Loaded Potato Egg Rolls

This past Monday, a couple of my classmates and I decided to have a potluck dinner. I love getting together with classmates and having fun outside of school, but a potluck dinner is work. There are so many questions to ask yourself:

What do I bring?

Do I stick with a standard or try something new?

How much food do I need?

Can everyone else cook?

What will everyone like?

Food allergies?

The list goes on and on. I never know if I should go all out or pick up a bag of chips and call it a day. However, being in a program with 30 other people means we know each other pretty well, so I felt pretty comfortable in my decision to try out a new recipe. I also had the added advantage of knowing that the main dish was going to be BBQ Chicken. I browsed through a few cookbooks and scrolled through my Pinterest recipe page before deciding to try loaded potato egg rolls.

Ingredients:

4 cups of garlic mashed potatoes

10 sticks of Monterrey Jack string cheese

1 pack of egg roll wrappers - 20 sheets

(Egg roll wrappers are usually in the produce section)

Cooking spray or Olive Oil

There are many options for how to prepare your mashed potatoes for this recipe. I chose to used packaged mashed potatoes because of my schedule on Mondays. If you have the time and desire to make your own garlic mashed potatoes, I highly suggest The Pioneer Woman's recipe for Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes because they are heavenly. You will need about 4 cups of potatoes to fill your wrappers.

Preheat the oven to 425°F

Unwrap 10 sticks of string cheese and cut them in half. The cheese will melt and infuse with your potatoes while cooking and the half stick will minimize the leakage from the wrappers.

Lay down an egg roll wrapper on a dry surface and place 3 tablespoons of potatoes into the center of the wrapper. I prefer to orient the wrapper as a diamond to make the wrapping easier.

Place the half stick of cheese directly in the middle of the potatoes and then cover it up so that the cheese is hidden in the center. Try to ensure that the cheese is completely covered as this too will help to minimize leakage from the wrapper.

The back of your egg roll wrapper package should have a visual diagram for how to wrap an egg roll. I prefer to fold in two corner until they nearly meet in the center. I then begin rolling tightly from one side until just a small corner is sticking out from underneath the egg roll. At this point, apply a small dab of water to the corner and finish wrapping, pressing down firmly to ensure that it all sticks together.

Before baking, cover all of your egg rolls in a light layer of cooking spray or olive oil. This will help achieve a golden brown exterior. Place the egg rolls in the oven and cook them for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, rotate the egg rolls and place them back in the oven for another 5-8 minutes or until the outside has reached your preferred level of crisp.

These went over great at the potluck. Everyone said that it was a great delivery system for mashed potatoes and that they would be trying it out at their next dinner party.