I'm idea fishing for using extra cream cheese mixture

[Inchworm]

Last night I wanted some spicy stuff to go with my beers. I also wanted to play with fire (grill) and make a mess (kitchen).

I think the vessel peppers were anchos.

I stuffed them with a mix of...

Cream cheese, jalapenos, frozen mixed vegetables (corn, carrots, beans, peas, cauliflower), grilled chicken breast, green onion, shredded cheddar, shredded jack, some plops of El Yucateco chipolte hot sauce, salt and pepper.

Then I sealed the open parts with canned biscuits rolled out.

Baked it until the biscuit stuff was done.

They were DELISH!!!!

I digress. I started the cream cheese mix with 3 packages of cream cheese. After using what I needed to stuff 8 peppers, I still have 2-3 times what I needed left over.

I've been sneaking spoonfuls all day. Oh! and spread on celery.. *drool*

I have to do my sourdough today so I may experiment with something a girl called "pop-its" or something similar. She made biscuits with stuffing in the middle. Gawd, I loved seeing those in lunch bag. She used leftover breakfast meat I think. That's tomorrow though! hehe

I also thought of making a batter and deep frying. That costs a lot electric-wize though :P

Do you have any ideas, creations, suggestions you want to share?

I'm all ears :)

:hi:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. Always a big favorite around here -

http://tinyurl.com/ksw8ac

And this is another lovely recipe:

http://tinyurl.com/kpe2op

There is no such thing as too much cream cheese. I just got some raspberry cream cheese to add to my dark chocolate brownie recipe, along with some ::: ahem ::: special herbage, for medicinal use only.

Enjoy................

[Inchworm]

2. I like the wonton idea

See.. I already have the cream cheese mixture which is spicy/savory.

I was thinking of a tempura batter and deepfrying, but these wontons seem cool. I've not played with those yet. :)

Thanks.

:hi:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

4. Cream cheese is big around here lately,

what with my loss of appetite and not really feeling all that great.

So, a good friend who's in the business sent me some greenery to add to brownies, to help with the nausea - medicinal purposes only, of course - and I'm going to fix this recipe - http://tinyurl.com/melxab - only using coconut and glazed cherries instead of the maraschino.

Between sour cream and cream cheese, you can make anything better. Your stuffed peppers sounds fantastic, even to someone with no appetite!!!

[Inchworm]

3. What do you all think? Handmade raviolis

I was planning on spaghetti tonight so this isn;t much of a stretch.

I adapted it from Alton Brown on Food Network channel website.
____________________

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
1) By Hand: On a clean surface make a well with the flour.
2) In a measuring cup mix the eggs, water and oil and salt.
3) Pour the wet mixture slowly into the flour and mix with your 2 fingers until all of the wet is incorporated.
a) Do not force the dough to take all of the flour.
4) knead the dough on a floured work surface for 8 to 10 minutes.
5) roll out your dough either by hand or by machine.
6) After you have rolled the pasta out into sheets,
7) Cut the sheet into an even amount of squares.
a) Using a teaspoon fill the center of half with the filling.
b) Brush around the filling with the egg wash and place the remaining squares on top. Press down around the seal to push out any air bubbles.
8) In half a gallon of rapidly boiling salted water add the ravioli in batches. Remove to a strainer.
9) In a separate pan over medium heat place the butter until it just starts to brown. Toss in 10 ravioli until coated. Sprinkle in the sage and toss again to evenly distribute.
_________________

Probably way harder than it looks huh? :D

:shrug:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. Doesn't grab me -

something about the butter and sage with that wondrous cream cheese mixture doesn't fit right for me.

But, my taster is off. Yet, my head can still "taste" recipes, and this one doesn't work.

You needs something more substantial - something fried - to stand up to that cream cheese trip you came up with.

How about just slathering it on a bagel, with a slice of Vidalia onion, a nice slice of a ripe tomato, and some lovely lox?

[Inchworm]

7. mmmmmm

bagels....

That's tomorrow's breakfast. :D

:woohoo:

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

6. Ooh. That just gave me an idea.

Cream cheese & crab in wontons. I have all the ingredients.

