I’m not exactly a huge fan of spicy food. In face, I have a very low tolerance for such things, much to the chagrin of the Fella. He can have gallons of hot sauce, all of the spicy pepper flakes, buffalo chicken to his face and be happy as a clam. I try a tiny bit of hot sauce on something and need 3 glasses of milk. So part of my goals for the summer, aside from not getting sunburned and no ticks please, is to up my spicy food intake by playing with some recipes.
It’s easy to start off with salsa, since all you have to do is put all the ingredients in a blender. My brother and I bought a really sick one at the end of last summer, so this recipe literally took me about 5 minutes.Ninja! Very worth it!
I found this recipe for “Guacamole Salsa“, but I like calling it Green Salsa because it’s not the same texture, consistancy, or taste as guacamole. Plus, I like using the Chipotle recipe for guacamole. It’s delicious.
This recipe calls for tomatillos (AKA tomate verde) instead of tomatoes, which I’m fine with because I don’t like tomatoes. The tomatillo is meatier, and has an almost citrus flavor. It tastes fresh, and works really well with the avocado.
Here’s the recipe I used:

• 1 lb. tomatillos (or more if you want it thinner)
• 1 jalapeno pepper (or more if you like it spicy)
• 1/3 bunch cilantro
• 1 thick slice of onion
• 2 garlic clove
• 1 avocado
• 1 tsp. salt
• A few shakes of Cumin

I added the cumin and an extra clove of garlic because, garlic, and put everything in the blender. I took the advice of the original recipe, remembering the put the avocado in “last” (first, since my blender gets turned upside down to blend everything) and the tomatillos in “first”. I had to pack in the tomatillos a few at a time because I don’t have the biggest blender, but once everything started getting liquefied I fit all of the ingredients in no problem.This stuff is not super spicy, but you can add more spice, or maybe more avocado if you want thicker texture. It tastes fresh, with a little kick to it, and the texture is thick enough that you can get a good amount on the chip without dripping some on your shirt. That’s a win in my book! Plus, the color is awesome!
These photos are of a small bowl I had for myself, but there’s a big container of it in my fridge right now waiting to be demolished by the rest of the family.

It’s no big secret in my house that I have an unabashed love of chicken. It’s also no secret that I can be quite wary of spicy food, that I love cheesy rice, and that I love to experiment with different recipes. I also like to find recipes that don’t take all day!
This chicken recipe actually came from here, but I made some alterations because if the chicken were too spicy my roommates (parents) would probably die. We are not a spicy food family.2 teaspoons each of garlic powder and paprika
1 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, chili powder, Mrs. Dash southwest chipotle seasoning blend
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
4 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
½ cup honey
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
First I turned the oven on to low broil. I may have mentioned, I wanted this to be a faster recipe so I decided to make it so!
Combine all the powder ingredients in a bowl and mix them up. Wash the chicken, laying them out flat to dry. Keep them flat and absolutely cover them in the mixture. You want this stuff in all the nooks and crannies.Place the chicken in a glass baking dish that has been given a coat of cooking spray and stick it in the oven for about 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, turn the chicken over and put them in for another 10 minutes. I think that the reason I had to cook mine so long was because even spread out, my chicken thighs were still impressively thick!
While the chicken is cooking mix the honey and vinegar together. When you’ve cooked the chicken for 20 minutes total pull the pan out of the oven and smother the chicken with the honey mixture. Put it back in for 3 minutes, flip and cook another 3 minutes.I paired the chicken with another recipe I discovered recently for brown rice here. After cooking the rice completely I added 2 grated zucchini, 1 cup of grated cheese, and a splash of milk. I mixed it up and left the lid on the pot off of the heat so that the zucchini cooked and the cheese melted.
Next time I try this one I do want to add some garlic or onion to the rice before cooking it, because it was a little blander than I intended. It was perfect accompanying the chicken though, because it balanced out the spice without overwhelming with a strong new flavor.

I was looking for fun things to make on Pinterest because, well, Pinterest. I came across my favorite Adventure in Food yet: Spring rolls!
When I was growing up I thought Egg Rolls were gross. I don’t really like eggs, and knowing that they might be in that delicious looking crispy shell made me say “no thank you”. But a few years ago I finally asked what was in a Spring Roll when I worked a Chinese restaurant (Shout out to my boys at Gin-Gin’s!) and decided to try one. Well, now I think they are super delicious and am so glad I have yet another thing to eat massive quantities of when I order Chinese.
Then I came across this recipe and knew in my heart of hearts that I had to try it. You can take a look at the recipe through the link, and I’ll narrate to the best of my ability what I did with my various Spring Roll attempts. I will say that this is definitely not a quick kitchen experience, and it’s very helpful to be unemployed when deciding to make 3-4 batches of Spring Rolls just because you have to get the recipe and technique right.

First thing I did was prepare the cabbage, which should be sliced thinly, and I decided to chop it up even more so it wouldn’t be too stringy. I then chopped up some green onions and smashed up the garlic. The garlic goes into the frying pan while you fry up your ground chicken. It smells heavenly.

Here I actually deviated from the recipe for the first batch of Rolls, instead of using the sauce they suggested I made one that was a variation of Caesar Salad dressing. Basically lemon juice, Dijon mustard, Worcester sauce, Parmesan, a wee bit of EVOO. I was being creative!
First step is draining the grease from the meat, then taking it off the heat and adding the rest of the veggies already prepped and stirring it up. The cabbage doesn’t get really cooked here, it’ll stay nice and crispy. I put the sauce I made in and stirred everything up again and put the top on the pan so it would all get steeped in delicious flavor.

Put the entire mixture in a big bowl and let it cool off for about ten minutes. It’s just way easier for the entire Roll process.
Now, at first I thought that Spring Rolls should be made with classic Spring Roll paper… but no, I was wrong. It’s way too tough and sort of ends up plastic in texture. We have a Chinese market in town so I took a walk and picked up some legit Egg Roll wraps. My only suggestion is that you actually get them out and defrost them over an hour before you start this process, because I kept forgetting and while I made it work like a boss they do tare when not defrosted.

The first batch I made I didn’t use quite enough filler to make the rolls really satisfying, so add more than I did in the pictures.

I lined up the Spring Rolls on a pan and brushed a bunch of EVOO on them, then cooked them according to the directions in the recipe. They came out OK.

I even made them a fancy dipping sauce and it was really honestly essential because they were so dry.
Then I watched a commercial about breakfast wraps and decided to design a Bacon-Egg-and-Cheese-Roll, AKA Breakfast Egg Rolls. Yes, now that I’m old enough to tie my shoes and get into rated R movies I do stomach eggs sometimes. I fried up bacon, scrambled some eggs, and added some grated cheese. BAM, filling done. I then made the rolls and decided to cook them on the stove top in oil instead of in the oven, because I love greasy and everything that can be fried in it. These came out better than the oven baked rolls, and I was very happy about breakfast for a few days.

I was still getting the hang of the frying process, so they aren’t as brown as I like them. Also I recommend letting them drain before eating, and letting them drain on a slant so that the oil doesn’t get caught in the roll and make you very unhappy.

The next day I decided not to waste my cabbage and to use some ground pork to make more Spring Rolls. Also, once you start making them it’s hard to not want them all the time. I subbed the Pork in and used the sauce that the original recipe called for. And I fried the crap out of them.

Listen, I’m no chef but these were by far the most delicious things I’ve ever made. I am fully planning on making them again because I want to have one in my mouth right now.