The cookbook? Skinnytaste Meal Prep

The recipe, Cheeseburger Egg Rolls.

I love these so much, I gave them to Alex in Taking the Leap. They were perfect for her and Rix. I can see it in my head, those two working side by side to chop and brown and roll and eat.

Four things I love so much about these:

1. They can be dinner or an appetizer.
2. They can be frozen, so you can make a double batch, or if there aren’t many people in your household, a single one and have some left over to freeze and enjoy later.
3. You usually have all the ingredients in your kitchen already (I keep egg roll wrappers in the freezer not only for this recipe, but for the buffalo chicken egg rolls from the Dream Bites cookbook).
4.  They’re fucking delicious and the sauce is insane!

There’s a cauliflower polenta in this cookbook that is off the freaking hook. And the Fiesta Quinoa Salad is life. And the freezer marinades are da bomb. In other words, there’s a lot of goodness in this cookbook, I highly recommend it!

But for this…check it out, make it for you, your fams, your friends…and enjoy!

Alex’s Cheeseburger Egg Rolls

• Prep Time

  20

• Cook Time

  7-8

• Serves

  4-6

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon Olive Oil (I use a bit more, this isn't enough to sauté mushrooms in)
• 1 cup White Mushrooms, chopped
• 1 pound Ground Turkey (Skinnytaste recipe says 1 1/4 pound, 93% lean, I just use a package)
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1 small Onion, chopped (I love food flavored with onion, but a lot of it...no - so I use a half an onion)
• 3 Garlic Cloves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon Yellow Mustard
• 1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
• 14 Egg Roll Wrappers
• 5 tablespoons Finely Chopped Pickles, drained on paper towels
• Olive Oil Spray

How to do it…

1. Heat oil in large skillet on medium high. Sauté mushrooms until turning soft. Add turkey and salt. Break it into small pieces while browning. Make sure this is cooked through. Then add onions, garlic and mustard and cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally until onions soften.
2. Skinnytaste says drain the mean in a colander (and for the egg roll wrappers, you do not want this to be very damp). However, with little oil, and lean meat, I have yet to make this so there's anything to drain. But if there's something to drain, be certain to do that. Then put the meat mixture in a bowl and mix it with the cheese.
3. Now, time to assemble! First, separate your egg roll wrappers. I've made some egg rolls in my time, so I don't do these one at a time and I set up a conveyor belt system. However, if you're new to this, so your wrapper doesn't get too soggy as you're learning, do it one at a time. Have a clean, dry surface and a wee bowl of water ready to dip your fingers in. Have your meat and pickles ready to rumble. Then set the wrapper in front of you, tilted so its diamond shaped. Put a heaping spoonful or a 1/4 cup of the meat on the lower part of the wrapper. Sprinkle chopped pickle on top. Wet your fingers and then wet the edges of the egg roll wrapper. Lift the bottom point of the wrapper over the meat, squish and tuck it in. Be careful, you don't want to rip your wrapper, but just to say, they tend to be sturdy, so if you're cautious, you should be able to squish and tuck without a disaster happening. Then fold the left and right sides toward the center, tucking while rolling until it's a nice little tube o' goodness. Keep going until all the filling is gone.
4. If you're serving now: Spray all the sides of the rolls with oil, rubbing it around so it's fully coated. Cook them in an air fryer at 370-375 degrees, 7-8 minutes, flipping them halfway through until golden and crisp. Serve with ketchup, mustard, mayo, or the insanely good dipping sauce (see below).
5. If you're freezing: Tuck into a Stasher freezer bag (or other). Make sure there isn't a lot of air in there. Seal. When you're ready, cook from frozen like above, except at 320-325 degrees for 12-14 minutes
6. INSANE SAUCE: Combine 1/4 cup (light) mayo, 1 1/2 tablespoons ketchup, 1 teaspoon yellow mustard, 1 teaspoon dill pickle juice in a small bowl. ENJOY!
7. If you don't have an air fryer: Cook in a 400 degree oven, 12-16 minutes fresh, 18-20 minutes frozen, flipping halfway through.

Notes

I eat these for dinner with sautéed haricot vert and feel very healthy and accomplished and chefy and clever. The freezing option is everything, especially when I get involved in writing a book. I can grab a bag of these in the morning, defrost, fry them up in the evening, and ta da! Yummy dinner I made myself!

Another note: these come out of the air fryer piping hot. Give them a good few minutes to cool down before you take a bite. You'll want to crunch in right away. Don't or you won't taste them because you burned the shit out of your mouth!

