we still need some cute somethin' somethins' for them, the wine glass is not permanent. )

Baked Onion Rings, because fried=better

Today it was a chilly 64 degrees here in San Diego. I couldn't complain, because while I was wandering around the city in a skirt (and sweater) my friends and family back home were dealing with this

(I stole this picture from my cousin Meaghan in Chicago)

In honor of it being cold, windy and juussstttt a little snowy, here is my very favorite recipe for a great cold-weather comfort food, onion rings! (This is also in honor of it almost being the super bowl, when we plan on consuming enough fried food for a small, no, large African village.)

1.5 cups cornflakes

1.5 cups breadcrumbs

1 egg

1/4 cup buttermilk (don't skimp here, use real, thick, unhealthy buttermilk)

1/4 cup flour

teeeeny pinch of cayenne pepper

salt and pepper

1 medium onion (I use vidalia) cut into thin rings

about 2 Tablespoons olive oil

-preheat oven to 450. If you have a food processor (lucky) pulse the cornflakes and breadcrumbs until fine crumbs. If you don't have one, just put the cornflakes in a large ziplock bag and crunch the cornflakes until they are all crunched, then add to breadcrumbs. 

- In another bowl, mix egg, buttermilk, flour, cayenne and add salt and pepper

- Dip onion into egg mixture and then into cornflake and breadcrumb mixture, place on large plate. Repeat until all of the rings are dipped in batter and cornflakes and breadcrumbs. Put about two tablespoons of olive oil onto large baking sheet, put it in the preheated oven for 1 or 2 minutes. Take sheet out and tip it to coat it evenly with oil. Put rings on the sheet and bake 10 minutes. Turn over the onion rings, back about 6-10 more minutes or until brown. 

-Take them out and enjoy!!!!

(The puppers back in Wisconsin braving the snow this morning) 

Seared Artichokes (have thorns, who knew!)

Did you know that artichokes have thorns on the inside? I didn't until I cut one up and found a little white thorn in my thumb... crafty bastards.

For my 23rd birthday, my wonderful friend Andy gave me a subscription to Bon Appetit. This great present came with a three month subscription to "Fine Cooking", kind of a poor-mans Bon Appetit, but still a great mag. I found a yummy and easy artichoke recipe in their March issue.

Click Here for an amazing recipe for seared Artichoke with lemon, mint and parsley from Fine Cooking.

Here's a pic of how mine turned out

Adrienne's FAVORITE Ramen-Noods Salad

I love noods. Love noods of all kind. Whole wheat, brown rice, good ol' fashion spaghetti noods, I love em'.

And although I'm not 100% sure that Ramen Noodles are real "noods", I also love them. Here is a fabulous/unhealthy/amazing ramen/cabbage salad recipe.

2 packages ramen noods (chicken or beef work best)
1 package cole slaw
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 packet Ramen noodle seasonings

Combine uncooked ramen noodles (crunch them up), cole slaw and sunflower seeds.

Combine sugar, oil and vinegar and 1 seasoning packet. Pour dressing over cole slaw mixture. Let sit at least one hour, if not overnight.

Tah-Dah!

Won-Tons, dumplings, call them what you want, they're awesome

When I moved to San Diego in February 2010, I didn't have a job. Didn't even have any prospects. Luckily, I had 10 years of nannying experience under my belt, and found a wonderful family out here in the SD to take me in, pay my rent, and let me cook for them every night. This resulted in me re-discovering my love of cooking, and led to some pretty bad-ass recipes. This is one of them. 

Avery's Won-Tons

1 Package Won-Ton wrappers (sold next to tofu/that weird vegan cheese in the grocery store)

1 pound ground pork, turkey or chicken... honestly, it doesn't matter

3 scallions, white and light green parts chopped

1/2 head of napa cabbage, finely shredded

1/2 cup shredded carrots

3 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons rice or sesame vinegar

lots of oil to cook the lil' guys in

Combine raw meat, scallions, cabbage, carrots, soy sauce and vinegar. (use your hands and really mix everything up, it feels gross but a spoon just won't do the job!) This can be done a couple hours ahead if needed, just throw in the fridge covered until you are ready to assemble. 

Get your won-ton station ready. We always had a cookie sheet, a bowl of water, and plates ready to go. Fill up each won-ton wrapper up with about 1 tablespoon meat mixture, use your finger to outline won-ton in water, and fold corner-to-corner. Make sure seams are all closed, or oil will get in there and make them taste a little funky. Put on cookie sheet and cover filled won-tons with moist paper towel. (note... I HATE the word moist.)

Once all won-tons are filled (you will probably have extra wrappers, see "Cookie-Dough Egg Roll" post to see what to do with these extras), heat a large skillet with about two-three table spoons of oil. (I use veggie oil, but olive oil works fine as well.)

Once the oil is hot, place the won-tons in the oil (you will have to do several batches) and cook for three minutes, or until the bottoms are slightly brown. Add 1/2 cup water to the skillet (watch out, oils about to splatter!) and cover. Simmer for 4 minutes. 

Remove cover, cook for 1 more minute. Put cooked won-tons on paper towel until ready to serve. Repeat with the rest of the little buggers. 

(awkward solo won-ton... so sad, but there was only one left at picture time!)

Serve with soy sauce and rice! These also go GREAT with Ramen-Noods and Cabbage Salad. 

 

Welcome to Girls Gone Mild!

(Mairz and Dieter in Vegas... we left sin city 5 cents richer than we arrived)

Welcome to Girls Gone Mild, the culinary and crafty adventures of two ex-party-girls-turned-domestic-ladies! (Well, almost ex-party girls. We have been known to put away the wine and vodka from time to time.) We love to cook, we love to eat, and we love to turn everyday things into cute stuff. We'll share our kitchen successes and epic failures with you, and we hope you enjoy! So pour yourself a glass of wine (Deep Sea wine is our favorite, but we're not above drinking vino out of a box) and read on!