Must.Get.Cracking.

:yourock:

[sandnsea]

10. Yum!

Our local chinese restaurant makes those. god they are sooo good. Do you happen to bake them because I'm skeered of bringing fried wonton into my home.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

11. I've never made them before, but I'm always

on the lookout for crab recipes. I am tired of crab cocktails & crab cakes. And reading the thread I remembered eating them at Chinese restaurants.

Off to google for a recipe.

:hi:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

12. Here are some classics -

http://www.thechinesecookbook.com/C47.html

http://www.thechinesecookbook.com/C48.html

http://www.thechinesecookbook.com/C49.html

The A-1 Steak Sauce is a trick ingredient, but it makes all the difference. Who would have thought?

By the way, that website is very good for a lot of the traditional Chinese food we see here in the States...................

http://www.thechinesecookbook.com/about.html

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

13. I never would have thought that they had A-1 sauce.

Interesting.

I have Trader Vic's cookbook around here somewhere. I bet he's got a recipe too. (Actually, I have tons of Chinese cookbooks, but googling is so much easier, don't you think? Plus, you can read reviews to know if the recipe works or not.)

Thanks!

[sandnsea]

14. Ours absolutely don't

They're very light with probably just cream cheese, crab and maybe a dab of lemon.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

15. Wait until you mix up the filling -

you'll realize that your tongue was reacting to the A-1 all the while. Strange, no? And I put that photo in because I learned to serve them in lettuce cups - I use butter lettuce - which makes a really nice soft, cool contrast to the hot and creamy wonton.

(God, I wish I was hungry.)

I have so many cookbooks, and I have to make a real effort to take even one of them off the shelf, because the google is just a whole lot more fun. The reviews are fun, and what's better than getting 1,000 responses when you type in "Chinese shrimp recipes"?

It's far too seductive, but I love it.

Enjoy!

[Inchworm]

25. I read a few recipes like this

As I bought the wontons I looked at crab meat. It kinda freaked me out lol. I no longer live by the sea and would probably need to find a good place to buy fresh frozen.

I had the same problem when Clam Chowders were my goal. I ended up using canned clams. The chowder was very good, but.. I also like Velveeta, so I thought the whole processed food part was kind of ingrained in my DNA.

:P

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

28. We just went to the coast last week & came home with

about 8 lbs of clam meat. I'm still working on perfecting clam chowder. I found recipes for thick clam chowder, but they used canned clams. And using fresh clams gives me thin clam chowder.

I'll have to put more effort into finding a good recipe & fiddling with it. Just haven't have time yet.

PS: Why are you sticking your tongue out at me?

[Inchworm]

30. That is my "I'm a goof" smiley

:P

Now.. heres a kiss :*

:)

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

31. Thank you for the kiss.

One back atcha!

:*

Wow. That took me three times to find the kiss.

[The empressof all]

8. Make a crust using Ritz crackers and butter

Then combine your mixture with three beaten eggs and maybe a touch of cream. Bake like you would quiche. You'll have a tasty Pie for dinner

[Warpy]

9. Empanadas!

http://latinfood.about.com/od/appetizersandsnacks/tp/empanadas.htm

You can pan fry them, deep fry them, or bake them.

[Inchworm]

24. Ding! We have a winner

hehe

I'm gonna do these tomorrow for sure! They are like big, fat raviolis :rofl:

I want to bake them. I'll look into how.

Thanks!

:woohoo:

[hippywife]

16. Spread it on

tortillas, roll them up, wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate. Take them out when chilled and cut into slices for pinwheels. :9

[pengillian101]

18. Hia Hippywife, pal!

Thanks for explaining the ignore feature - it works great.

I am surprised you use plastic wrap. You don't use use plastic around food.

Hey Pal, nice to see ya! It's my 58th BD today. Had lots of good wishes.

Best to you ;-)

[hippywife]

20. I don't like to use it

but for some things of short duration like this that doesn't involve heat, I do use a little. For some things there's no option. I did get some very nice gauzy potato sack towels to cover my bread doughs so I was able to do away with it there.

