Easy Sloppy Joes

What about when you're just not in the mood to spend time in the kitchen, but want a delicious meal anyways?

Please don't opt for take-out. (MacDonald's is the wrong answer!)

Try one of my simple favourites, this easy, filling & delicious sloppy-joe recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1/2 package taco seasoning
• 1 tsp fresh ground sea salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp minced onion (optional)
• 2 small cloves garlic, minced (optional)
• 1 jalapeno, minced (optional)
• 4-6 buns (or the equivalent slices of bread)
• The amount depends on how sloppy you like your joes! Less bread = more sloppy
• 4-6 lettuce leaves (optional)
• yellow mustard (optional)
• cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. If choosing add-ins, saute onion, garlic & jalapeno until tender. Remove from pan & set aside.
2. Brown ground beef 
1. You can choose to add in worcestershire sauce and/or your choice of spices at this point.
3. If using, add in onion, garlic, jalapeno.
4. Mix in tomato paste, taco seasoning, salt, & pepper.
5. Serve on bread or buns with optional toppings (such as mustard, cheese, & lettuce leaves)
6. Enjoy!

Preparation time: This recipe should take you about 10 minutes to prepare. Add approximately five extra minutes if using add ins and/or toasting buns.

Serves: 2 hungry people.


Substitutes:

• Use 1 c. TVP and 1/2 cup water instead of the ground beef. Definitely use add-ins and a bit more spice if taking this route, as the TVP gains it's flavour from the rest of the recipe.

FOOD!

I love food.

Have you noticed?

I also love food challenges:

1. vegetarian, and even a meatatarian will like it?
2. pasta with VEGGIES!? (that one's for my brothers)
3. salt free, fat-free, and flavourful?
4. a new ingredient?
5. leftover pumpkin puree in a savoury dish?
6. use up lots of __________ before it goes bad?
7. make a meal for 15 people from the contents of the fridge and pantry, with no opportunity to stop by the shop?

All of those things, and I've done it.

1.  Veggie 'meat'balls in a sweet & sour sauce over rice. (The meatatarian's complaint? There were peppers in the sweet & sour sauce. We didn't tell him about the meatless 'meat'balls til after he'd finish a plateful & declared it good.)
2. Pasta with veggies for my brothers: just once. I pureed the veggies into the regular pasta sauce, and they loved it. Then I had to brag about what I did, and they never left me alone when I was cooking again.
3. Salt-free, fat free & flavourful: plenty of times, when my parents were both going through the stages of gall bladder issues resulting in surgery. I'll post a recipe soon.
4. A new ingredient....yes. Multiple times. Avocado, chipotle peppers, quinoa, fresh ginger...
5. Leftover pumpkin in chili.
6. Cucumber....recipe below.
7. Cream of Potato-Celery-Spinach Soup. It was yum!

Summery Cucumber "pickles"

Ingredients:

•   cucumber, peeled & thinly sliced
•   vinegar, to taste
•   water, to taste
•   1tbsp dill weed, optional
•   2 garlic cloves, optional

Throw them all in a Tupperware container like mine. Or, a jar works too, I suppose.

I usually do about 2 parts vinegar to one part water (til all the cukes are covered.) But you should adjust it to how sour you like it. You can always pour off a bit of the vinegar & add more water. Or eat a few, and add in more cukes.

You should leave to sit in the refrigerator for at least a day. The dill& garlic ones would be better with an even longer rest period.

I currently have two containers in the fridge, one is dill-garlic & one is plain. I keep adding more cukes too, because I had 7 to use up. A few cukes I just ate raw with tzatziki sauce. Also yum.

Southern-Style

The full menu for today's food lab?

Mountain coleslaw, chicken & dumplings, cornbread and pie.

The chicken & dumplings is our main feature today. Maybe I'll throw in the cornbread recipe sometime soon, because it's the best one I've ever tried. And I've tried probably 20-30.

Chicken & Dumplings. My kids were fascinated by it. And super excited to try it! Dumplings is another one of those not-really-Canadian things. But t'was good! Rave reviews all the way.

