South West Eggrolls

I’m sorry for the disconnect in the blogging. One day I post regularly, then next thing you know I miss about a month of posting! Since my last post I had a case to present for the University Student Judiciary (ugh, I am not allowed to and also don’t want to go into it), I had a women’s studies preliminary and final paper due and had a final paper (20 pages in length) due for my environmental policy course. Oy. oh and then I graduated. And then I went to Europe (not that I'm complaining!). Oh, and I got my apartment for next year.

Somehow cooking did still happen, but that cooking is not going here. This post is actually going back in time a few months to J and O’L’s engagement party. Just a recap- party was great, had a ball and I think the engaged couple did too (or at least I hope so). All the food was ready on time and the only thing I forgot was the salad tongs. I’d say that was a success! Sadly though, not nearly as many people came as we expected to come and 3 of the people who did come didn’t eat, so needless to say there was a lot of extra food. We had leftovers for DAYS (though the ice cream sandwich cookies disappeared the very next day! Lol) The two HUGE hits of the party seemed to be the Italian grilled cheeses as well as the ice cream sandwiches, with a 3rd place going to pigs in a blanket.

Another hit was the south west eggrolls. Ground turkey, some southwest spices, corn, beans and spinach wrapped in a tortilla and baked until crispy, as though almost fried. I changed the recipe from the original by reducing the beans to ½ can per 1.3 pound package of turkey and using ½ box of frozen spinach per 1/3 pound pack. I limited the spices because the couple didn’t like spicy things, though you can easily bump up the spice if you want. I served it with a version of my Mexican dip (gosh, how much do I put this stuff on?!) and ate them up.

With the beans and the turkey they are super filling, so appetizer sizes are ½ rolls and about 3 rolls seemed to be a dinner sized portion. Because of the beans and turkey an entree size portion has about 19.7 grams of protein! I'm thus entering it in Eat Healthy- Protein Rich.

South West Egg Rolls (adapted from many ideas, especially AllRecipes)

1.3 lb ground Turkey

4 tbsp chopped Onion

1 can Corn

½ - 2/3 can Black beans, drained and rinsed

3-4 tbsp Frozen Spinach, thawed and drained

1 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Chili powder

2/3 tsp garlic Salt

1/8 tsp Cayenne

19 flour tortilla

pam

1. In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, cook turkey most of the way. Remove from heat, drain, return to pan.

2. Heat to medium high again. Stir in onion. Cook and stir 5 minutes, until onions are tender and meat is cooked.

3. Mix in corn, black beans, spinach, cumin, chili powder, garlic salt and cayenne pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes, until well blended and tender. Remove from heat

4. Wrap tortillas with a clean, lightly moist cloth. Microwave on high approximately 1 minute, or until hot and pliable.

5. Spoon even amounts of the mixture into each tortilla. Fold ends of tortillas, then roll tightly around mixture.

6. If you are freezing and eating later: Secure with toothpicks. Arrange in a medium dish, cover with plastic, and place in the freezer. When ready, continue to next step without defrosting, but add another 5 minutes of baking time

7. When ready to eat, remove toothpicks if you used them. Place the egg rolls seam side down on an aluminum foil and pam covered baking sheet. Spray the egg rolls with pam, and bake at 475 degrees for 15 minutes. May take longer if there are too many rolls on the baking sheet