Sloppy Joes

Sloppy Joes, okay I know when you read that title you thought "everyone knows how to make these".  Everyone may but we all make them just a little bit different.  What brought me to write about them and share my recipe is because on Wednesday I received a text from Aimee asking what I put in my sloppy joes.  I preceded to share with her as detailed as you can with a text what I put in my sloppy joes.  And than decided to make them for dinner.

Whenever I make sloppy joes I think of my brother Curtis.  My "recipe" is from him.  I don't even know what I used to make before.  I just remember one time helping him prepare dinner and this is what we made and these are the ingredients he had me use and how to cook them.

Ingredients:  for 2 people  (adjust according to how many you are serving)

1/3 lb. ground beef
1/4 yellow onion - diced as small as you like
8 oz. tomatoe sauce
garlic salt to taste - probably about 1/2 tsp.
1 TBS yellow mustard
1/4 to 1/2 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce (depending on how tangy you want it)
1/4 to 1/2 cup of brown sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)

That's all, I don't add catsup, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, or other ingredients but I know some of you have a recipe that calls for those items.

Directions:

In a skillet break up your ground beef and add your onions.  Cook/saute until the ground beef is thoroughly brown  and the onions are transparent (this was the secret Curtis shared with me, if you cook the onions to transparency the flavor is just right and the little guys are not crunchy - so I think about Curtis while I am doing this).  While you are cooking the ground beef, break it up with a spatula to little, little pieces (unless you like bite size chunks of ground beef in your sloppy joes)

You can see I am not picky about onion size

Add the rest of the ingredients; in the order listed.  It probably doesn't matter that much what order but I would definitely do the tomato sauce first to have sauce to add the rest too. 

About 1 TBS of mustard

Take a little taste of the brown sugar before putting it away, its that good.

 Simmer until it is the right thickness about 10 minutes.

Serve on a hamburger bun or kaiser roll (because that is what we had)
If you are my husband, add miracle whip or mustard to your bun
Eat and enjoy

If you want to know a little more about my brother Curtis Brinkman - google him

Chocolate Mint Surprise Cookies

One of my favorite kind of cookies are rolo cookies even though I've only actually made them once or twice. The chocolate cookie is so easy to make but once you take a bite and get a taste of the caramel middle you'll never want to turn back. I absolutely love rolos, and I've bought them a couple more time to try to make these cookies, but they made it into my mouth too quickly to make it into the cookie middle.

When a couple of our friends invited us over to a hot chocolate party, they told us to bring a dessert. I asked Nate if I could make rolo cookies, and he said, why don't we make something Christmasy. So instead we decided upon these cookies, rolo cookies, except not with rolos in the center. Instead the center is a delicious peppermint or mint truffle kiss. And for me, mint is the perfect Christmas flavor.

The only thing these cookies were lacking is the peppermint ice cream I wanted to go with them. Yum.

1 box devil's food cake
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
peppermint kisses
mint truffle kisses
sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil in a medium sized mixing bowl.
3. Unwrap kisses.
4. Cover each kiss in a little chocolate cookie dough and roll in a ball.
5. Roll each ball in  sugar.
6. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray.
7. Place cookies on cookie sheet.
8. Bake in preheated oven for 9 mins.
9. Cool for a couple of minutes on baking sheet and then move to a wire cooling rack.

Enjoy these cookies warm with a glass of cold milk.

If you have any left over the next day, microwave for 15 seconds to make the middles gooey again. 

What is your favorite Christmasy treat?

Taco Soup

As I'm sitting here trying to think of what to write as a prelude to this delicious recipe, my mind is blank. And I'm realizing that some of you might not even read the stuff I write in each blog post. You might just be here for the recipe. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I know I've said it before, but this blog started out as a way for me to keep track of my favorite recipes, and for my mom and I to share recipes that we like with each other. And I still write on that blog for that purpose. I love having my favorite recipes saved on here. And when I don't know what to make for dinner I love being able to look at my own food blog, and knowing that I have loved all of the recipes I've posted on here, and therefor any recipe I choose will be delicious.

