Sloppy Joes

I don't know how many of my faithful followers use the "Manwich" style sloppy joes, but I really don't like that brand - so I have made my own Sloppy Joes from scratch. Several years back, I found a good tomato sauce recipe from the Food Network and have used it as my base for the sloppy joes. I start with;
1 onion dice
1 bell pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 Teaspoon Italian spices
2 teaspoons salt and pepper
1 teaspoons crushed red pepper
saute all of these ingredients in the olive oil until tender. Transfer the soft veggies into a food processor and blend until smooth. Place back into the sauce pan and add 1 large can of crushed tomatoes and 1 large can of diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil,then turn down to low for about thirty minutes or until the tomato sauce has reduced. You want the sauce to be almost to the consistency of tomato paste (thick). Now you are ready to use this for the sloppy joes -just brown some ground meat,onion, bell pepper and salt and pepper and then add the sauce.

Note: I have added some zucchini and yellow squash to the tomato sauce so that you can hid the veggies for those who do not like them.

Enjoy.

The One That You Have Been Waiting For

During the summer camp for Angelwood Children, I made some delicious biscuits for the staff and volunteers. Many of the older people remember these biscuits, but not the recipe. I found this in the newspaper several years ago, and now they are my favorite biscuits. It is like having yeast rolls and southern buttermilk biscuits in one.

Angel Biscuits

1 package yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
1/4 cup warm water (use your wrist and if it is luke warm, it is good)
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening (1 stick butter)
1 cup buttermilk

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water; set aside
Mix the dry ingredients in the order given, cutting in the shortening as you normally do for biscuits or pie dough.
Stir in the buttermilk and yeast mixture and mix thoroughly.
Now the dough is ready to refrigerate. (Up to three days)
When you are ready to use the dough, turn the dough out on a floured board and knead lightly.
Roll out and cut with a biscuit cutter, placing them on a greased pan.
Let the dough rise slightly before baking in a 400 degree oven for 12 - 15 minutes.

These are great with fried chicken or chicken-fried steak, or any of those southern meals. How about for breakfast with orange marmalade or jelly.

Enjoy folks; hopefully I can come up with some more good recipes.
Until then.

Catalina Salad

Many of you probably do not like to cook during the summer months when it is very hot. I have a great recipe that I use to make in Texas (don't really know who came up with it, but I am sure it was a Texan). If you want to, you can cut up the lettuce and add the carrots, but I am real lazy when there is package salad mix. All you need to add is the following: tomatoes, bell peppers, ranch style beans (drained and rinsed) or you can use Bush Pinto beans. Cheese, Fritos and Catalina Dressing. Just before you serve this salad, add the the cheese, fritos and dressing and mix well. This is a meal, but if you like, serve some fruit as a side.
This is very yummy, and I sometimes wonder why I don't make it more often for it is so simple.

Until next time

So Popular

I made this snack for the staff at summer camp and they like it so much, I thought that I would put it on the blog. I found this recipe in the Penzeys magazine. To me, this taste like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

PEANUT BUTTER BARS

1 cellophane wrapped package of graham crackers
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
2 sticks butter
2 Teaspoons Vanilla
1 1/2 cup peanut butter, creamy or chunky
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 12 ounce bag chocolate chips

1. Crush the graham crackers; mix in the cinnamon and set aside.
2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan; remove from heat and add vanilla and peanut butter and mix well.
3. Add the powdered sugar and graham crackers.
4. Stir until well combined: it will be a stiff dough.
5. Pat the mixture into an ungreased 9x13 pan.
6. Melt the chocolate either on the stove or in the microwave.
7. Spread the melted chocolate over the peanut butter mixture.
8. Refrigerate for 1 hour before cutting.

Yield : about 24 bars

New Creation

Many of my good followers know that I am a camp cook for multiple handicap children for 5 weeks during the summer. We have food provided for these children through a summer program to feed them throughout summer vacation. Well, most of these children have problem in eating hard foods like apples - so I found a way for them to enjoy this delicious fruit. I sliced the apples into eight pieces using an apple slicer; placed them in a baking dish and added brown sugar and cinnamon. I covered and then baked them in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, I diced up some rolls that the church had leftover from their dinner, and melted some butter and poured over the diced bread; and I also added more cinnamon and brown sugar and mixed until all the bread was covered; place in the oven and baked for 20 minutes. I then added the croutons to the apples and let them cook for another 30 minutes. It was delicious.
So, if you have some apples lying around and you want to do something different, try this recipe. Until then.

Okay, It Has Been A While

Dear Fellow Followers:
I am sorry that I have let you down by not writing any new recipes in the last three or so months. As you know it is hot and many people do not like to cook when it hot. However, I have found out interesting ways to use leftover baked potatoes. Here is what you can do the next time you make baked potatoes - bake extras. Put them in the fridge until you want to make potato salad. I like to put hard boiled eggs in mine and use the yolk in the dressing. Here is what I do. First, I mash the yolk, and the add mustard and mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip) to the yolk and mix well. Now if you have leftover mashed potatoes, it is also good to put in the dressing for it makes the dressing more creamy. I also put celery, onion, pickles and bell peppers in my potato salad. If you want the recipe, I will be more than happy to write it down for you, but you have to remember, I do not measure anything. Until next time...

It Has Been Awhile

I just noticed that it has been almost 2 months since I have written anything on this blog. Well, I haven't created or redo a recipe because I haven't felt well; and now it is getting too hot to cook. However, I did make some good comfort foods while my sisters were here, and one one of them was Macaroni-Tuna Salad. This is a very simple recipe.

1. Cook the macaroni according to the box. Drain and rinse with cold water.
2. Chop up onion, bell pepper, pickles and anything else you like to put in it.
3. Add enough mayonaise or Miracle Whip (my favorite) to coat the macaroni and veggies.
4. Put in fridge for several hours.
5. Enjoy.

This is great on a hot summer day when you don't want to heat up the house.