Cheeseburger Spring Rolls

This was William's special request for his birthday meal this year. Everyone agreed that it was a hit! Enjoy!

This recipe is listed under "Asian" and "Chinese" simply because you use egg roll wrappers and I wanted to make it easy for me to find in the future, but it is also listed under "hamburger" and "beef."

Also, see my recipe for "Pizza Spring Rolls" to see a picture of the assembly process: https://1brother2sisters.blogspot.com/2024/02/pizza-spring-rolls.html

Cheeseburger Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, diced
• 2 lbs ground beef
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp pepper
• 2 Tbl mustard
• 2 Tbl ketchup
• Worcestershire sauce
• hamburger seasoning
• shredded cheese
• 20 egg roll wrappers (i.e. one package worth)
• 1 egg, beaten
• oil, for frying

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, add your onion and ground beef and cook until beef and onions are browning. Drain any excess grease from pan. Add salt, pepper and garlic and sauté for the last couple minutes that the meat is cooking, being careful not to burn the garlic. Stir in ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and hamburger seasoning to taste. Set aside.
2. In a deep fryer or large heavy-bottomed pan, heat enough oil for it to be about an inch deep in the pan for frying. Line a large plate with paper towels for draining. 
3. Assemble your spring rolls by laying each sheet of dough out on your counter, add the desired amount of meat and cheese to each roll, brush the edges with your beaten egg, and fold up according to the egg roll package directions. Seems like you can fit about a 1/4 cup or more of filling per rolls.
• You can prep your rolls earlier in the day and place them on a baking sheet for storage, cover the uncooked rolls with plastic wrap so they don't dry out, and then store them in the fridge until you are ready to fry them.
4. Place your rolls in the hot oil, being careful not to over crowd the pan (I cooked my rolls in batches of five), until golden brown on all sides. Place on paper towel-lined plate for draining. Serve immediately with any dipping sauce you think goes well with cheeseburgers.

Marsha's Notes:

I currently don't have a thermometer that will tell me the temperature of hot oil on my stove, so here are some notes for me for the future: On my stove, you can fry things in oil with the heat set between 4-6, but if you heat up the oil with the stove set at 6 with nothing else in the pan, it gets way too hot. So I would recommend starting to heat the oil between 3 and 4, but when you actually start to cook, you can turn up the heat to 5 or 6 depending on how fast things are browning. If the stove is set to 2 or 3 for cooking, things brown too slowly and soak up too much oil.

Pizza Spring Rolls

For William's birthday, he went through my cookbooks and picked some recipes for us to try. One recipe was for pizza spring rolls, which were everyone's favorite for the night.

Pizza Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

• 2 cups vegetable oil, for frying
• 4 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 cup mini pepperoni slices, or regular pepperoni slices quartered
• 1 cup pizza sauce
• 20 egg roll wrappers (one package)
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 tsp water

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet for setting prepared spring rolls on.
2. Mix together cheese, pepperoni and pizza sauce.
3. Lay out all your egg roll wrappers on the counter with one of the points of the wrapper pointing towards you. 
4. Divide up the filling evenly between each (about 2 Tbl of filling per roll). Filling should be kind of in a line, off-center, closer to the point of the wrapper closest to you. (See Image)
5. Mix beaten egg with a small amount of water (1 tsp), and then use the egg wash to brush the edges of each wrapper before rolling.
6. Roll up like a burrito, making sure all the filling is sealed inside, first by folding up the point of the wrapper closest to you around the filling (trying to make sure things are nice and tight), tuck in the sides slightly around the ends of the filling, then fold up each of the side corners, and finally roll up the rest of the spring roll up towards the top point. (See Image)
7. Place filled rolls on prepared sheet and cover with plastic wrap and store in a cool place until ready to fry.
8. In a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat, heat about 1 inch of oil for frying (about 350 degrees).
9. Place a few rolls in the hot oil, being sure not to over-crowd the pan. Fry until gold brown on one side, flip over and continue frying until the entire roll is golden. Drain on paper towels.
10. Serve with extra pizza sauce and ranch for dipping.
11. I placed my cooked rolls on "warm and hold" in the oven while cooking batches, which kept them nice and hot until serving. I also prepped my rolls earlier in the day and cooked them off at dinner time.

