Sloppy Joes and Roast Potatoes

Today's blog is a mix of days. I try to take pictures every time I make something. I found I was making such simple things that didn't require a lot of photos so I am going to combine two of those right now.  I didn't make these for the same meal but I totally would if the mood struck me. I also want to say that I ALWAYS add veggies to my sloppy joes. There is just something wrong to me about a ton of meat, sauce, and bread. These are way too filling to pair with much of anything else so the most logical thing, to me anyway, is to load up the meat with veggies. I do warn against adding green peppers unless you really love green peppers. They tend to overpower all the other flavours and it just doesn't taste quite the same.

This is a pretty typical mix for me. One large onion, 1/4 or more of a pepper and a couple stalks of celery including the leafy tops. This all goes in with about 500g of ground beef. The leaner the better as this can get unsightly if there is too much fat floating around. Not to mention, unhealthy.

Now, this is why this is such a photoless recipe, it's so simple! A spice packet and can of tomato paste plus about a cup of water. Follow the packet directions. I do find that I like to add a bit more water to keep the saucy mess from sticking in my pan and becoming like paste.

Once the sauce has thickened it's ready to serve. I generally have homemade buns around and serve these on a buttered toasted bun.

As the weather has been getting warmer I have been finding any excuse to fire up the BBQ. These are a favourite of ours. Mine, because they are so easy to make, Phoenix's because he get's his own package, and they are just so tasty!

If you are making these for a lot of people you can do up a couple big packets and go from there instead of making one for every person. There are only three of us in my house so it was easy to make one for each of us.  

I find that we can eat about 6 new potatoes each or 1 medium potato worth each. Cut the new potatoes in half or thirds if necessary. Try to get them all the same size so they cook in the same time. Chop some onion and throw some in each package. Mushrooms and garlic are also welcome additions. Each person could season their own package too if they really wanted to get fancy. We don't, lol.

Now season liberally with salt and pepper. Dob some butter or margarine on top. It will help them cook and make those potatoes so good. Substitute olive oil, coconut oil, anything you want really.

Now seal up the package. These will be getting turned on the BBQ so be sure to seal the ends well to keep the butter from leaking out and causing flare ups, plus lost flavour! (oh no!)

We have this handy tray for the BBQ that I throw all the packages on. If you don't have one of these, don't worry just put the packages on medium high heat for about 30 minutes. Turn occasionally so nothing burns. These are best kept warm on a top rack in the BBQ when the steaks go on so they cook all the way through. They can also be done in the oven at about 400 F.

We enjoy these with sour cream, green onions, chives, bacon bits, pretty much anything we have on hand.

Kitten And Grilled Chicken Sandwich

So, I've been a really bad blogger lately. I've been taking pictures sporadically but I haven't had the motivation to get on here and write about it. No worries, I have been cooking as much as usual just not translating to the web.

Also, I have been having a war of sorts with my bread making. My bread recipe has changed slightly because I have been making buns with a new recipe. When I tried to make it into bread (because I love the recipe so much) it didn't work. I have reverted to my old bread recipe that I love. The bread turned out great but STUCK in the pan GRRR!!! So much frustration! The only thing that I have found that will release my wonderful bread is to use liberal amounts of butter. Real deal butter. This is fine because I use butter in my bun recipe so I have it on hand. That's not the point. The point is that suddenly my stupid bread won't come out of the pans and it's *&%ing me off. Anyway...

I have wanted to get a recipe for hamburger buns but haven't been happy with previous attempts. While they have been nice bun recipes they weren't soft enough, they were really crumbly, or they turned out really dense. I think I have finally perfected the bun recipe. I basically make this hoagie recipe that I get from here. BUT, this time I added an egg for softness. They were PERFECT! So good. I grilled burgers to go with these wonderful buns and it was heaven!

Now I have these heavenly buns to eat, what do I do? Make a hot sandwich I guess. 

Let's take a moment to talk about our new kitten though shall we?

Her name is Skittles and we rescued her from the Mississauga Animal Services. She was 8 weeks old when we got her. We figured her birthday out to be around the time of my son's birthday. We don't know her exact birthday so we just say it is the same as Phoenix's for simplicity. She is so cute, sweet, cuddly, and CRAZY. 

