This recipe will knock your socks off.  My partner thinks I’m crazy to post it, but I think all great recipes should be shared with others.  You could serve the potstickers by themselves with a dipping sauce, or make them into this delicious soup that has that comfort food wow factor.   We serve them with a bowl of sauteed brussel sprouts with garlic.

Garlic Ginger Potstickers

I make my own wonton/potsticker wrappers.  1 egg, hefty pinch of salt, 2 cups of flour and roughly 1/2 cup of water.  Put the flour into a bowl, stir in the salt.  Make a well in the center and add the egg.  Use a fork to whisk together and slowly add water until the dough comes together.  It will seem drier than you think should be normal but don’t add too much water!  When it just starts to come together, turn out the crumbly dough onto a strip of plastic wrap.  Wrap it up and let it rest for 30 minutes.   Knead the dough a little bit until it is smooth, then roll out with a pasta machine. I usually go to level 4 on the machine and then cut out circles.

The filling:

1 pound ground pork

1 medium carrot finely shredded

2 clove garlic, finely shredded

decent chunk of peeled ginger, finely shredded

salt, pepper

optional finely sliced green onion

Use a hand-held fine grater to just grate the ginger, garlic and carrot into the bowl.  Then mix everything together until incorporated.

Grab a wonton circle, place a little bit of filling in, wet one side of the circle with some water and then seal the edges together.  You can get fancy with a fluted, ruffled edge or just press the edges together to seal.

You will need to steam the completed potstickers to cook them and then finish them by frying them up in a little olive oil to get color and crisp to the outside.

While you are in the process of steaming the postickers, it is time to work on the soup.  Chicken stock, a dash of soy sauce and some sliced green onions should be brought up to almost a boil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  When ready, put the crispy potstickers in a bowl and then cover with the broth.  Top with some additional fresh sliced green onion and a little fresh coriander.

Fresh, yummy, really low in fat and calories in the grand scheme of things and just amazing comfort food.  Enjoy!

The mythology of Carlos Norris is expanding and it was time he had some new clothes to reflect his adventurous, ass-kicking personality.  His hat is still a work in progress but as soon as I find some cork, it’ll get those final accoutrement needed. The outfit is hand sewn out of a sock and some leftover fabric. Just a little over a week before he stows away in my bag on our vacation.  He’ll be blogging his New Zealand adventure on his Facebook page.

Meet Carlos Norris.  Illegitimate son of Chuck Norris and the wife of the leader of a Bolivian death squad.  Avid traveler and intrepid adventurer, he spends his days discovering new species of arachnids and his evenings developing new varieties of home-brewed spirits.   Carlos lives that life that we all wish for.  He has a Facebook page where you can follow his adventures…

Ok, I admit it, he is just a wooden art figure and I have a vivid imagination.   Truth be told, Carlos is my new visual and media art project.  He is born in the hope that my spastic energy can be focused into a medium that occupies me and entertains you.  I have already started photographing his many adventures and he will soon be going on a motor home road trip across New Zealand.

For his upcoming adventure, I decided Carlos needed some accessories besides his super hero outfit (stolen from his best mate, a flying monkey named Steve).   So I made him a wee little hat.

I started with some leftover yarn that I tea-stained and then braided together twice to make a braid large enough to sew together.  Just like building a tiny basket, I started at the center and coiled the braid around, tacking the braids together with a needle and thread.  Voila!  A little hat.  It still needs the tiny corks hanging around the brim, but that will have to wait until I either find a cork that I can cut down or a suitable alternate.

Now it is time for a shirt, adventure vest and some pants.

Mini Blueberry Bran Whole Wheat Muffins

Recipe of the Week: Healthy Blueberry Bran Whole Wheat Muffins.

Un-freaking-believably delicious. Add a cup of coffee and you’ll be sure to clean out all your sins.  You get all the joy of a delicious morning treat and you get to walk around all high and mighty looking down on everyone knowing you just got some of your fiber, whole grains and fruit. This recipe is so easy to adapt to any freaky eating restrictions you may have and I list a bunch of alternatives at the bottom.  If you need help making this recipe work for you, I’m here to help, just leave your question in the comments.

I made them in mini-muffin pans so you can just pop them in your mouth, but use any size muffin tin you want.  Recipe makes 24 mini-s or 12 regular size muffins.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups wheat bran cereal

1 cup non-fat milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp each of baking soda and baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup frozen blueberries

Y’all know to pre-heat the oven, so go turn it on and set it to 375F/190C.  Prep your muffin pans.  For regular size muffins, spray your pan with some cooking spray and then line them with the paper muffin cups.  I have a non-stick pan so I just spray it and skip the muffin cups.

In a bowl, stir together the wheat bran cereal and milk and let it sit and get nice and soggy for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, whip up the egg a little bit and then add the oil, sugar, vanilla and the bran mixture.  In a different bowl, measure out the dry ingredients (flours, salt, soda, powder, cinny) and then “sift” them together.  You can be anal and actually use a sifter or you can be real and just stir a fork through the mix; mixing it up and de-clumping.  We’re not making a delicate sponge here so no need to get fancy with the sifting technique.

Add the flour mix to the wet mix and stir together until it just comes together to a batter.  Over-stir it and your muffs will be tough, crumbly and disappointing. Giggity.

If you are making regular size muffins, fold in the blueberries at the last second and then scoop into your muffin cups.  For the mini-muffins, scoop the batter into the tins and then poke 2-4 blueberries into the batter.

Bake until you can touch the top of the muffin and it springs back.  If your finger dives in and leaves a  gooey hole, they are not done yet!  For regular muffins this is around 15-20 minutes.  For the minis, this is about 10-12 minutes.

Dietary considerations:

Diabetic: Use Splenda to replace the brown sugar but you need to also add back the “brown”.  Replace a tablespoon of the oil with molasses. (Be sure to use real unmodified blackstrap molasses).  Splenda-made baked goods don’t brown like other baked goods so don’t let the light color of the muffins make you over-cook them…use the spring-back-when-touched technique and don’t rely on color.

Sugar addicts: When the muffins come out of the oven, brush the tops with some honey that has been thinned down with some warm water.  It will add even more moisture and a sweet honey flavor.

It is possible to make these vegan or lactose free and if you want to know how, let me know.  You can also use any crazy fruit you want in them.