As Ron Swanson would say "You may have thought you heard me say I wanted a lot of bacon and eggs, but what I said was: Give me all the bacon and eggs you have.". (Any other Parks and Rec lovers out there? ) What I'm afraid you heard me say is that I only blog to keep track of my recipes, but what I actually said was I love having my recipes saved on here. And that doesn't mean I don't love having readers too.

We are growing, people. Slowly, but surely the blog is growing. And I want to know what you think. So spill the beans. Please?!!!! Do you like the recipes we post? Do you want more crock pot recipes, more dessert recipes, more chicken recipes, etc. Have you tried our recipes? How did they turn out? What did you change? What did you like? Dislike? Do you like reading about our lives too? Do you like our silly stories about making a recipe? Or inspirations? Or what? Speak to me. We've got a lot of followers, and I want to know YOU. So tell me about yourself, share 7 random things about you, like we did here. And post them in a comment, or a link to it.

The recipe I am going to share today, is actually one of the first recipes I ever posted on this blog. Back in the day when the recipe was only read by mother and I. But back then I didn't take pictures, and this is such a simple and delicious recipe that I have to share it again.

Taco Soup
1 lb ground beef
one can of corn
one can of beans (black or pinto)

1 cup salsa
1 14 oz can stewed tomatoes(or tomato sauce)


tortilla chips
toppings (sour cream, shredded cheese, cilantro, guacamole, etc.)


1. Combine ground beef, corn, beans, taco seasoning, salsa and tomatoes in a crock pot.
2. Stir together.
3. Cook on low for about 6 hours, or on high for 3.
4. Top with desired toppings and tortilla chips.

Enjoy.


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Chicken Enchilada Nachos

 Finally! I made a recipe for you. This recipe is originally from Campbell's Kitchen. We've been in our house for over a week now, and things are starting to come together. We still have a few boxes to unpack and things to organize, but we absolutely love being in OUR home, and have no complaints against it so far. (Ps. I'm not looking forward to the first thing going wrong in our house, at least the seller gave us a 2 year home warranty, right?)

This recipe is amazingly easy and fast, so when you don't have a lot of time (like our life for the past couple weeks, this is a good recipe to go to).

1 can (12.5) chicken breast, drained

1 can  (12.5oz) black beans, rinsed and drained 

1 can (12.5 oz) corn, drained

1 can(10.75 oz) cream of mushroom soup

1 can (4 oz) diced green chiles

1 TBS chili powder

tortilla chips

shredded cheese

1. Combine black beans, corn, cream of mushroom soup, green chiles, and chili powder in a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat for a few minutes, until hot and bubbling.
2. Arrange chips on a large plate (or two).
3. Spread chicken mixture over chips.
4. Sprinkle cheese on top of chicken mixture and chips.
5. Microwave for about 1 minute, until cheese is melted.

6. Enjoy. **

**You could also top this olives, avocados, jalapeno, green onions, cilantro etc.

I actually halved this recipe because I knew it would be way too much for Nate and I alone, and we still had sauce leftover that Nate used as a chip dip last night. It is a little bit of an awkward recipe to halve though, just so you, we used half cans of everything (except the chicken was a smaller can, and I didn't halve the green chiles) -- anyway, if you have other recipes to use corn and black beans and things then you could totally halve this recipe, or if you're making it for more people just keep it as. 

It was delicious and SO simple. So make this and enjoy.

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Microwave Mug Brownie

I know I have mentioned this many times before, but sometimes Nate gets mad at me for making too many desserts. And most of those times I'm still convinced that I want something sweet and I am going to make something. But some of those times he says that even if I make something he won't eat any. Not even a single bite, or even one cookie. And of course I don't want to make a full bath of cookies, or a cake if he's not going to eat any. We can't have those delicious morsels going to waste, now can we?

So, after I was looking through my pinned desserts on pinterest I decided upon one. A single serve scrumpdiddylyumptious brownie, cooked in the microwave, in a mug. I got this delicious recipe from here, and followed it, almost exactly, but its one I want to remember, and its good enough that I want to share it with you as well. Don't worry, you can thank me later.