One Pot Beef and Veggie Ramen Noodle Bowls

I have made this recipe a couple of times and changed things up from the original, so here is my favorite version. It's a lot like broccoli beef, only I like it more with additional veggies.

See the original recipe here: https://www.melskitchencafe.com/easy-one-pot-beef-and-broccoli-ramen-noodles/

One Pot Beef and Veggie Ramen Noodle Bowls

Ingredients:

• 1  pound flank or sirloin steak, sliced thin (less than 1/4-inch) (1 package)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger or ginger paste
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 small package frozen broccoli
• shredded carrots, handful
• 1 small can water chestnuts, drained
• 2 cans chicken broth (15 oz.)
• 4 (3-ounces each) packages ramen noodles, flavoring packets discarded

Sauce:

• ⅓ cup soy sauce, I use low sodium
• ¼ cup hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients, whisking to combine. Set aside.
2. In a 12-inch deep skillet or pot, heat the olive oil and sesame oil over medium or medium-high until hot and rippling. Add steak to pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook the beef in a single layer until browned.
3. Add frozen broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts. Cook for a couple of minutes (until broccoli is no longer frozen and starting to soften). Then add the ginger and garlic. Cook over medium heat, stirring and mashing the ginger and garlic, for about 30 seconds until sizzling and fragrant (don’t let it burn). Add the broth.
4. Break the bricks of ramen noodles into chunks and add them to the skillet/pot. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook until the ramen and broccoli are tender, 3-4 minutes, tossing and stirring the ramen while it cooks to help it separate. There should be a bit of liquid left in the bottom of the pot.
5. Whisk the sauce to recombine and add it to the pot as well. Stir and toss the ingredients to combine. Cook at a gentle simmer for 1-2 minutes to heat through. Serve immediately

Marsha's Notes:

One change that I made from the original recipe (besides adding the extra veggies and changing some of the preparation, was that we subbed out the brown sugar for regular white granulated sugar. The brown sugar was noticeably detectable and fragrant and felt misplaced in an Asian dish, but the white sugar gave you the same sweetness without the scent and flavor of the brown.

Marsha's Easy Teriyaki

This recipe is only low-carb if you used riced cauliflower instead of regular rice.

If you are looking for an easy, yummy, and versatile teriyaki recipe, look no further! You can make this over rice, or if you are watching carbs, you can used riced cauliflower. You can use chicken, or diced ham, or no meat at all.

Marsha's Easy Teriyaki

For rice: Either use this recipe to make a huge pot of rice super easy in the Instant Pot (freeze any extra for another recipe) or cook a freezer bag of riced cauliflower according to package directions. I don't always like riced cauliflower as a substitute, but I thought it worked out really well for this recipe. I have never made homemade riced cauliflower, but if I do with success, I'll post a link here (if I remember) so you don't have to use store-bought freezer riced cauliflower.

For chicken: Either use this recipe to make a huge pot of cooked chicken super easy in the Instant Pot (freeze any extra for another recipe) or use any other form of protein that you like (canned chicken, diced ham, grilled meat, etc.). You can use whole pieces, shredded, diced or chunked meat. Whatever you like.

For veggies: Steam any veggies that you like, fresh or frozen. The easiest is getting a bag of frozen mixed veggies and prepare according to package directions.

For sauce: Use any of your favorite teriyaki sauces. I used this Kikkoman sauce, and at only 15 calories a serving, it was tasty and low-calorie.

Assemble your bowl and enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. Enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 (20 oz) can chunk pineapple
• 2 chicken breast halves
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 ¼ cup pineapple juice
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tbl cornstarch
• 2 Tbl soy sauce

Directions:

1. Open canned pineapple and drain off juice to use in sauce.  Reserve pineapple chunks to serve on top of chicken later, if desired.  
2. Cut up chicken into cubes and cook in pan on stovetop until desired doneness.  
3. In a saucepan, over medium-high/high heat, mix brown sugar, pineapple juice, vinegar, salt, cornstarch and soy sauce.  
4. Cook and slowly bring to a boil.  Sauce will thicken as it starts to boil.  
5. Remove from heat when it reaches a boil and stir in cooked chicken.  
6. Serve chicken and sauce over cooked white rice and top with pineapple.