You know that moment when you trip over a kitten, your foot is in the air, you have forward momentum and you now don't know where to put your feet to avoid stepping on the kitten freaking out underneath you now because you tripped on her?? No? Well you probably do if you have ever been around cats because they have this stupid habit of walking RIGHT in front of your feet while you walk. Kick the kitten, cue kitten scramble, cue fear of squashing scared kitten. Ugh! Luckily, it didn't happen on the stairs yet.

She LOVES to sleep on our shoulders or just lie across our shoulders. It will be a sad day when she is too big for her favourite spots. And by sad I mean painful because she will probably try, fall, and scratch us as she tries to catch herself. Much like she does now when she makes bad decisions and gravity corrects her.

Anyway, back to the food. I was going for a cornmeal sprinkle on these buns. It was a bit of a fail since I didn't wet the dough in anyway so they barely stuck on and just fall off ALL OVER THE DAMN PLACE. They are messy but I digress.

So first things first, toast the bun. I used my grill, some butter, and HIGH heat until I had evenly toasty buns. Add your veg and sauce. I used just mayo and lettuce at first but added some steak sauce after. So good.

Caramelize some thinly sliced onions. I used salt, pepper, and a touch of sugar. I cheated because I didn't want to wait 20 minutes for my sandwich. Sue me. They tasted great. 

Get some regular shaved chicken lunch meat. Brown it slightly and warm it all the way through.

Stack the onions on the chicken.

Stack that on the lettuce. Tomato would be totally wonderful on this too but I didn't have any big ones, just little cherry ones.

The finished product. It was so good!! 

I highly recommend taking the time to a) toast the bun and b) grill some onions. It totally took this sandwich beyond regular cold cuts to a warm loving embrace.... what? You know what I mean. Enjoy!

Food to Daydream About

I was watching TV last night and I found myself thinking about food. Very yummy food. I was trying to decide if I was actually hungry, bored, or thirsty. It was 10 pm so I wasn't convinced I need to eat something just before bed. The final decision was when I thought of nachos and seriously considered making them. I knew I needed to get to bed before I had a tummy full of cheese and tortilla chips.

There was a moment last night when I realized I had everything you could want for nachos in my fridge. It was what really convinced me I need to get to bed before I ended up with a full tummy and regrets. It wasn't a very hard decision to make nachos for lunch today.

Obviously, you need some tortilla chips. If you shop at Costco you can get a life time supply.

Now I add some chopped onion. When I microwave this, the onion will soften and become milder just a bit but still have that nice flavour.

Now the cheese, add as much or as little as you like. I find I like just an even layer so that there is a bit of cheese on most chips and no pools of runny cheese.

Now to get creative. Add some heat, if it doesn't hurt it doesn't count... just kidding. But what are nachos without jalapenos?

If I was making these for someone else I would leave them whole so they could see them, for myself I wanted more pieces so I get a bit with most bites.

Toss those on and into the microwave for 30 seconds.

Chop up some fresh tomato and return to the microwave for another 30 seconds or until all the cheese is bubbly. I wanted the tomatoes to be warm but not cooked.

Serve with salsa and sour cream for dipping and you'll be in heaven!

We have been known to have this for supper. I would add ground beef seasoned with a taco spice packet. Green onions and olives are also delightful. Just think of your favourite restaurant nachos and go from there!

Stuffed Peppers and Homemade Burgers

It is definitely getting to be BBQ weather. Well it would be if we could stay above zero for long enough. I put together some burgers but couldn't be bothered to start up the BBQ so I grilled them inside on my breakky grill. It was great because I could get some char on the burgers but it was definitely missing the smokey element from the BBQ. To be honest, I didn't miss it this time.

On a more personal note, have you even done something that scared the hell out of you? You know that stressful feeling you get? You know that feeling when the situation is finally over and the stress is released? Yes? Well that is me today. Celebrate! I might even get my butt out the door tomorrow and run again. Well, at least if it isn't freezing I will.

I know that stuffed pepper recipes usually call for some ground meet but I knew I was going to make burgers so I went for a vegetarian stuffing and that means mushrooms!

I roughly chopped about a dozen medium sized mushrooms.