The post Alex’s Cheeseburger Egg Rolls appeared first on Kristen Ashley.

Period.

Recently, I decided to get serious about making good guac, not simply smushing up avocado and adding some salsa and calling it a day.

I tried one recipe and it was such a winner, everyone who tasted it loved it, even one friend who didn’t like guacamole.

I never looked back.

So I gave that guac to Izzy in The Hookup.

And now I’m giving it to you!

Izzy’s Best Guacamole Ever!

• Prep Time

  15

• Serves

  4-6

Ingredients

• Main:
• 3-4 Ripe Avocados, peeled, pitted and smushed
• 1 Juiced Lime, or a good dose of bottled, real lime juice
• ½ cup Diced Onion, I use red because I love red onion, you use what you love
• 2-3 tablespoons Fresh Chopped Cilantro, or a couple of squirts of that stuff from the tube, up to you how strong you like your cilantro and obviously fresh is always better!
• 1-2 teaspoons Minced Garlic, depending on how much you like garlic
• A very healthy pinch of salt
• 1-2 teaspoons Chopped Jalapeño and/or*
• 1 pinch Ground Cayenne Pepper and/or*
• Healthy tablespoon or two of Readymade Fresh Salsa*

How to do it…

1. How to do it… Chop, dice and mince what’s gotta be chopped, diced and minced. Prepare the avocados in a bowl. Mush it all together with the rest of the ingredients. Taste test to make sure you like what you’ve got and add accordingly.
2. Then voilà, delicious guacamole you can use as dip, in tacos, on burritos or however you like it!

Notes

Add a combination of these ingredients, depending on how you like it!

Alternate or additional spicing I’ve used that adds goodness is a few healthy shakes of Tajin seasoning.

Caveat: I dislike tomatoes (intensely). I like marinara sauce and ketchup. I just don't like tomatoes in their natural form. So except for the tomato that has been soaked in salsa juice, I don’t add tomatoes to my guac. If you love tomato, add 1-2 diced roma tomatoes to this delicousness.

The post Izzy’s Best Guacamole Ever! appeared first on Kristen Ashley.

Okay, this is another one of my sister, Erika’s recipes. She didn’t make it up. She just makes it. Often. So as far as I’m concerned, it’s hers.

Now, Erika has also simplified this considering pretty much everyone in my family, but me and my brother-in-law John, is persnickety about what they put in their gobs. So, essentially, she makes this with sausage and mushroom and leaves out the olives and maybe even the onions. Sometimes, she doesn’t even bother with the mushrooms. Sometimes she doesn’t bother with the cups and just puts the sausage shizzle in mini-crockpot and we all dig in with crackers or nacho chips.

Whatever you wanna do. Just sayin’… whatever it is, it’ll be the fraking BOMB!

Erika’s Sausage and Mushroom Cups

• Prep Time

  30

• Cook Time

  30

• Serves

  A Lot

Ingredients

• Bread Cups:
• 2 loaves White Bread
• 1 tablespoon Butter
• Filling:
• 1 pound (roll) Breakfast Sausage (if you don’t live in the US, any loose pork sausage will do… but you might wanna spice it up)
• 2 tablespoons Butter
• 6 Green Onions (Spring Onions)
• ½ cup Chopped Canned Mushrooms (you can also cut fresh)
• ¼ cup thinly sliced Pimento Stuffed Green Olives
• ¾ teaspoon Salt
• ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
• 4 tablespoon Flour
• 2 cups Whipping Cream
• ¼ cup Parmesan

How to do it…

1. Bread Cups: Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Lightly butter small muffin tins. With 2 ½ to 3 inch biscuit cutter slice bread into circles and roll out each to flatten. Press circles firmly into buttered tins to form 48 cups. Bake until lightly brown, about 6 minutes. Remove from tins and cool. Place on a baking sheet for filling. (May be made ahead and frozen to fill later.)
2. A note here, this is finger food so these cups are not meant to be extravaganzas. These are meant to be eaten in a bite…ish.
3. Filling: Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
4. Brown sausage in large skillet over medium heat, breaking up with fork. Pour off drippings and drain on paper towels. In same skillet melt butter and cook green onions until soft, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms, olives, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with flour, stirring constantly. Pour in cream and bring to a boil. Add sausage. Reduce heat and simmer until mixture thickens, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Fill cups with sausage mixture, discard any excess oil. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake 10 minutes to melt cheese. Serve hot.

Notes

As you can see, the cups may be fiddly. So just make the filling as a dip. Or dress to impress by making the whole shebang for company. Seriously, whatever. Just make this!

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