Egg Rolls Make and Take Party

This week, the girls and I hosted an Egg Roll Make and Take party.  The girls have been working to perfect their egg roll making skills and several family friends expressed interest in learning how to prepare them.  We combined our love of hosting with our love of food and decided to do a little get together.

This was our first make and take party so we didn't get too fancy.  I just texted a few friends with the idea and waited to see who was interested.  After the RSVP's rolled in, I assigned each guest a key ingredient.  We combined their ingredients and worked together to create over 80 eggrolls that were divided among guests to take home for their freezer.

We mixed broccoli slaw with regular coleslaw mix

Egg roll wrappers are typically found in the produce section of your grocer.  Our Kroger has them placed in the refrigerated case with bagged salads and slaw mixes.



Brown the ground pork or chicken.  We combined both for this session just because I had ground chicken on hand and needed some extra meat.  My girls plan to use shrimp for their next batch.

After the meat is browned, stir in the Oyster Sauce and then add the slaw mix.  Stir the ingredients together over medium low heat until the slaw is wilted.  Sorry...I forgot to take a picture of what that looks like.



Oyster sauce is essential to adding flavor to your egg rolls.  Think of this as the "salt" in your egg rolls.



Rolling lessons.  Follow the directions on the egg roll package to roll.  We have small foam brushes we use to dampen the edges with water to seal.



Ready to cook



Gen has been begging for a deep fryer.  I gave in for our make 'n take party.  We bought the cheapest one at Walmart...it really did make the frying easier.



Drain egg rolls as they come out of the fryer.  Ooops!  Discovered too late that we were out of paper towels.



Stacks of homemade egg rolls, ready to package for the freezer

Egg Roll Recipe

Ingedients

1 package egg roll wrappers

1 bag prepackaged slaw mix (we really like broccoli slaw but coleslaw mix is good as well)

1 lb ground pork or chicken, or tiny shrimp

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

Supplies

heavy skillet or deep fryer with oil

strainer spoon

plate with paper towel for draining

small cup of water

pastry brush

Step 1

Gather all supplies and ingredients

Step 2

Brown pork or chicken over medium heat.  Use spatula or wooden spoon to break meat apart into very small pieces.  Drain fat from pan.

Step 3

Stir in oyster sauce and slaw mix.  Cook over medium low heat until slaw is wilted.  Remove from heat.

Step 4

Following directions on the egg roll package, form egg rolls.

Step 5

Heat oil in skillet or deep fryer. Or preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Fry or bake egg rolls until golden brown.

Step 6

Egg rolls can be individually wrapped in wax paper and then placed in freezer bags or containers to freeze for later use. 

Messy Mandy

I'm really discouraged by the "messiness" in my life...and then I see this!

The weather has really gotten me down this past week.  I'm craving sunshine and warm weather. 
My house is not in the best shape since we're gone at least 5 nights a week with the girls' softball games.  Thank goodness, I have a husband who helps ALOT with laundry and dishes.  Still, things have a tendency to not get done very well when I am this tired.

Plus, it's the end of the school year and my classroom is a wreck.  I've got paper piled high, hordes of fabric scraps left over from my students' sewing projects and just a general collection of stuff from the year.  I'm ready to purge!

So, anyway, my level of discouragement has reached an new height today.  Check out what was on a fb post when I got home!  Just what I needed:  

31 Days to Clean: Having a Martha House the Mary Way



31 Days to Clean is a faith journey towards ruling, subduing, and loving. We are forgoing perfection; we are choosing life.

http://moneysavingmom.com/2011/04/free-ebook-31-days-to-clean-today-only.html

Camera Case Tutorial

Supplies: 4 felt pieces (1 body piece, side accent color, 2 colors for flash and lens pieces)
5 buttons (1 large, 2 med, 2 small), embroidery floss, hand sewing needle

Dunk's Bathroom Re-do

A shelf holds beach treasures the girls have collected over the years. 

Dunk installed a new shower, drywalled and painted the bathroom.

We found these inital towel hooks at Hobby Lobby.  As cute as they are, they still needed something to anchor them to the wall.  A large starfish was just what they needed.

We found this metal sign at Cracker Barrel.  The raffia awning was made out of a cardboard box and a grass skirt.  I originally used it in my classroom.  It also pulled extra duty in a few vacation Bible schools before finding a more permanent home here.  Wonder where we'll use it next?

Pantry Makeover

Last week, I just happened to be wishing out loud as my husband happened to be searching through the pantry for a jar of peanut butter.  How ironic is it that I was tthinking about pantry make-overs after checking out Shelley's at House of Smith's as my hubby was getting frustrated at the disorganization in our pantry!?!  He sighed and said "What do you want me to do?" and off to Lowe's we went.  This is what I got a few nights later....  I LOVE it!

I'm still hunting for a better way to organize my spices and who knew the cereal containers would be so hard to find?  It's a work in progress.  And it's not as beautiful as Jamie's but it's mine all mine and I love it!

Here's what Shelley did:  http://houseofsmiths.blogspot.com/2010/07/pantry-remix

And here is mine....

                                                                                                                                                                                               

Small Appliance are roosting on the top shelves



I found the metal Snack bin at
Big Lots a couple of years ago





Free Subway Art Printables

I used the link for the subway art found here for a few Christmas goodies. I printed the design off as 4X6 cards and framed them in cute black frames from the Dollar Tree. They are so dang cute! I'm thinking I could send new art for each holiday to my girls who get these gifts. Then, they just change the designs in and out! Precious!

Free Subway Art Printables

Card Table!

I fell in love with the table display at my husband's aunt's home at Christmas.   This clever lady uses clear plastic found on the roll at most fabric stores to display her Christmas cards.  It made for great conversation around the table.  After the holidays, the Christmas cards are replaced by her daughter's school work and seasonal artwork.  I love this idea!