Thai Chicken Salad Wraps

So I didn't come up with this myself although if you read the tips I've kinda redone the whole thing. If you like to see the original please search Cat Cora Thai Chicken Salad Cabbage Spring Rolls.

Thai Chicken Salad Spring Rolls with Homemade Fried Rice

Dressing: 1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons store-bought Thai peanut sauce
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Spring Rolls:
1 whole chicken breast, or 2 half breasts (or 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
1/2 head Napa cabbage (1 pound or 8 cups thinly sliced cabbage)
1 cup shredded carrots (about 3 large carrots)
2 green onions, thinly sliced, plus 1 green onion, thinly sliced for garnish
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

12 rice paper wraps


For the dressing, in a small bowl whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, sesame oil, Thai peanut sauce and sugar. Set aside.
To poach the chicken, in a medium saucepan bring 8 cups of water up to a boil. Add the chicken and bring down to a simmer. Simmer the chicken for 40 minutes until fully cooked and tender. Remove the chicken from the water and set aside on a plate to cool.
In the meantime, in a medium bowl, combine the cabbage, carrots, 2 sliced green onions, and sesame seeds.
Using 2 forks, shred the cooled chicken and add to the bowl with the salad.
Add the dressing and mix, making sure the salad is nicely coated.
In a wide, shallow bowl filled with hot water, put a rice paper wrap into the water. Press the wrap down so it is fully submerged in the water. Remove when softened. Place the softened wrap flat onto a damp work surface.
Scoop 1/2 cup of the Thai chicken salad onto the bottom 1/3 of the wrap. Fold over the left and right sides of the wrap inward about 1 inch. Working from the bottom up, tightly roll the wrap.
Repeat with the remaining Thai chicken salad and arrange on a platter.
Garnish the spring rolls with the remaining sliced green onion. Serve alongside a bowl of Thai peanut sauce for dipping.

TIPS

• Save yourself some time and cook the chicken ahead of time. It needs to be cool anyway.
• Even though the recipe says to poach, we are in grilling season, so go ahead and prepare the chicken however you like. 
• If you're like me you won't be able to find rice paper wraps easily (I happen to live near a great Asian market) try using wonton wraps or even tortilla
• I, for some reason, couldn't find Napa cabbage. But I did find bags of coleslaw and broccoli slaw. Both worked great and i just added extra carrots to it
• Try adding other veggies to the mix make it your own
• Tried the rice paper wraps and didn't enjoy them. Guess what? You can now just enjoy this as a regular salad. 
• Want to sever this to a few of your vegan friends? Get rid of the chicken. It's that simple!

ESP Cookies

This is possibly the easiest and quickest cookie recipe ever. Need a last minute dessert to take to the office potluck. This is perfect and can do it in less than an hour. If you don't have the Hershey Kisses use a fork and make them look like tradition Peanut Butter Cookies


1 egg
1 c. sugar
1 c. peanut butter
1 pkg. chocolate kisses

Mix egg, sugar and peanut butter. Roll the dough into marble size balls. Bake on a cookie sheet at 325 degrees for 9 minutes. Place a chocolate kiss on each cookie and return to the oven for 1 minute. Makes 24-30.

Tips
Try using chunky peanut butter.
There are a lot of different types of Kisses. I used the caramel ones in the pic above.
Brown sugar instead of regular sugar could prove tasty. Or maybe a tsp or 2 of honey.

Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet Cupcake with Rum Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups vegetable shortening
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
4 1/2 teaspoons red food coloring
3 cups cake flour
1 1/4 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
3 extra-large eggs
1 1/4 cups buttermilk


8oz Cream Cheese
4Tbsp Butter
1tsp Vanilla
2cups Powder Sugar

• Position a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat to 350˚F.
• Put shortening, sugar, cocoa, food coloring, flour, salt, vanilla, baking soda and vinegar in the bowl. Mix to combine, starting at low speed, then raise the speed to low-medium and mix for about 1 minute. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing for 1 minute after each is absorbed into the mixture. Add the buttermilk in two portions, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl between additions.
• Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans (2 inches deep).
• Divide the batter evenly between the two pans, using a rubber spatula to scrape down the bowl and get as much batter as possible out.
• Bake until the cakes begin to pull from the sides of the pans and are springy to the touch, 35-40 minutes.
• Remove cakes from the oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes, preferably 1 hour. The cakes should be at room temperature before you remove them from the pan.
• Put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with sugar, and one at a time, turn the pans over and turn the cakes out onto the parchment; the sugar will keep them from sticking.

Frosting:

Mix cream cheese and butter until just combined. Add in vanilla and gradually add the powder sugar. 

TIPS:

• If making cupcakes pour batter into a gallon size freeze bag to pour the right amount into each cup.
• Allow your frosting to come to room temperature before trying to ice the cake. 
• Make sure your cupcakes, or cake, have completely cooled off before icing
• Got that one cupcake that didn't come out right, or that you picked at to get a taste. Use some of its crumbs to add a little more decoration to the frosting at the end.
• It is almost always easier to frost a chilled or frozen cake. 

Chewy Red Velvet Cookies

I found this recipe How Sweet It Is

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon red food coloring
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream butter and sugars together until fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add egg and vanilla and combine until smooth. Beat in red food coloring. Stir in cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt until just combined, scraping down the sides when needed. Fold in chocolate chips.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out 1-2 tablespoons of dough and set on baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Tips
The original recipe called for regular chocolate chips but the white chocolate provide a nice contrast. Use which ever you have handy

Sandwich these cookies cookie together using a cream cheese frosting (recipe follows):
8oz Cream Cheese
4Tbsp Butter
1tsp Vanilla
2C Powder Sugar
In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Summer Fruit Salad

"Summer summer summertime

time to sit back and unwind" 

Summertime by Will Smith

'Tis the season to go to the farmers market. With all the fresh fruit and veggies you can imagine. So here's a great recipe to make with all those fruit out there. 

2 Mangoes, diced

3 Kiwi, sliced

1 Pint or Strawberries

1 Package of Blackberries

2 tablespoons or Orange juice or orange liqueur

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons honey

pinch of cinnamon

fresh mint for garnish chopped

Chop up all fruit and place in a bowl. 

In another bowl mix orange juice lemon juice honey and cinnamon. Pour over fruit and chill for at least an hour before serving. 

Sprinkle mint over salad right before serving.

Maple Pancakes

My #1 comfort food has and will always be pancakes. I have stories of my first pancake house, my aunt pancakes that were as big as a plate, to the very first time I made pancakes from scratch. So now I'll share one of my recipes with you. Hope you enjoy.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoon maple syrup


Directions

In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, combine egg, milk, oil and syrup; stir into dry ingredients just until blended. Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto a lightly greased hot griddle; turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes. Cook until second side is golden brown.

TIPS

• Just as a rule of thumb never turn your pancakes more than once.
• If you're feeling risque add one diced apple and/or a handful or pecans to the mix
• Add a teaspoon or two (maybe 3) to the dry ingredients and a tablespoon of vanilla to the wet
• If you don't want to do all this from scratch just use pancake mix. Always use milk instead of water for a richer pancake. 
• Try switching out regular milk for buttermilk. 

Summer Corn

So summer is here and in Chicago that means farmers markets and weekend bbq's for everything. From family reunions to holiday gatherings. But one of my favorite things to enjoy off a grill and from the market is corn. Priced at anywhere from 4 for $1 to 2 for $1 you can't go wrong. But here's a way to bring a little excitement and flavor to the corn.

Tip #1:
Leave the corn in the husk. It'll save you a few pieces of foil and the headache of getting the piece of string off.
Tip #2:
Burn the husk. Trust me the corn will be fine. Actually it's best to cook it after all the meat is done.
Tip #3
The corn cooks in it's natural element so it will taste great but lets liven it up. Take a stick of softened butter and with it with some finely chopped fresh or dried herbs (I suggest cilantro or parsley but whatever your fancy is will do fine) and mix together in a small serving bowl. After removing the husk spread the herb butter mix on the corn and serve. No salt will be needed.

So for those who live in an apartment like me or that don't like to grill, take your corn and put in the oven. You'll know the corn is done when you smell the husk burning.