Favorite Recipe This Week: Chili's Southwestern Egg Rolls and Tomatillo Cilantro Dressing

Wow, was that a long enough title or what??!! ;)

So Todd and I love going to Chili's for their Southwestern Egg Rolls. We found a copycat recipe on allrecipes.com and altered it a little. I can't remember where we got the dressing recipe...I think from one of Todd's sisters. I made these when we were living in Spokane once, and it became a tradition for the married siblings in Todd's faimily to come over for these and a game night...lots of fun! I prefer them fried, but when I was dealing with Gestational Diabetes I made these with the Mission Carb Balance tortillas, sprayed them with Pam and baked them. This is one of our favorite recipes, and after you've made it once or twice, it's actually pretty quick.

Egg Rolls:

4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cooked and shredded
1/2 c. minced green onion
1 bell pepper (I prefer red, but green is fine too), minced
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 c. frozen chopped spinach, drained (I squeeze to get rid of all the moisture BEFORE measuring, and then measure it "packed", if that makes sense)
1 (4 oz.) can of diced jalapenos if you like things spicy, or 1 (4 oz.) can of diced green chilis if you like things more mild
1/4 c. finely chopped cilantro (we use a lot because we love cilantro...you could use less if you want)
2 t. ground cumin
2 t. chili powder
1 1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. cayenne pepper (optional...add to taste)
3 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese
20 flour tortillas (the smaller ones)

Directions:

Saute green onion and red pepper in about 1 T canola oil until tender. Add in all other ingredients except for the cheese (and tortillas, of course!) and cook until heated through.

Stir in the cheese until mostly melted.

Heat tortillas a few at a time in the microwave wrapped in a moist towel until they are pliable.

Divide the filling evenly among the tortillas, making sure not to over-fill...probably about 1/3 c. filling per tortilla. Fold in tortilla ends and roll to close them completely. Secure with a couple of toothpicks. You can wrap them in tin foil at this point and freeze them in plastic bags for later use...just thaw most of the way and cook.

To fry them, you can either deep fry frozen egg rolls at 375 for 10 minutes (we don't have a deep fryer, so I've never personally tried this), or you can just fry the fresh or thawed egg rolls in about an inch of oil over medium to med-high heat, turning and cooking until golden brown. Serve with Tomatillo Cilantro Dressing (recipe follows).

Tomatillo Cilantro Dressing:

1 (0.4 oz) Pkg. Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch Dressing Mix

1 C. Buttermilk

1 C. Mayo

1 to 2 tomatillos

1/2 to 1 clove garlic, minced

1/3 to 1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

1/2 t. lime juice (or more to taste...I always give a generous squeeze!)

1/2 to 1 small jalapeno, seeds removed!

Directions:

Throw all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. This will be nice and thick at first, but gets runny after sitting in the fridge, so I usually make it up just before I start making the egg rolls so that it has time for the flavors to blend, but so it's still thick.

UPDATE!!
I made these this week and only used enough filling for what we needed for our family. We still had about half of the filling left, so I've been keeping it in my fridge and making them up for lunches...Today I tried baking them...sprayed both sides with Pam and baked at 425 for 15 minutes, flipping them at 8 minutes. they turned out great! Much healthier this way, especially if you use a high-fiber tortilla!