Food: Southwestern Egg Rolls

One of my favorite recipes for summer is Southwestern Egg Rolls, which I found on AllRecipes.com. I like to mix up the filling depending on what I have around in the kitchen, and have used fish, chicken, ground beef, or no meat at all with great results. I like to serve it with Amy's Cilantro Cream Sauce as a dip... YUM! It's got a very green, refreshing taste to it, especially when you bake it rather than fry it. I'm going to share my modified version of the Southwestern Egg Rolls recipe below. Enjoy! I know we did-- even Ethan went crazy for my fish-filled version.


(PS-- Not my photo, but aren't they gorgeous?)

Southwestern Egg Rolls

Ingredients
* 1.5-2 cups of seasoned, cooked meat (fish, ground beef, chicken), diced
* 2 tablespoons minced green onion
* 2 tablespoons minced red bell pepper
* 1/3 cup frozen corn kernels
* 1/4 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
* 2 tablespoons frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained (optional)
* 1-2 tablespoons diced jalapeno peppers (or 1-2 tsp. hot sauce)
* 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
* 1/3 teaspoon salt
* 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper
* 3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack (or blended, cheddar-jack, pepper-jack, etc.)
* 1 package Egg Roll wrappers (check refrigerated section of the store)

Directions
1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F. Line two cookie pans with parchment paper. (It helps to keep the egg rolls from sticking to the pan.)
2. Mix all ingredients except egg roll wrappers in a large bowl.
3. Spoon even amounts of the mixture into each egg roll wrapper. Follow the package directions to fold up the egg rolls correctly, moistening the closing edge to ensure that it adheres to the wrapper. Repeat until all filling has been used. (At this point, you can refrigerate the egg rolls until you want to bake them; just put them on the lined pans, cover with foil and stick them in the fridge.)
4. Arrange egg rolls on the parchment-lined cookie pans. Spray the tops of the egg rolls with cooking spray, then bake at 425-F for 15 minutes. Turn egg rolls over and cook an additional 5-7 minutes, then remove from oven and cool on wire racks. Serve with Amy's Cilantro Cream Sauce, sour cream and salsa.