Without further ado, here it is:

Chicken Dumplings

Ingredients

• 2 lbs chicken
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• ½ tsp liquid yellow food colouring
• Chicken bouillon
• 1tsp salt
• 3 c. flour
• Water

Directions:

1. Boil chicken with 5 c. water until tender
2. Take chicken out of the broth & chop into small pieces
3. Place back in the broth with cream of chicken soup, food colouring & salt
4. Let boil
5. In the meantime, mix flour with enough water to make a batter-like consistency
6. Once the chicken boils, drop flour mixture into water by the spoonful.
7. Allow to cook for 20 minutes.

 
Enjoy!

(Btw, this recipe is courtesy of a lovely homeowner in Kentucky named Mallee. Which I think is a pretty awesome name!)

Dessert Crepes

Easy. Delicious. Quick.

Did I mention delicious??

Everyone knows that crepes are easy to make. At least, I hope everyone knows, or they are missing out on an easy and deliciously versatile food opportunity.

This recipe I made with my students today. It turned out SO well. And looked pretty too. I'm going to have to remember to take photos.

Here's the recipe:

Dessert Crepes

Yield: 20 small crepes, or 10-12 large.

Ingredients:

• 2 c. all purpose flour
• 4 eggs 
• 1 c. milk

• 1 c. water
• 4 tbsp butter , melted.
• 2 squares baker's chocolate, shaved
• 2 cups frozen mixed berries, thawed 
• 2 c. prepared whipped cream

Directions:

• Whisk flour & eggs
• Gradually add milk & water
• Add  butter, beat until smooth
• Heat griddle/frying pan to medium-high heat. Scoop about ¼ c. of batter onto the hot surface with your ladle. Tilt pan to spread batter evenly. (Use 1/2 c. of batter for large crepes.)
• Cook for about 2 minutes, flip & cook another minute.
• Turn onto a plate & keep warm in an oven heated to 200 degrees.

To serve: Fill crepe with ice cream. Roll, top with light dusting of icing sugar, sprinkle with choc shavings, add a dollop of whipped cream and a spoonful of the mixed berries. Serve & enjoy!!! 

You can change this recipe however you'd like. 

Some ideas, you say? Well, :

- Add a dash of cinnamon to your batter and serve with ice cream & apple pie filling.

- Serve with maple syrup

- Toss some sliced chives or spring onion into the batter & serve with "Chinese" hot & sour soup.

February Recipe: Creamy Tomato Soup

This recipe was a stand-by for me when I lived at my parents. I loved this soup, and therefore loved to make it. Unfortunately, I've gotten out of the habit since I moved out. Living on one's own means having to eat the entire pot of soup by oneself, and I haven't yet figured out a way to downsize it appropriately (or in a way that's worth the effort.)

So, now I've been resorting to heated V8. Nutritious, but not quite as delicious. And then I made this with my Food & Nutrition class again yesterday. They made it perfectly & I was won over once again.

This soup tastes best when made with home-canned tomato juice, but if you're not the type of person to have home-canned on hand (I'm not usually), then store-bought is just as well.

  Ingredients:

• 1/3 c. hard margarine (or butter)
• 1/2 c. flour
• 1 large can/bottle of tomato juice (48 fl. oz/1.38L)
• 1 can of water (I use tomato juice container)
• 2 tsp beef bouillon
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• ½ tsp pepper
• ½ tsp salt
• Saltine crackers
• Grated cheddar cheese.

Directions:

1. Melt butter over low heat in bottom of soup pot, stirring constantly.
2. Slowly add flour, stirring constantly, until you have a thick yellow paste (roux) in the bottom of your pot. Do not burn!
3. VERY slowly, add tomato juice a little at a time, whisking constantly to avoid lumps.
4. Your soup will thin as you add the tomato juice, but if you add it too quickly, your soup will be lumpy.
5. Once it is thin enough that you are sure there are no lumps, add remaining tomato juice & water, stirring continually.
6. Add bouillon cubes, salt & pepper.
7. Turn heat to medium & stir constantly until the soup comes to a rolling boil.
8. Once soup boils, turn to low & add dried parsley
9. Serve with saltine crackers & grated cheese. Or, do as we did & serve alongside some baked mac'n'cheese!

Mmmmm.
We made this soup in class as part of this meal:
Theme: Kid-friendly.
Appetizer: Veggies & Lemon-Dill dip (I'll share the dip recipe at some point - I made it up one day when I ran out of the Victorian Epicure dip mix...)
Main Course: Baked Mac'n'Cheese & Creamy Tomato Soup
Dessert: Chocolate Chip cookies (also delish - the kids LOVED them :)