Soft Pretzels

I channeled my inner Auntie Anne last night and churned out some delightful pretzels that I got from another food blog - which I recommend they have some really tasty looking things on there.  These are relatively simple and I found quite relaxing to make.  They can be a little time consuming.  They are best eaten hot; however, I had some today with lunch and they were still decent not as good of course.  Do not store them in a covered container they will get soggy.  I only made a half batch of this recipe and I got 16 small pretzels from it.

 Makes 16 full-sized or 32 small

2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 packet active dry yeast
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup baking soda
1 large egg
Coarse or pretzel salt -  I had some pretzel left from the frozen pretzels I eat but i think coarse salt would work well too
cooking spray


1. Pour warm water and 1 tablespoon sugar into a large bowl and stir to combine. Sprinkle with yeast, and let sit 10 minutes; yeast should be foamy.
2. Add 1 cup flour to yeast, and mix with a wooden spoon until well combined. Add salt and 4 cups more flour, and mix until combined and  until dough pulls away from sides of bowl.  Add another 1/2 cup flour, and mix.. If dough is still wet and sticky, add 1/2 cup more flour (this will depend on weather conditions); mix until combined. Transfer to a lightly floured board, and knead about ten times, or until smooth.
3. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray (I just quickly washed and reused the bowl I made the dough in)  Transfer dough to bowl, turning dough to completely cover all sides with oil. Cover with a kitchen towel, and leave in a warm spot for 1 hour, or until dough has doubled in size.
4. Heat oven to 450°F. Lightly spray two baking sheets with cooking spray (parchment paper, ungreased, also works). Set aside. Punch down dough to remove bubbles. Transfer to a lightly floured board. Knead once or twice, divide into 16 pieces (about 2 1/2 ounces each) or 32 if making miniature pretzels, and wrap in plastic.
5. Roll one piece of dough at a time into an 18-inch-long strip. ( I found that rolling pretzels on a plastic cutting board worked much better than my floured counter) Twist into pretzel shape; transfer to prepared baking sheet. Cover with a kitchen towel. Continue to form pretzels; eight will fit on each sheet (you may need a third sheet if making miniatures). Let pretzels rest until they rise slightly, about 15 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, fill a large, shallow pot with 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil. Add baking soda (and step back, it foams up quickly) and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Reduce to a simmer; transfer three to four pretzels to water. Poach 1 minute on each side. Use slotted flipper (a slotted spoon will work but you may also break a pretzel or two)  to transfer pretzels to baking sheet. Continue until all pretzels are poached.
7. Beat egg with 1 tablespoon water. Brush pretzels with egg glaze. Sprinkle with salt. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on wire rack, or eat warm.

Egg rolls

These are a delicious adventure - especially if you are deep frying them in a pan.  It can be tricky to get and keep the oil at the right temperature, but it is worth it.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups cabbage, shredded - I shredded the cabbage but both Kevin and I agreed that the eggr olls were missing that crunch that we love so we are going to dice it into fine strips next time
• 1 carrot, shredded - see cabbage
• 1/2 cup fresh bean sprouts
• 2 tablespoons chopped onion (optional)
• 1 (4 ounce) can shrimp - I used 4 oz ground chicken, really you can use any meat you want or leave it out all together
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• black pepper to taste
• 1 egg, beaten
• cornstarch
• 20 egg roll wrappers
• vegetable oil for frying - I used peanut oil because it can go to a higher temperature before burning.  I used an entire medium sized bottle of oil.

1. In a large bowl, mix together cabbage, carrots, sprouts, and onion. Stir in chicken, soy sauce, garlic powder, and black pepper.You may want to add some more spices and these were a little bland.
2. Pour beaten egg into a skillet placed over medium heat; cook flat and thin, flipping once, until done. Remove from skillet, cool, and chop finely. Stir egg into cabbage mixture. Sprinkle top with cornstarch, mix, and allow to sit 10 minutes.
3. Mix 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 2 tablespoons cold water. Set aside.
4. Place 2 or 3 tablespoons of the cabbage mixture into the center of an egg roll skin. Dip a spoon into the water and cornstarch mixture, and moisten all corners but the bottom corner. Fold the egg roll skin from the bottom over the mixture, making a tight tube of the shrimp mixture. Fold corners in from the sides, and press to stick against folded roll. Then roll the rest of the way. Repeat with remaining egg roll wrappers. This will take a little practice but is easy to get down.  Remember the fuller you fill them the longer they will take to get hot in the center.
5. Pour vegetable oil into a deep frying pan to a depth of 3 or 4 inches, and heat oil to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Carefully place egg rolls into hot oil, and fry until golden brown. Remove to paper towels.Only put in 2 or 3 at a time or else the oil temp will drop too low.
6. Dip in your favorite duck sauce and enjoy.

There are reviews on the website that recommended baking them; however, we didn't try this. Christina said she tried it and they just weren't as good.  We made all 20 or so and the ones we didn't eat I froze.  I will let you know how they turn out reheated in the toaster oven when I eat them.  UPDATE:  After frying them we let them cool and froze them.  They reheat wonderfully.  We reheated them straight from the freezer at 425 degrees for 20 minutes and they were delicious.

UPDATE #2:  We made these again and chopped the cabbage and carrots instead of grating them and it made them much better; although they were slightly harder to roll.  Also I would recommend still grating the carrots because they frequently punctured our rolls since they were so firm.  Overall the chopping of the cabbage brought back the delicious crunch I think of when you eat egg rolls.

Stuffed Shells

This recipe can be halved and still works wonderfully.

Ingredients:
1 box of jumbo shells
4 c ricotta
2 c mozzerella cheese
3/4 c parmesean cheese
2 eggs
1 Tbs parsley
your favorite spaghetti sauce - I used the one that is on this blog and it was delicious

350 degrees for 45 minutes

1. Cook shells according to the directions on the box
2. Thoroughly mix ricotta, mozerella, parmesean, eggs, and parsely together
3. Stuff shells pretty full with the ricotta mix
4. Place a thin layer of spaghetti sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan.  Place the shells in a single layer and then thoroughly cover with sauce.  Sprinkle the top with parmesean cheese.
5.  Bake for 45 minutes in a preheated overn at 350 degrees