To make the peppers stand up, trim off a bit of the bottom, set aside. Lob the tops off the peppers and clean out the seeds and membranes. Finely, chop up the top and bottom bits with an onion. Sweat them down in a pan with some oil and season well with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, cook about 1/2 cup of rice with one cup of water.

I only wanted to make three peppers so I halved the recipe I was following. Don't worry if your peppers get some holes when you trim them up. Set the peppers into an oven safe dish that is just big enough for them. I used a bread pan.

Once the peppers and onions have softened, add the mushrooms.

Cook down until the moisture is cooked out of the mushrooms.

Once the rice is cooked, toss with the veggies.

Stuff the peppers. Cover and into the oven for 20 minutes at 375F.

Time to start the burgers. Toss one packet of onion soup mix into a big bowl.

Grab your ground beef and an egg.

I weigh and press my burgers to be sure they are all the same size and thickness. Normally, I would put these onto the BBQ but it was cold out and I wanted to use my breakfast grill. It was messy and smokey but the burgers turned out great. Not sure if I won or not. Haha 

To finish off the burgers I slathered some BBQ sauce on and added a couple slices of cheddar cheese. I covered the burgers to let the cheese melt. I served them on my homemade buns.  I put a few slices of cheese on the peppers and broiled them on high for a few minutes until the cheese was bubbly. Enjoy!

Homemade Tomato Soup ~ Jamie Oliver Recipe

Recently, I had a great experience with home made croutons and canned tomato soup. I figured that home made soup would have to be better than the canned version which is loaded with salt, sugar, and whatever else they put in that stuff. So, off to my cookbooks I went and this is what I found. I was surprised to see it called for a lot of veggies. This could only be delicious.

Peel one medium carrot, finely chop two stalks of celery, several garlic cloves, and one onion. Start softening them together with some oil in a nice large pot. Avoid adding salt at this point. Add lots of pepper if that is your thing.

I used my mini food processor for this.

The recipe called for two cups of chicken stock. I used these packets plus two cups of water.

Once your veggies are soft and flavourful, start adding in the liquids. One can of tomato sauce. Organic because why not.

One can of whole tomatoes and juice.

Several ripe tomatoes, quartered. 

It looks like a chunky soup right now. Let is cook the tomatoes and heat everything through.Test for seasoning at this point. Canned tomatoes, tomato sauces and the chicken stock will all have salt. Be sure not to add salt until after these are all added. Plus, I like croutons and cheese on my soup which also add salt so go easy.

Using a blender or a hand blender, completely blend the soup until it is creamy and smooth.

Top with garlic croutons and shredded Parmesan cheese.

This soup is much healthier for you than the canned version. You can completely control the salt, fat, and spices to suit you. Also, you can feed a crowd with this recipe. Don't be scared to make soup from scratch, it is totally worth it!

Homemade Corn Tortillas

Over the past few years I have seriously developed my love of Mexican food. This is a food I have always loved but never tried to make it at home aside from the boxed meals, you know the ones I mean. Chris got me started on making Mexican food from scratch. One important thing I have learned from making more authentic Mexican foods at home is that you can specialize them to your own tastes. Sure, this probably makes them less authentic but 100 times even more delicious. Of course, you might as well make your own tortillas too, why not? Everything is better homemade right?

You will need a special type of flour called Masa Harina. It is ground corn. More specifically it is a corn that has been soaked in lime, dried, then ground. You can find it in the ethnic section of your grocery store.

This dough is super simple, it is just water added to the Masa Harina until a dough forms. It will dry out easily so you need to keep the dough covered while you form your tortillas.

You will need to roll these out by hand unless you happen to have a tortilla press. Be sure to use plastic wrap to cover your press or you will have a mess. One piece each for the top and bottom.

Roll a bit of the dough into a ball and place it more toward the hinge instead of the center. You'll see how the press pushes the dough outward. If you put it right in the center it will smoosh off the end of the press and make a mess.

Now press and there you go, one flat disk of dough.

Now to cook. On pretty high heat, cook until browned slightly on both sides.

There is a nice little stack.

Now for the real reason I made tortillas, quesadillas. I used left over tangy slow cooker pork and cheese. Put that between two homemade tortillas and heat until the inside is hot and gooey.

Be sure to flip.

Top with salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, and avocado. Sour cream would be great as well. These are so tasty and really so easy.