Marsha's Notes:

If you don’t like pineapple chunks on your chicken, then omit the pineapple chunks and instead buy canned pineapple juice separately for the sauce.

This is also good if you use breaded and fried chicken cubes.

Oriental Salad

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. Enjoy!

Oriental Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 pkg. Ramen noodles, crushed
• 1 head cabbage, chopped 
• 4 green onions, chopped 
• 4 cans medium shrimp
• 1 cup oil
• 2 Tbl. sugar
• 1 tsp pepper
• 6 Tbl rice vinegar
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp accent
• 4 Tbl sliced almonds
• 4 Tbl sesame seeds 

Directions:

1. Mix together noodles, cabbage, onions and shrimp.  
2. In a separate bowl combine oil, sugar, pepper, vinegar, salt and accent.  Mix well.  
3. Pour dressing over cabbage mixture and let marinade for 24 hours.  
4. Top with almonds and sesame seeds if desired.

Marsha's "Panda Express" Orange Chicken

*This recipe is low-carb if you omit or sub serving over/with rice.

Scott and I are addicted to Panda Express Orange Chicken, and so I found this great copy-cat recipe in the internet a few years back. It's a little time intensive, but the end results are GREAT! This is a pretty frequently requested recipe from my stash. We did make some changes to the original, so I have posted both versions here. Enjoy!  The picture came from the Panda Express website, and I originally got this recipe from the Top Secret Recipes website, but I have since changed it up to suit our tastes, and so this is Marsha's version.

Marsha's “Panda Express” Orange Chicken

Ingredients:

Sauce:

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3 Tbl. orange juice concentrate
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/8 cup rice vinegar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 7 teaspoons corn starch
• 3 tablespoons water

Chicken:

• 4 chicken breast fillets
• 1 cup ice water
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups unsifted cake flour
• 2-4 cups vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Combine all of the sauce ingredients -- except the corn starch and arrowroot -- in a small saucepan over high heat. Stir often while bringing mixture to a boil. When sauce reaches a boil, remove it from heat and allow it to cool a bit, uncovered.
2. Slice chicken breasts into bite-size chunks. Remove exactly 1 cup of the marinade from the pan and pour it over the chicken in a large resealable plastic bag or other container which allows the chicken to be completely covered with the marinade. The chicken should marinate for at least a couple hours. Cover the remaining sauce and leave it to cool until the chicken is ready.
3. When chicken has marinated, preheat 2-inches of vegetable oil in a wok or skillet to 350 degrees.
4. Combine corn starch with arrowroot in a small bowl, then add 3 tablespoons of water. Stir until corn starch and arrowroot have dissolved. Pour this mixture into the sauce and set the pan over high heat. When sauce begins to bubble and thicken cover and remove it from heat.
5. Beat together the ice water and egg in a medium bowl. Add baking soda and salt.
6. Add 3/4 cup of the flour and stir with a fork just until the flour in blended into the mixture. The batter should still be lumpy.
7. Sprinkle another 1/4 cup of flour on top of the batter and mix with only one or two strokes. Most of the new flour will still floating on top of the mixture. Put the remaining flour (1/2 cup) into a separate medium bowl.
8. Dip each piece of chicken first into the flour, then into the batter. Let some of the batter drip off and then slide the chicken into the oil. Fry up to 1/2 of the chicken pieces at a time for 3-4 minutes, or until golden brown. Flip the chicken over halfway through the cooking time. Remove the chicken to a rack or paper towels to drain.
9. As the chicken cooks, reheat the sauce left covered on the stove. Stir occasionally.
10. When all of the chicken is done, pour it into a large bowl, and cover with the thickened sauce. Stir gently until all of the pieces are well coated.