1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 TBS cocoa powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 TBS vegetable oil
2 TBS water (or milk)

1. In a microwave safe mug (or maybe a ramekin) stir together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder and salt.
2. Stir in the oil and milk until you have a thick paste.

3. Microwave on high for anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute (depending on your microwave - mine was 45 seconds). It will be done when its springy on top but still a little gooey in the midle.
4. Enjoy warm. Maybe with a cup or milk, or topped with ice cream. **

**I had mine plain, but it was still delicious.

Nate did have one bite, and he thought it tasted a little like pudding, and I thought it tasted like a Betty Crocker Warm Delight. Either way, I hope you can enjoy this absolutely easy tasty dessert.

What do you make when you need a dessert for one on the spot?

Mexican Pulled Pork

Remember here, where I talked about easy vs difficult crock pot recipes. This is one that would definitely fall in the very easy category. Throw everything in the crock pot, and just shred the meat when its done. Use this delicious meat for tacos, enchiladas, burritos, nachos, or however you'd like.

2 (8 oz) cans of tomato sauce
1 TBS chili powder
1 TBS cumin
2 TBS brown sugar
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 TBS minced garlic
1 1/2 lbs pork loin
1 cup of corn (optional)

1. Put tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, brown sugar, cayenne, salt and garlic in your crock pot. Stir well.
2. Add your pork into the crock pot and cover with sauce.
3. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 5.
4. Shred pork using 2 forks.
5. Drain pork juice through a collander.
6. Enjoy in whatever Mexican food you'd like. We had ours in tacos. Yum!

BLT minus the T plus E and C (The Spanglish)

So apparently these sandwiches are called the Spanglish (because the chef prepared them in the movie Spanglish). But I've never seen the movie. And the idea for these sandwiches doesn't seem that far fetched that the movie would have been the first time to make them.

But I was inspired by the picture I saw on pinterest. And the sandwich turned out so good that Nate and I had them for lunch on Saturday and again for lunch on Sunday.

Of course if you like tomatoes you could add that to your sandwich as well, but I'm  not a huge fan. Even though my tastes are expanding and I now things with tomatoes in them (such as tomato basil soup and chunky salsa). I still can't bring myself to eat them plain or in sandwiches or salads. But if you like tomatoes, then you'll probably like this sandwich with them added as well.

For one sandwich: *

2 slices of bread**
3 slices of bacon
2 pieces of lettuce
1 egg
2 slices of cheese **

*Obviously, if you want to make a sandwich for more than one person this is the easiest recipe to double, triple or quadruple depending on how many you need to feed.

**You can pick any type of bread or cheese that you like for this sandwich. I used mozzarella, but Nate used first bleu cheese and then goat cheese and said both were divine. We both used a three cheese semolina loaf.

1. Cook bacon in a frying pan over medium heat until crispy, flipping occasionally.
2. Preheat panini press (because warm sandwiches are better than cold)
3. Cook egg according to 'how to make the perfect dip egg' instructions.
3. Layer sandwich with bread, lettuce, bacon, egg, cheese and bread again.
4. Place sandwich in panini press and grill for about 3 minutes, until golden brown.
5. Enjoy.

Yum Yum. I think this would be divine with avocado too.

What's your favorite type of sandwich?

Coleslaw

Can you believe that until last week I had never made coleslaw before? With the help of our handy dandy kitchen aid Slicer/Shredder Attachment we were able to shred the cabbage and carrots our self without even flinching. If you don't have a KitchenAid(you should buy one now - it will help you in the kitchen with so many things - especially with dough) or the Slicer/Shredder Attachment (you should buy one of those too), don't fear you can buy shredded cabbage and carrots from the store, or you can grate your own the old fashion way with a cheese grater.

Anyway you do it, you should make some of this delicious coleslaw to enjoy on top of these southern bbq hot dogs we had. Or as a side to your favorite american meal.

