Chinese Dumplings - aka Potstickers

Happy Chinese New Year tomorrow!

Ingredients:
Dumpling Dough*
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup boiling water
Filling:
8 ounces celery cabbage (Napa cabbage)
3 tsp salt, divided
1 pound lean ground pork
1/4 cup finely chopped green onions, with tops
1 TB white wine
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp sesame oil
Dash white pepper
Dipping Sauce:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

Other:
2 - 4 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preparation:
Cut the cabbage across into thin strips. Mix with 2 teaspoons salt and set aside for 5 minutes. Squeeze out the excess moisture.

In a large bowl, mix the celery cabbage, pork, green onions, wine, cornstarch, the remaining 1 teaaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, and the white pepper.

In a bowl, mix the flour and 1 cup boiling water until a soft dough forms. Knead the dough on a lightly flour surface about 5 minutes, or until smooth.

Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a roll 12 inches long and cut each roll into 1/2-inch slices.

Roll 1 slice of dough into a 3-inch circle and place 1 tablespoon pork mixture in the center of the circle. Lift up the edges of the circle and pinch 5 pleats up to create a pouch to encase the mixture. Pinch the top together. Repeat with the remaining slices of dough and filling.

Heat a wok or nonstick skillet until very hot. Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, tilting the wok to coat the sides. If using a nonstick skillet, add 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil. Place 12 dumplings in a single layer in the wok and fry 2 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden brown.

Add 1/2 cup water. Cover and cook 6 to 7 minutes, or until the water is absorbed. Repeat with the remaining dumplings.

We served a dipping sauce of Yoshida's sauce (from Costco) warmed in a pan on the stove, cut 2 green onions finely, and sprinkled in 1/2 tsp. ground ginger in and voila - a delicious dipping sauce.

Hot Chocolate Mug Cakes

Bake your favorite chocolate cake batter in individual mugs for a warming winter dessert. RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

Cooking spray
Chocolate cake batter
Marshmallow creme

1. Simply coat the insides of oven safe mugs with cooking spray, then fill the mugs halfway with chocolate cake batter. We used a mix for German chocolate cake, which is a lighter color than regular chocolate cake and looks more like hot cocoa.

2. Follow the cupcake baking instructions on the cake mix package. The cakes are done when a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean or with just a few crumbs. Allow the cakes to cool for about 15 minutes.

3. Top each mug with a generous dollop of marshmallow creme and serve with a spoon. One cake mix makes enough batter for 12 of our mugs; if you want fewer than a dozen, bake the remaining batter in a small pan.

Navajo "Fry Bread"

3 cups Flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add 1 1/3 cups warm water. Mix well. Knead for about 5 minutes, adding a little flour if the dough is too sticky. Let dough rest for 30 minutes. Break off balls of dough and stretch into 1/4 inch circles (or you can use a rolling pin to flatten them out.) Fry in oil (about 1/4 inch in the bottom of a 10 inch frying pan), turning when you can see the bottom side turning golden brown. Drain on a pan lined with paper towels to remove excess oil. Top with honey or make a Navajo taco. Makes about 8 (six inch round) fry breads.

These are the real deal. My aunt got the recipe from a Navajo woman in New Mexico. There's no yeast in the dough and they're not sweet. They're exactly what you'd expect to get at the Flea Market.

Lindsey's Apple Dumplings

Over Christmas we updated our Eagar family cookbook. Needless to say I've been making new recipes all work. This one is very quick and fun too!

2 Granny Smith Apples

2 sticks butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1 can Mountain Dew (I'm sure you could substitute Sprite/7-up if you'd prefer)

2 cans Crescent Rolls (just a sidenote - if you know me I hate Jack-in-the-Box toys because I think they're terrifying - well these stinkin pop cans are in the same category for me. Honestly, I jump and scream every time I open one. I know - I'm weird - at least I can admit it).

1 1/2 cups sugar

Cinnamon

Peel and core apples. Cut apples into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice into a crescent roll. Place in two rows of eight in a 9X13 buttered baking dish. Melt butter in saucepan, then add sugar. BARELY stir! The goal is to leave clumps of sugar. Add vanilla, barely stir. Pour mixture over dumplings in pan. Pour Mountain Dew around edges of pan and down the middles of the two rows. Sprinkle entire dish with cinnamon. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes (my stove is gas and I had to bake it 50 minutes) - they were deliciously perfect and had just the amount of crunch on top. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

This recipe is one of those uniquely fun dishes that I think would be really fun to teach of one of my YW cooking camps.

Yummy Meatballs

Okay so I'm breaking my own rules and don't have a picture to post, but I still had to share this super easy and very tasty dish that I had at taster's night in December.

Take 24 oz. frozen meatballs (I used turkey...just as tasty...way less calories).

Put them in a crockpot and then add the following:

1 can of jellied cranberry sauce
1 jar of Heinz Chili sauce

Cook for 4 hours on low and enjoy them over rice. This meal is a great timesaver and guaranteed to please even your pickiest eater!