Sloppy Joes

So sorry I haven't been keeping up with the blog... What can I say?  Life intervenes sometimes.  I have been crazy busy with work, the kids, church and school.  That being said... Perhaps I have found a balance (and if not this term is over in two weeks and I will go from 4 classes down to 2).  

Now for the Sloppy Joes... I took these to church back in August for a potluck and I think they were a big hit.  I love homemade Sloppy Joes because you can make a mess of them for fairly cheap and feed lots of people.  My girls have gotten spoiled with homemade and won't touch Manwich now for anything (which is what I grew up with).  Thanks goes out to my friend Stacey who pointed out that I could make them better without that nasty can years ago... I have my own recipe down pat now and thought I would share with you.

• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 1/2 pounds Ground Beef
• 1 1/2 pounds Ground Turkey  
• 1  Onion, Diced
• 1 Green Bell Pepper, Diced
• 6 cloves Garlic, Minced

• 1-½ cup Ketchup

• 1 cup Water
• 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Chili Powder
• 1 teaspoon Dry Mustard
• 3/4  teaspoons Red Pepper Flakes
• Worcestershire Sauce To Taste
• 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
• Tabasco Sauce, just a dash

• Salt To Taste

• Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste

• buns
• Butter

 

Add butter to a large skillet, Add ground beef and turkey cook until brown. Drain most of the fat and discard, put meat in the crock pot.

Add onions, green pepper, and garlic to skillet (add some olive oil if you need to). Cook for a few minutes, or until vegetables begin to get soft, put in crock pot. 

Add ketchup, brown sugar, chili pepper, dry mustard, and water, adding salt and pepper to taste. Also add tomato paste, Worcestershire, and Tabasco. 

Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.  Turn crock pot on low and let it simmer as long as you like (it can go all day, just watch the fluid level so it doesn't burn).

Spread on buns.... If you are serving small kids you can try hot dog buns instead of hamburger,easier for them to hold. :) 

 This is easy to double (note this is a doubled recipe in my large crock pot for church).

Cheat Dinner

Well, most of you follow me on facebook so you are aware that I have been out of commission for a week.  For those of you that don't know... I haven't posted because I have been at Children's Hospital with my middle daughter.  She's going to be fine Thank God.  We got home last night and ate pizza for dinner.  Today I'm still exhausted (can't imagine why).  So I'm going with a cheat meal... that means I'm using some canned ingredients and some frozen ingredients to throw together a dinner for my girls.  It takes almost no effort, but it is still yummy.

Easy Minestrone Soup

• 2 cans minestrone soup
• 3 cans water
• 2 packets of beef flavor boost (swanson... it's what I have)
• 2 cans beans
• 2 cans rotel
• 2 packets of frozen pre-cooked italian hamburger meat
• 1 can of mixed veggies
• 1 can of mushroom pieces
• 1 bag of small shell noodles

Combine all the ingredients except the pasta in a large soup pan.  Add seasonings if you think it needs some.  Bring to a simmer and cover and cook on low as long as you like.  Mine will simmer till the girls are ready for dinner.  About 10 min before you want to eat bring it to a boil, add the shells and let cook.  Once they are cooked serve.

I'm serving it tonight sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and corn bread.  If you are confused by the frozen pre-cooked meat let me explain.  Every so often when I see ground beef on sale I purchase a bunch.  I saute onions, peppers and garlic and brown up the meat.  Then I freeze it in 2 cup portions for when I need precooked meat (spaghetti, soup, etc...).  I do the same thing except adding black beans, corn and green chilis for mexican spiced meat.  It saves me time and makes things easy when I'm exhausted.

First Day of School... finally

So my kiddos went back to school today.  It was two weeks later then normal thanks to construction.  I have always celebrated back to school by making them some home made cookies.  I wasn't sure I would have time today because I had to work for a few hours.  However, I made it... They came out of the oven right after my middle schooler got home.  (So grateful the buses always run late the first few days)

These are my girls favorite cookies, and are somewhat healthy...

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1-¼ cup Butter (2 1/2 Sticks)
• 1-¼ cup Brown Sugar

• 1-¼ cup Granulated Sugar
• 3 whole Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 2-½ cups White Whole Wheat Flour  (If you don't know what this is... it's half white, half whole wheat.  You combine them yourself.  It add some nutritional value).
• 1-¼ teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1-¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1-¼ teaspoon Salt

• 2-½ cups Quick Oats

• 2-½ cups Semisweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugars together. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract. Stir in dry ingredients and mix well, then stir in chocolate chips. Scoop rounded tablespoonfuls of cookie dough onto greased (or lined) baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minute

Now.. If you are like me you may not have thought to lay that butter out to soften.  Don't fret my friends...  Pop your sticks of butter on a plate (in the paper) and nuke them for 15 sec.  That should soften them enough to allow you to cream (mix) the butter and sugar together. 

Enjoy!  Posting tomorrow... Sloppy Joes for a crowd.

 

What to do with Leftover spaghetti...

Okay, okay... I know I said I was doing Shrimp Scampi today.  Life intervened,first I drove the girls up to St. James to visit with some friends who were in town for a funeral...  Sad occasion, but good visit for the kiddos and a nice reminder to keep in touch with the ones who matter to us.

Then we took the girls over to the park to play for a bit after they left for the airport...

But what really interfered with the shrimp scampi plan was my new sewing machine.  This beauty has been here for a week and other than 15 minutes or so I had not had the time to play with it.  Next weekend is my Niece's baby shower so a present needs to be made... Enter the enjoyable way I spent my afternoon. :)  Have I mentioned I love sewing as well as cooking

Of course Shrimp Scampi is a quick dish, but I didn't want to bother with it.  What to do?  The girls wanted something pasta.  So I turned to a staple, Spaghetti and Meatballs.
I have meatballs in my freezer from a freezer stock day, and homemade marinara as well.  You will get that recipe soon since I used my last bag of it tonight.
I did decide since I was going to the trouble of making spaghetti that I was gonna do a double batch and have leftovers for another night.  I mixed a can of spaghetti sauce (0.69 at the commissary), with a 2 cup bag of my homemade sauce and a bag of homemade meatballs.  Let that simmer for 20 min or so to allow the meatballs to be heated through.  Then I boil the pasta and serve it up.  No real work involved tonight because I did it before.
What to do with the leftovers though?  We are going on a road trip tomorrow so they can't just go in the fridge for lunches.... Enter Baked Spaghetti Casserole :)  Now, of course you can make this as a meal it doesn't have to be a planned leftover.  Tonight it was though.  I had all this lovely spaghetti left.

I fished out my meatballs and cut them into quarters, then I added all this and stirred it up

So I mixed in 1/2 cup sour cream and 1/2 container cottage cheese.  I noticed it was looking a bit dry so I also added an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce.  Mix it all together with the noodles and the meatballs and place it in a casserole dish for later.

I decided that I was going to make it extra special and added a layer of turkey pepperoni  under the mozerella cheese.

I double wrapped it with foil and put it in my garage freezer for another night.  When I decide to cook it I will take off the excess tin foil and bake it until heated through. 
Coming soon:   my post on sloppy joes to feed a crowd!

2 Ingredient Brownie Muffins

So another post of a recipe without pictures.  Tessa is back so hopefully I will have pictures from now on to share.

This recipe is courtesy of the Hungry Girl Cookbook.  I checked it out from the library.  The girls wanted cake for Jim's birthday even though he isn't here so I decided to give this a try.  Now I have made black bean brownies before with good results so I decided to give the pumpkin brownies a try.

Super Simple...
just 2 ingredients...
Devils Food Cake Mix
1 can pumpkin puree

Mix the two together, it is a little tough to mix.  Then put it in the muffin tins that you have lined with cupcake liners.  Bake for 30-40 min.  Watch them you don't want to overcook them.  Every oven heats differently.

The girls love them and super healthy too.

Tomorrow night, I will be posting a Shrimp Scampi Recipe once I have cooked dinner.

Homemade Chicken Patties and Squash Fries

First of all... Let me say I apologize for the lack of pics in this weeks blog posts.  My camera is in Nebraska with my oldest so I have no photos of the food I'm cooking this week. 
Last night for dinner I tried a recipe I copied from the internet ages ago to try (no clue now what website or I would give credit).  Homemade Chicken Patties..  My girls love chicken patties but I wanted to give them something a little healthier than the processed meat things at the store.  For a side I made the Hungry Girl's Squash Fries.  Both girls were thrilled and so was I, fast food at home :)

Homemade Chicken Patties

•  1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 6 tablespoons butter (divided in half)
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/3 cup milk (divided)
• 2 tablespoons parsley
• 1 tablespoon seasoning salt
• 2 cups finely chopped cooked chicken (planned leftovers from another day maybe)
• 1 cup fiber one crumbs (great breading and adds lots of fiber) or bread crumbs

 

In a large saucepan, saute onion and celery in 3 tablespoons butter until tender.  Combine flour and 1 c milk.  Gradually add to pan.  Bring to a boil, cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.  Add parsley, seasonings and chicken.  Remove from the heat.  Chill until completely cooled

Shape chicken mixture into patties (size of your choice, I made mine to fit thin bread for buns).  Dredge in crumbs, then in milk, then back in crumbs.

Fry in butter about 3-4 min per side till browned or Freeze wrapped in wax paper and then fry for 6-8 min per side from frozen. 

Squash Fries

1 medium butternut squash

olive oil

seasoning salt or kosher salt

Slice butternut squash in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds

Peel squash, then slice into fry shapes.  The first time in a while I wished I still had my mandolin.

Dry with paper towel to remove excess moisture

Place in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and mix it up to evenly distribute the oil and salt

Place on a cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  

Bake in a 400 degree oven 40 min or until done.

These taste slightly sweet, but the girls gobbled them up with Ranch dressing.

Enjoy!

Ozark Apple Pudding

also known as Apple Cake...  I made this cake for Jim's birthday and mailed it to him in Saudi.  I know that it shipped well to Iraq.  This is an old family recipe from Jim's side and he loves it.  It's a great snack cake, and tastes good warm with ice cream for dessert or cold with a cup of coffee for breakfast.  It is NOT healthy as written... I'm going to try some alterations next time I bake it to see if I can make it a little more heart healthy.

For now... Happy Birthday to my honey (it's tomorrow) and here is the recipe for you to enjoy

Ozark Apple Pudding

• 2 cups Sugar
• 1-¼ cup Oil
• 2 whole Eggs
• 3 cups Flour
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 3 cups Diced Apple
• ½ cups Chopped Nuts

 Mix together sugar, oil and eggs.
In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients, then add to the sugar mixture. Stir in apples and nuts.
Spread in a greased and floured 13 x 9 pan. Bake at 350ºF for 45 minutes.