Egg Roll Week

I decided to have another theme week in the kitchen and I tried to make all my meals themed around using egg rolls and wonton wrappers.  Monday night I made Vegetable Lo-Mein with Shrimp AND Shrimp Eggrolls with Homemade Duck Sauce.  A lot of my recipes were inspired by a new favorite cooking blog: Can You Stay for Dinner.

 This Veggie Lo-Mein was pretty tasty.  And tasted great with my Shrimp Eggrolls! 


Vegetable Lo Mein
Ingredients:
For the Sauce:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Sriracha hot chili sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Remaining Ingredients:
2 teaspoons canola oil
2 cups bean sprouts
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions, white and green parts
1 cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced 
1 cup shredded Napa cabbage (I used green- all I could find)
1/4 cup grated carrot
6 oz Chinese noodles (whole foods has a huge selection) or whole wheat spaghetti
1 Cup of Cooked Shrimp
Green Onions for garnish
Instructions:
Cook the noodles or spaghetti according to package instructions, drain and set aside.
Stir all sauce ingredients together in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until thickened and glossy, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
Meanwhile, set a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the two teaspoons of canola oil. Add the bean sprouts, mushrooms, cabbage, and carrot. Saute for about 3 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften. Add the cooked noodles and the sauce, tossing to combine. Add Shrimp and green onions. Serve immediately.

The lightened egg rolls were fun to make and baking them made them much healthier!  I also made my own Duck sauce!
Shrimp Egg Rolls
Ingredients:
2 cups of savoy cabbage, chopped
2 cups of shredded carrots
2 cups of bean sprouts
1 cup of cooked shrimp, diced
2 tbsp green onions, sliced
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp corn starch
1/4 cup water
14 egg roll wraps
Instructions:
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot add the cabbage, sprouts, carrots, and ginger to the pan and cook, stirring frequently for 4-5 minutes, until the vegetables just begin to wilt but still remain a little bit crisp. Mix the corn starch with the water and mix thoroughly. Add the corn starch mixture and soy sauce to the pan along with the green onions. Cook for an additional 1-2 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and let cool. Add in cooked shrimp to the mixture. Place two tablespoons of the cooled mixture on the center of the egg roll wrap. Fold the bottom up over the filling. Next, fold the two sides over, making it look like an envelope, then roll it up like a burrito. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place the rolled up egg rolls on a baking sheet. Once you have rolled them all, spray the top of each egg roll with cooking spray.Place in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes then turn them over. Bake for an additional 5-7 minutes or until crispy and golden brown. Serve with duck sauce. Enjoy.

Homemade Duck Sauce
Ingredients:
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1/2 cup plain applesauce 
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon chili sauce
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and cook together until well incorporated.


Such a quick and easy sauce!  I couldn't find Duck Sauce at the grocery stores so Im so glad I was able to make my own that was just as delicious!


Tuesday night I made mini-petite arugula pesto lasagnas using wonton wrappers.  Anything mini is so much fun!  This recipe was also inspired by Can You Stay for Dinner. I can honestly say this was one of the best recipes I've made in a long time.  Mine was a vegetarian dish, her's was a meat sauce lasagna.  I'm sure both were fantastic!  I loved mine and I cannot wait to make several versions of this again : )

Mini Lasagnas with Arugula Pesto

Ingredients:

1 Cup of Ricotta
1 Cup of Tomato Sauce
Arugula Pesto (homemade- using 1 1/2 cups of arugula, pine nuts, parm cheese and olive oil)
1 Egg
1/2 Cup of Parm Cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tsp dried oregano, divided
½ tsp dried basil
24 small square wonton wrappers (the kind near the tofu in the refrigerated section of the produce dept)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the turkey, onions, mushrooms, salt, and pepper. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, a pinch of salt and pepper, oregano, basil, arugula pesto, 1 egg and parm cheese. Stir to mix well. Set aside. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Place 1 wonton wrapper into each of the 12 cups, pressing firmly in the bottom of the cup and up the sides. Using half of the ricotta mixture, divide it among the 12 muffin cups. Next, using half of the tomato sauce, spoon it evenly over each of the ricotta filled cups. Sprinkle with 2 tsp of mozzarella. Gently press another wonton wrapper on top of the mozzarella layer. Repeat the process by distributing the remaining ricotta, then the remaining tomato sauce, and finally the rest of the shredded mozzarella.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.
Let the cups cool, remove them from the pan, and serve! 