Happiest of birthdays to you! I hope you have a wonderful day! :hug:

[Inchworm]

26. Hmmm

I'd need a sampler.

The tastes don't seem to jive in my mind. I may do one just to see though. I have hella cream cheese mix left :D

:hi:

[hippywife]

29. It will taste great.

Not sure why it's not jiving in your mind. You're only adding it to a flour tortilla, which adds no real taste of it's own.

You also might want to try using it to stuff some large portabello mushrooms and broil them. :hi:

[pengillian101]

17. Do you have any ideas?

Yes - please visit!

[buzzycrumbhunger]

19. I might have something

I'm not sure that cream cheese would be kosher, but what if you mixed it with more diced chicken, beans, corn, spinach, and go for something like Chili's SW egg rolls? Goddess, we love those. . . TGIFriday's has a ripoff version in the supermarket that just doesn't cut it and we're always saying we could do better ourselves.

My preferred dipping sauce (which I think is akin to their original) starts with Green Goddess salad dressing (I suppose that's glorified Ranch or Thousand Island) mixed about 50:50 with your favorite sauce/salsa (I like a straight jalapeño).

The secret to the best egg rolls, of course, is to make them up well before you need them and slap them in the freezer, then deep fry when you're ready to eat. It's a little more tricky with tortillas instead of egg roll wrappers, but freezing them ensures they keep their shape and the filling doesn't explode every which way.

For healthier "frying," you can also spray them with olive oil and slap them in a hot oven, turning and spraying halfway through. You don't get the crispy, bubbly "skin," but it's an interesting texture and the fillings taste much more. . . is "clean" the word I'm going for?

Otherwise, I'd probably just plop down with some tortilla chips and a pot of bean dip and have at it.

Alternatively, you could make/buy some earthy crackers or bread and spread away. My kids love it when I carve up a platter of crudités (heavy on the carrots and celery), some special crackers, and assortment of cheeses and call it dinner. I usually do my neufchâtel with a ton of onion powder, dill, and other herbs, though. Never occurred to me to add all that other stuff. Hmmm :9

[Inchworm]

27. Oh yea!

Hmm, isn't that whats inside rellenos(sp)? I often order these in authentic Mexican restarants.

As to simply dipping with a bag of chips... that is what I have been doing the last few days. Grab a carrot or stalk of celery and goto town. I often skip the veggy part and just grab a spoon. I love the stuff that much. :rofl:

:hi:

[Inchworm]

21. Update: what I did and what I learned

:rofl:

Last night I made the ravioli by hand. And this morning.. a bagel. :9

Omg, I was so proud after and they were yummy! I had already started on spaghetti sauce, so I just doctored it a bit to make it go good on ravioli.

So... I still have about 1/2 of of the cream cheese mix I initially made to finish using. :D

About making the ravioli. I learned that it really isn't all that hard and is cheaper than the frozen kind you can buy and waaay tastier. I also learned that making a pool to mix wet ingredients into flour isn't as freaking easy as it looks on TV. The levy broke and there was egg mixture everywhere. I overcame in a panic. I'll do in a bowl like I'm used to next time.

The final dough was very springy. I've yet to figure out how to remedy this. By springy I mean when I rolled it flat it was hard to get it to stay. After each roll it would bounce back 1-2 inches. I couldn't get the whole ball rolled flat enough so I did it in small batches and still had rather thick pieces. This turned out to be a good thing ;)

I bought wontons yesterday and hope to play with those tonight. I have a meeting this evening so I'm hoping it is a fast process.

Thanks for all the ideas. I'll decide which of them to try tomorrow soon.

You all rock!

:yourock:

[buzzycrumbhunger]

22. Boingy dough

Just like bread, your pasta dough needs a few minutes to itself to unwind after you work the gluten into a frenzy like that. Cover it up, walk away, and when you come back a few minutes later I bet you'll find it much more willing to play nice. :)

[Inchworm]

23. Ahhhh - that makes sense

I haven't had this problem in a while since I've been working with sourdough starter. There are two times that the dough sits for 8+ hours. As I think, I had the same boingy problem making biscuits and now I know why.

Thanks!!! :woohoo:

:yourock: