Weekend meals
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Baked egg rolls
These turned out really well with tasty filling and were nicely browned on the outside. I will admit the deep fried ones are crispier, but these are just as tasty and easier and less messy to make. I did modify the recipe to suit my tastes. I used tofu instead of the ground turkey recommended. I drained it well and added it when they added the turkey. I browned everything well and just before taking it off the heat, I added about 3/4 tsp of five spice powder and cooked until fragrant. The 5-spice was just the touch needed. Without it the filling mix would be somewhat bland. For the cabbage, I greatly simplified everything by grabbing angel hair coleslaw. The pack of egg roll wrappers contained about 20 wrappers and the recipe for the filling made about 12 and used about half the cabbage package. So, what to do? Well, I mixed up another batch of filling and used the rest of the wrappers! I found that a package of the Silken extra firm tofu, a package of angel hair cole slaw, and about double the rest of the ingredients nicely filled all 20 of the egg roll wrappers with only a couple of extra spoonfuls of filling left over.
I did not make the dipping sauce. I simply used a duck sauce from the grocery store. It worked well enough.
Some things to keep in mind when baking these up…be sure to spray both sides of the roll with the cooking spray to ensure some browning on all sides. Also, the egg white is not necessary. Water works just as well. I froze all the leftover rolls and have already tried reheating them. They reheat best in the toaster oven. They need to be defrosted slightly in the microwave for about 1 minute and then pop them into the toaster oven for about 10-15 minutes until hot. They also reheat fairly well in the microwave, but then they won't be crisp (but they still are tasty).
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Chiles rellenos casserole
This was another good choice for this weekend. It really isn't that complicated and tasted good, especially with some baked tortilla chips crumbled over the top for crunch. I did not do any modifications on this run through, but next time I might try some things a bit differently. The refried bean filling was rather sloppy. In order to fix that problem, I may add a little cornstarch to the beans. I may also use 3 or 4 whole eggs rather than the 2 whole and 2 whites. These choices may help firm up the filling a bit.