 I'm pretty much obsessed with these little lasagnas.  Such a creative idea (wish I could get credit for it!)  I can't wait to make these again! They were seriously perfect and tasted even better the next day for lunch.

Then I made two more fun meals: Buffalo Chicken Rolls and Chicken Parm Wontons.  And guess whose recipes I was inspired by?  Yep, Can You Stay for Dinner : )

First up, Buffalo Chicken Rolls. I totally changed up this recipe- mainly because I don't eat blue cheese, but these were still tons of fun.

Buffalo Chicken Rolls

Ingredients:
12 egg roll wrappers (roughly 4 square inches)
1 cup cooked and shredded chicken (6 ounces)
1/2- 2/3 cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
1 cup crumbled blue cheese (4 ounces) OR if you are like me and hate blue cheese, use cheddar
1 cup broccoli slaw or cole slaw (dry)
1/2 cup of Ranch dressing
Small bowl of water
Nonstick cooking spray
Ranch dressing, for serving
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lay egg roll wrappers on a clean work surface. In a small bowl, stir chicken and hot sauce until well coated, using more or less sauce depending on your spice preference. The meat should be moist with sauce. Add broccoli slaw and mix.

Begin by placing shredded spicy chicken mixture. Put some cheddar cheese on top. To fold: Fold the bottom right corner over the stuffing mixture so that it covers it completely, with the tip of the corner now pointing to the center of the egg roll wrapper. Fold in the bottom left corner, followed by the right, so that you now have formed an envelope. Roll the wrap upward one time, leaving the top left corner open. Wet your index finger in the small bowl of water and press to moisten the top left corner. Now fold that down on top of the filled roll, sealing it like you would an envelope. Repeat with remaining rolls. Place the rolls on a wire rack set on top of a cookie sheet (or just on a greased cookie sheet) coated with nonstick cooking spray. Spritz each roll evenly with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the rolls crisp and turn a light golden brown.

And then I made Chicken Parm Wraps.  So many creative things you can do with egg rolls : )

Chicken Parmesan Wraps
Ingredients:

1 cup of cooked chicken breast
1 cup marinara sauce, plus more for serving 
6 wonton wrappers (for little rolls)
6 egg roll wrappers for larger ones
1 cup baby spinach leaves or arugula 
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Mix chicken, marinara sauce, mozzerela and parm cheese together in a bowl. Lay the egg roll wrappers on a clean work surface. Layer each with a few leaves of spinach, then the chicken mixture. (I also made little wontons as well) 

Lightly brush two adjacent sides of the wrapper with water and fold the upper left corner downward, covering the filling, and press to seal on the bottom right corner. Press to seal each of the sides. Repeat with remaining wraps. Place all 6 filled wraps on a greased wire rack set over a cookie sheet, coat each in cooking spray or a light brushing of olive oil, and bake for about 12 minutes, or until the edges begin to turn a golden brown.

It was quite the week in my kitchen.  I do love themed weeks but next week I'm just cooking recipes from all my favorite cooking magazines with no theme at all : )  But it was fun to see how creative you can get with a traditional Asian ingredient.  I made the egg rolls Asain (traditional), Italian and American.  Can't beat that!

And now I'm off to bed.  I'm running a race tomorrow that starts wayyy too early.  So a 4:30 wakeup call is in the cards for me. 

Have you ever made anything different with egg roll or wonton wrappers?