Zaden's Somewhat-Asian Potstickers

Well finally! I apologize once again for my absence. The good news is I have INTERNET FINALLY! So, it should be much easier to post now. But I digress, let's get to the grub!
Today I bring to you potstickers (or Asian dumplings)! My husband and I have messed with this recipe together for awhile and though it requires specialized equipment, they are super easy and can rival any dumpling house.

Non Edibles!
A steamer, bowl, cup of water, cutting board, and a spoon. Note: If you don't have a steamer, you can fry these. I'll supply instructions for both.

Edibles!
1 lb of turkey (what I usually use just because) or pork sausage
1 tsp or so of olive oil
3-5 good spoon fulls of sauerkraut
A helping of soy sauce to taste
A dash of garlic pepper
Other Asian spices you may have on hand (optional)
Approx 30-40 or so won ton wrappers (find these in the produce section)

The Food
Alright, so the ingredients aren't all so authentically Asian but the results are no less yummy for it.
Anyway, first take your bowl and combine your sausage of choice with the kraut, soy sauce, spices, and oil and mix well. Once that's done, I find it best to set up a little assembly line as making these buggers can get tedious.You'll need your freshly mixed bowl-o-filling, cutting board to work on, cup of water and, of course, won ton wrappers.
Now that you've set your area up for maximum ease and productivity, it's time to start working! Grab a won ton wrapper, wet the edges all around with water, and then spoon the filling into the center. To finish them off, just fold over and pinch the edges together to form a triangle. And huzzah! Go ahead, take a minute to admire your lovely dumpling! A word to the wise, it's better to start with to little filling than too much. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to fiddle with sealing an overly full dumpling. It's much simpler to add a bit more filling into the dumpling if you need it.
Potstickers aren't very big so you will make quite a few before you finish off your filling depending on how full you fill them. About 10 dumplings per good-n-hungry person is a good serving, so take what dumplings you need to cook and the rest are easily frozen. And if your just lazy like me, you can safely store the filling itself in the fridge -just a day or two- or freezer and assemble more dumplings later (I don't like freezing as you will then just have to defrost the filling to make the dumplings and that lessens the quality of the meat).
To cook, just set in the steamer for about 30-45 minutes (or about an hour frozen). If you don't have a steamer, just fire up the skillet and head up a 1/4 cup or so of oil and fry them one side then the other until golden brown!

Serve with soy sauce or other Asian dipping sauce of your choice and enjoy!

*BONUS!
This is much the same concept as ravioli! Just use beef and/or your choice of cheeses and boil rather than steam and serve with a yummy marinara sauce! Though I do recommend an egg wash to just water to seal the edges for these. See you get a twofer today!

Until next time, Happy munching!

Of Cookies and Chaos

You heard right folks, cookies! Chocolate chip at that (did I mention I was on a diet? :3)!
Seriously though, diet or not, we all need a little bit of a break to get away from the wrong kind of order that stresses us day to day. And what better way to do that, than a homemade batch of chocolate chip cookies. Sure, you can go ahead and buy them ready made and such, but it's so much more rewarding to make your own. It's it's own kind of magic, cookie chaos magic if you will! And with this easy recipe, you can whip up a batch of "Eris's Best" in no time. Okay, okay, enough of that. On to the kitchen!

This recipe is one I modified from the Toll House original recipe my mom gave me many moons ago. I found their version to be a bit cake-y, so after a little though and a bit too much Food Network, I upped the sugar (just a tad!), lowered the oven temp, and Huzza! Ooey Gooey greatness! I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

Non Edibles:
You'll need 2 mixing bowls, spoon, beater, measuring cups, cookie pan, and, if you like, a spatula  

Edibles:
2 1/4 cup of Flower
1 tsp of Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 cup of softened butter
1 cup of sugar
1 1/4 cup of brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp of vanilla
A hefty pinch of pumpkin pie spice (optional)
1 bag of chocolate chips
1/2 cup of nuts (also optional)


I know, a lot of ingredients, but these are not hard, I promise.
Before gathering your essentials, preheat thine kiln to 350*. Once that's done, you'll first start with the dry stuff. Just throw the flower, baking soda, and salt together in one of your bowls and toss it all together.
Next, beat together your butter (just toss it in the microwave for 15 seconds or so), sugars, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice into your other bowl.
Now that that's sufficiently creamy, add your eggs and continue beating until mixed.
Gradually add your flower mixture and keep on beating until you have a nice cookie dough.
Now it's time to add your chocolate chips and nuts (i prefer mine without nuts, personally).
Your dough is now ready for cooking! Just take your spoon and dollop the dough onto a VERY lightly greased cookie sheet. Toss the cookie sheet into the heated oven . Go ahead, lick the spoon, the bowl, and the beaters. You know you want to. And after 8 minutes, you will have delicious, comforting, chaos inducing cookies!

But above all, ENJOY! That's what cookies are all about.
Until next week dear readers,
Zaden