3 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup mayo**
1 1/2 TBS vinegar
2 TBS sugar

**We used non fat mayo and it tasted just as great. A simple way to make this recipe a little healthier.

1. Combine the cabbage and carrots in a medium sized bowl.
2. In a small bowl whisk together the mayo, vinegar and sugar.
3. Pour liquid over cabbage mixture.
4. Mix well.
5. Enjoy.

Sweet Southern BBQ Sauce

For dinner last Monday I felt inspired to make a Jdawg's copycat sauce. But I'll be honest, the sauce didn't really remind me of Jdawg's sauce at all, except for that it was a little sweet, a little barbequey and a lot delicious. But still we didn't think it tasted like Jdawg's.

But don't let that discourage you one bit. Because the sauce was still wonderful. And our hot dogs turned out really great. Especially because the homemade buns and homemade coleslaw we put on top. (Those recipes will be coming soon, once we tweak them a little to perfection).

But in the mean time enjoy this delicious sweet barbequey sauce, over some Costco hotdogs (only the best) and the best buns you can find.

3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup bbq sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp soy
1/2 tsp onion salt

1. Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan.
2. Heat over medium until boiling.
3. Boil for one minute.

4. Remove from heat.

5. Enjoy on top of hot dogs, chicken, burgers or whatever you want (really).

PS. This was so good that we each ate one and a half dogs. Yum Yum.

Chicken Kebabs with Sweet Peanut Sauce

After being slightly inspired by this recipe from the Apron Gal, I knew we didn't have any peanut butter, but we decided we could make an even simpler version of a peanut sauce with what we did have at home. And although this recipe may be one of the easiest things to make, that doesn't downgrade its delicious taste one bit. Also, remember here you asked me for simple and easy recipes, and chicken recipes, so here's a combination of the two.

1 1/2 cups Yoshida's Sauce
1/2 cup Peanut Sauce
3-4 chicken breasts
kebab sticks

1. Preheat charcoal, gas or electric grill.
2. Cut chicken breasts into small strips or pieces.
3. Put chicken pieces onto skewers. (Remember not to stuff the skewer to full, because leaving space between the pieces of chicken will allow the chicken to cook quicker and more evenly)
4. Combine Yoshida's Sauce and Peanut Sauce in a small bowl.
5. Slightly coat chicken in sauce with a basting brush.
6. Place chicken kebabs on hot grill.
7. Rotate about 4 times, so all sides cook evenly, basting with sauce each time you rotate.
8. Cook until chicken is white in the middle, or reaches a temperature of 165 degrees.

 

Nate and I both thought this tasted so good. And Nate even went on to say "this tastes like the typical Asian flavor, that you never know what's in it, but you just know its delicious." 

Enjoy!

Sun-Dried Tomato and Artichoke Chicken Spaghetti

This is not the fabulous recipe that Aimee has promised for the weekend, but I owed you one.  Aimee does such a wonderful job keeping up this blog.  I am really grateful to her.  So I finally come through on my turn. I hope you enjoy this, we did.

I got this recipe from my niece Britney off her mom's site Grain Crazy.  I tweaked it slightly to fit our family.

Ingredients:

5 chicken tenderloins (seasoned with salt and pepper, other spices if you like them, such as paprika, onion powder, garlic salt)
12 oz. of spaghetti noodles (you can use fettuccine or linguine if you want)
1 c. sun-dried tomatoes (in oil, but drained)
1 1/2 c. artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
salt and pepper to taste
3 tsp. basil
Parmesan cheese


Directions:

1. Grill your chicken tenderloins and cut into bite-size pieces.

2. Start your spaghetti in a large pot of boiling water (follow package directions)

3. Put your tomatoes and artichokes and spices in a large saucepan and simmer together, stirring occasionally.

4. When your spaghetti is finished, drain.
5. Add all the ingredients together and serve.

6. Top with Parmesan cheese.

This was enough for 2 whole meals for Craig and I and 2 lunch meals for Craig and I.  It was ALOT, but we really liked it.