Crab Rangoon (with homemade sweet and sour sauce)

Molten cheese in a crispy shell.  Yum!  I've had a craving for these for a few weeks but our local Chinese takeout does a version with practically no crab inside and the cream cheese is oddly sweetened.  Eh. So I've been looking up recipes and, of course, I couldn't find a standard.  So I frankensteined my filling from several recipes in my cookbook collection and from the web.  They turned out beyond my expectations. These little dumplings are really tasty but it's the sweet and sour sauce that really shines.  I could drink it, it's so good. 

Steakettes with Stuffing (Bracciole)

This recipe is a modified version of something my mom used to make all of the time while I was growing up.  I think it was even my special birthday dinner a couple of times.  It came out of an ugly cookbook from the seventies.  There were no pictures and I have no idea how my mom went about deciding to try this one but it was a hit!  The title is "Steakettes with Stuffing" which always left me to wonder what in the world is a "steakette"?  Whatever, we always just called it bracciole (brah-zhole) even though the dish isn't Italian and involves a brown gravy rather than a tomato sauce.  What it does involve is a way to make a hearty meal out of a cheaper cut of beef.

6 slices of bottom round beef (about 1/2" thick)
1 medium onion, chopped finely
6 T veg oil
3 cups of soft bread crumbs (pulse 6 slices of white bread in a processor)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (use the good stuff, it's worth it)
1/3 cup of dried parsley
1 t salt
1 t white pepper
1/4 cup hot water
4 beef bouillon cubes
1/4 cup flour
1 t dried thyme
4 cups of water

Tomato Pepper Jack Soup (like Issac's!)

I go to Issac's, a Pennsylvania sandwich chain, just for this soup.  Today it's rainy and gray and gross and I don't feel like getting dressed but I wanted this soup so I decided to try and recreate it at home.   Here's what I did and I think it's pretty close.

Ingredients:
2 cans of condensed tomato soup
1 14-oz. can of petite diced tomatoes
8 oz of pepperjack cheese (or Monterey Jack cheese plus 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes), shredded
1/4 cup of heavy cream
1/2 tsp of dried basil
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp onion powder

Combine everything except the cream in a heavy stockpot over low heat and stir frequently with a spatula so the cheese doesn't burn to the bottom.  Allow this to heat slowly and maintain a simmer for about 10 minutes. Taste your soup.  If the cheese is still grainy, keep it over the heat for a little while longer. Stir in the cream just before serving.  Top with homemade croutons.

Homemade croutons?  I cut up two hard rolls into one inch cubes.  You can't use sandwich bread, it's too soft.  Toss the bread with one stick of melted butter in a large skillet.  Make sure all of the bread gets butter on it and then spread on a cookie sheet and stick it in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.  Easy peasy and sooo much better than the bagged ones at the grocery store.