Baked Southwestern Egg Rolls

I love the Southwestern egg rolls served at a popular chain restaurant, but I know how horrible they must be nutrition-wise! I was so excited to see this recipe for Baked Southwestern Egg Rolls. I love to take otherwise unhealthy restaurant dishes and turn them into much healthier versions.

I took these to a Trivia Night sponsored by my cousin's company to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. These were a great addition to the treats our table brought, which I'm sure were critical to our team's taking home the 1st place award!

I've never worked with store-bought egg roll wrappers before, but they are so neat! I have so many ideas of fillings for these - both savory and sweet. These are great leftover too.

Baked Southwestern Egg Rolls

Ingredients:
2 cups frozen corn, thawed
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 4-ounce can diced green chiles, drained
4 green onions, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
egg roll wrappers (about 24 total)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425F.

1. In a large bowl, combine everything but the egg roll wrappers. Mix well to blend.

2. Lay an egg roll wrapper out on a work surface so that one of the corners is pointing toward you and place 1/4 cup of the filling in the center. Fold the tip closest to you up over the filling, roll a bit, then take the points pointing outward (to the sides) and fold them in toward the center. Continue rolling into an egg roll shape until a small part of the remaining point is still free. Dip a finger in water or beaten egg and lightly brush on the edges of the free corner. Finish rolling and press to seal closed. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling.

3. Lightly oil a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place the sealed egg rolls on the baking sheet seam side down and spray the tops of the egg rolls with cooking spray. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until lightly brown, turning halfway through baking. Serve warm with salsa.

Source: Annie's Eats

Citrus-Glazed Butter Cookies

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend! Bob and I hit up the Labor Day sales to buy some furniture for our new house. All I have been thinking of lately is furniture! So many decisions! Meanwhile, I was invited to do a product review for CSN Stores, and what is one of the focus of one of the many CSN stores - furniture! I have been browsing all of their kitchen tables and dining room sets to get a good idea of the styles we like. I even Googled "dining rooms" recently and CSN Stores came up!

As we get closer to Closing Day for our home, things are getting busier. Have I even started packing yet? NO!

I wanted to share this quick recipe with you because it was a huge hit at the "Hello and Goodbye" party we held a few weeks ago. I have had this idea for a very long time, and finally forced myself to make it happen. The big Whole Foods in Chicago sells these incredibly delicious lemon-glazed butter cookies made at a local bakery - they tasted very much like my grandma's butter cookies with a lemon glaze. So, I figured why not try glazing my grandma's butter cookies with different citrus glazes - lemon, lime, and orange to be exact. The result - a delicious, citrusy, buttery cookie! These cookies are normally a little hard in texture but the glaze made them softer. Overall, the favorite citrus glaze of the night (because I asked of course!) was lime. I was a bit surprised but certainly agreed. The lemon and the lime were in close running, with the orange slightly behind because we decided it didn't have as prominent a flavor.

The glazing is as simple as can be and adds a new flavor and color to already amazing cookies!

Citrus-Glazed Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

1 batch butter cookies

1 cup powdered sugar, divided

1 lime, small

1 lemon, small

1 orange, small

Directions:

1. Prepare butter cookies as directed and let cool completely on wire racks.

2. Place 1/3 cup powdered sugar in each of 3 bowls. Grate some of the zest of each fruit into each bowl - the amount varies by personal preference, but I believe I used the zest from the whole lemon, the whole lime, and half of the orange.

3. Juice the lime, lemon, and orange separately.

4. Add each citrus juice to each bowl, a little at a time, stirring to observe consistency. You would like the glaze to run off the back of the spoon - not too thick. I used approximately the juice of 1 small lemon, 1 small lime, and 1/2 small orange - although I held back a little juice from each. This will depend on how 'juicy' your fruit is!

5. Place waxed paper under cookies on wire racks. Spoon glaze over cookies, making sure to distribute zest as evenly as possible. Let dry for several hours. Serve or store in an airtight container.

Source: Glaze adapted from Mini Baker

Some of the cookies got a little more done that I'd like, so I drizzled them with chocolate. These went fast!