Sloppy Joes

Dan had a hankering for Sloppy Joes last night. We didn't have a can so I looked in my cookbook and there was a homemade recipe for it. I thought it would turn out gross as I normally don't care for this sandwich but it was good. I would definitely make this over buying a the canned stuff.

Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
8-oz can tomato sauce
2 tbls water
1 to 1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp garlic salt
Dash of hot sauce (I omitted but Dan put on his)

Directions:
In a large skillet cook ground beef, onion, and sweet pepper until meat is brown and vegetables are tender. Drain off fat. Stir in tomato sauce, water, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic salt. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for about 5 minutes. Serve on rolls, buns, or bread.

Incredibly Easy Chicken and Noodles

I've never made this recipe and was taking it to a family in need from church so I had Dan try a bowl and it was a hit. It's cheap. It's makes a lot. And it's GOOD! I served it up with a slotted spoon for the more traditional gravy-ish chicken and noodle instead of soupy. This is definitely going on our go-to meals list! A great find as the winter weather draws near.

INGREDIENTS
1 (26 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
3 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
2 cups diced, cooked chicken breast meat
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 (9 ounce) packages frozen egg noodles


DIRECTIONS
In a large pot, mix the cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, chicken broth, and chicken meat. Season with onion powder, seasoning salt, and garlic powder. Bring to a boil, and stir in the noodles. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes

Cowboy Beans

Martin learned about this style of beans from a janitor at Central Catholic.

-1 can (or however many cans you want) baked beans
-1/2lb (or however much you want) ground beef
-a good sprinkling of any spices you desire--I use Tony Chachere's cajun spice

Cook up the ground beef in a big pan, add the beans, add the spices, stir until hot. You could probably add onions as well, and probably jalepenos too. I've never tried either, but they seem like they might fit, I dunno.

Today we made a HUGE pan of this, and it was our lunch! And it filled us up so much, we didn't feel like eating dinner!

White Bean & Artichoke Pasta

Sorry I've been neglecting posting! I have an awesome and SUPER simple recipe to make up for it.

Anne, you can make this for charles if he can eat any of it just yet, because it's a pasta dish but, get this folks, has NO cheese! And trust me, it doesn't need it. Not even to sprinkle on top. Mom pulled this out of a Simply Recipes magazine. And Erin, to the best of my knowledge this is also vegan, I know you cook like that sometimes, hopefully you can use this!


White Bean & Artichoke Pasta

Cook 3/4 lb fettuccini pasta using the directions on the box. Don't forget to make your boiling water "salty as the sea"
Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water

In a pan over the stove, heat 1/4 cup EVOO and saute one can of chopped artichokes, one can of white beans (Canelloni) and 2 cloves of chopped garlic. Heat all items through, don't let garlic brown. (Heat everything together at once instead of sauteing the garlic first and burning it to death like I did).

In a food processor, pulse 1 cup of toasted bread to make breadcrumbs. Add 1 tsp of dried oregano. While pulsing, add one tablespoon of EVOO. In the pasta pot, mix drained pasta with the bean/garlic/artichoke mixture and the breadcrumbs. Toss to serve.


The flavors are immense in this, you won't believe it and don't skimp on the EVOO when mixing the beans/artichokes/garlic. You don't even need to sprinkle cheese on top.

yum! (i'm having leftovers for lunch today at work).

15-Minute Chicken and Rice

1 T oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken
1 1/2 c water
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp pepper
2 c minute rice, uncooked
2 c broccoli florets, frzn or fresh

Heat oil in skillet, add chicken and cook until browned. Remove chicken and add soup, water and spices, stir. Heat to a boil. Stir in rice and Broccoli. Top with chicken. Season chicken with more paprika and pepper as desired. Cover and cook on low for 5 minutes or until rice and broccoli is tender.

Tips after cooking: Cut chicken into 1 inch cubs - chicken can come out dry and this will help. The rice will probably take longer than 5 minutes to cook.

Recipe from Campbell's

Chicken with Goat Cheese and Basil

We made this last night for dinner alongside roasted asparagus and snap peas and a salad.

In the style of Regis's "however many" system...

Chicken with Goat Cheese and Basil
(adapted from The Barefoot Contessa)
-Stuff goat cheese and basil leaves under the skin of boneless chicken breasts. More is better, trust me.

-Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and bake in the oven. (I don't remember how long, but use whatever system you use for baking chicken).