Potstickers! Oh, glorious potstickers! There is not another snack I love more. Now sure, I could go to the grocery store and buy a bag of approximately twenty potstickers for about five dollars or I could order about ten of these morsels of heaven for the same price from the local take-out restaurant, but why would I when I have learned to make them myself? For about ten dollars, I can make over one hundred potstickers and have plenty for game day snacks and extras to put up in the freezer for the next time I am craving these yummy dumplings, which trust me won’t be long.

Making your own potstickers does take some time, but trust me it is well worth it. Just look at how fresh these ingredients are! Fresh foods always taste better than their frozen counterparts and the flavor of fresh ginger and garlic can not be compared.

The filling looks yummy as it is but pulsing it in the food processor for just a minute makes all the difference in the world when filling the dumplings. The smooth texture of the filling allows you to fill the wrapper completely with no air pockets which will keep oil from seeping in and making your dumpling soggy.

As you can see, my pleating needs much work. They may not be the prettiest, but they still taste wonderful. If pleating the dumplings is important to you, check out these sites for instructions: Steamy Kitchen or Use Real Butter.

Today I cooked up twenty-five of these babies and they were gone in no time. So the next time you are looking for a great game day snack or appetizer, look no further than these beauties. With their golden crispy crust on one side and soft melt in your mouth filling there really is nothing more satisfying to much on during the game.

Pork Potstickers with Asian Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 pkg round dumpling wrappers

For the Filling

• 4 lbs. ground pork
• 2 small heads nappa cabbage
• 3 carrots, finely grated
• 1 bunch green onions, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
• 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1/4 c. sweet soy sauce

To Seal the Potstickers

• 1/2 c. water
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch

For Frying

• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1/4 c. water or chicken broth

For the Dipping Sauce

• 1/2 c. sweet soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp. garlic chili paste
• 1/4 c. green onions, finely chopped

Directions:

1. Shred the cabbage and layer it in a bowl alternating layers of cabbage and salt to pull the water from the cabbage.
2. Brown the ground pork with the sweet soy sauce until cooked through.
3. Drain and rinse the cabbage, squeezing as much water as possible out of it.
4. Combine all of the filling ingredients and place in a food processor.
5. Pulse the filling ingredients in the food processor until a uniform texture is achieved. About 1 minute.
6. Place 1 teaspoon of the filling in the center of a dumpling wrapper, fold over and seal tightly with the mixture of water and cornstarch.
7. At this point you can pleat the top edge of the potsticker if you would like.
8. Heat two tablespoons of vegetable oil in a nonstick pan until hot.
9. Add 6-8 potstickers to the pan, leaving room around each one.
10. Cook for approximately 2 minutes or until the bottoms start to brown.
11. Add 1/4 cup water or chicken broth and place a lid on the pan to allow the potstickers to seam for about 2 minutes.
12. Remove the lid and transfer the potstickers to a plate just before all of the liquid has evaporated.
13. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Growing up, we had fresh orange juice every week. One time, I remember going to the kitchen and being amazed by how many oranges I saw. I didn’t know we bought one hundred oranges every week. The number one hundred impressed me so much, and like any other 6 years old child, I probably thought that we had an orange juice factory in our home.

Fast forwarding almost 20 years, on a very hot day, I decided to go to a farmers market. My goal was to buy oranges to make some fresh orange juice. The market had already opened up for over a month but never had the chance to explore it. A friend told me that they sold anything that you could possibly imagine so I was very excited to go.

The question was… How many oranges do I need to buy? My thought was… One hundred oranges of course! Yes, one hundred wonderful oranges that would bring me the memories of home and everything that was familiar to me.

This orange Greek yogurt loaf cake is very easy to make. The citrus brings a refreshing taste, aroma, and texture. The recipe is quick, the cake is moist, and it doesn’t require an electric mixer.

Since I had plenty of oranges, Greek yogurt, and a sleep over about to happen later that day, this cake would be helpful to keep the hungry teens busy for a while. The first loaf was gone very quickly, the second was saved just in time for me to capture a few shots.

Orange Greek Yogurt Loaf Cake

Adapted from Sprinkle Bakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup plain greek yogurt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tbsp orange zest
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place rack in the middle of the oven. Grease a loaf pan and cover with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl mix flour, baking powder, and salt . In another bowl add yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, orange zest, fresh orange juice, and oil. Whisk until well blended. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
3. Bake cake for about 45 to 50 minutes. Cool cake in the loaf pan. Turn cake out onto rack or a plate. It should come off very easily because of the parchment paper.Turn cake upright on plate and enjoy.

No, I didn’t end up buying one hundred oranges at the farmers market, I wasn’t able to carry them all, I couldn’t use them fast enough, or even have a place to store them. I bought just enough oranges to make me a few glasses and be satisfied.

Besides, I knew that it didn’t take one hundred oranges to make a glass of orange juice but the hundred oranges helped me to keep some good childhood memories alive, and I could remember that while making my orange juice in the other side of the world.