Sloppy Joes

Oh, come on and admit it. It's okay; you don't have to be ashamed. You know you like a good sloppy joe every now and then! This was my first attempt at making sloppy joes, and I decided to give it a try after a friend sent me a recipe she loves and I thought it would be a good meal to make a freeze part of for after the baby. I ended up adjusting quite a few things in the recipe, so hopefully I'll be able to remember what all I did...but when in doubt, just adjust amounts according to your taste. This was a good meal and my husband loved it. I think he would rather eat something like sloppy joes over a fancy meal any night!

I did not get a picture, but really, let's admit it: Sloppy joes may taste good, but they aren't pretty.

Sloppy Joes

Original recipe here from allrecipes.com

I N G R E D I E N T S :

• 2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2-3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (add a little, and then add more if you think it needs it)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I ended up using a little bit more)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (this is an estimate-original recipe calls for 1/4 tsp but I added more after tasting it)
• Onion powder (I sprinkled some over the top as it was cooking)
• Hamburger buns

D I R E C T I O N S :

• Cook beef in a large skillet over medium-high until evenly browned, stirring to crumble. Add onion and celery, cover pan, and cook until transparent. The original recipe says this takes about 5 minutes, but it took me a while longer to get the celery and onion to desire softness. Drain off any grease.
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• Stir the tomato soup (undiluted), ketchup, water, vinegar, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce into the beef mixture. Season with salt, garlic powder, and onion powder, adjusting to taste. Heat to a simmer over low heat, and cook until thoroughly heated, stirring frequently to prevent it from burning on the bottom. If your onion and celery still needs to soften up, you can cook it for longer. I let the mixture simmer on low for a while, and was more and more pleased with the results after letting the flavors combine for longer.
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• Spoon the hot beef mixture onto buns. 

Blossom from an Egg plant??? :)

One day i was cooking for a get-together. Kept the eggs for boil n went to give bath to my kid. I could see a new egg flower blossomed in my kitchen :)

Coconut rice with smashed potato curry

I would say that this is a deadly combination - the porous coconut rice with yummy mashed potato. My hubby thought me this combination (he he ... the recipe too :P). Thanks to him. Good lunch box recipe.

Ingredients:

Cooked rice -2 cups (use 10% less water than you normally do to cook the rice)

Gingelly oil - 4 tbs

Mustard seeds + urad dal - 1 tbs

Curry leaves -5nos

Broken channa dal - 2tbs

Hing - pinch

Dry red chillies -5nos

Fresh grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Salt

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan , add mustard seeds + urad dal, curry leaves, broken channa dal + hing, red chillies, grated coconut + salt in the same order @ 30 sec interval.

2. Saute the coconut for 30 sec and mix well with the cooked rice. Thats it !!

Note: dont smash the rice while mixing.

For Smashed potato curry

Ingredients:

1. Potatos (medium size) - 5 nos (Cook the potatos in a pressure cooker for 4 whistles and peel of the skin. Smash them little with hand/spoon so the pieces are large and chunky.)

2. Cooking oil - 4 tbs

3. Urad dal + mustard seeds - 1tbs

4. Curry leaves - 5 nos

5. Crushed garlic pods - 4 nos

6. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tbs

7. Red chilli powder - 1 tbs

8. Salt

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds + urad dal, curry leaves, crushed garlic pods in the same order @ 30 sec interval.

2. Add smashed potato, turmeric powder, red chili powder, salt and mix well.

3. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of water to mix easily.

4. Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.

Note: This potato curry is a very good combination for Curd rice/ lemon rice/ tomato rice too.

Citrus Lemon Cupcakes

I've already written a blog post about Lemon Buttercream Frosting, combined with this citrus lemon cupcake batter, and you got yourself a fantastic lemony dessert for a nice, sunny day! I decorated these with extra big sprinkles :)

Ingredients:

• Stick of butter
• 1 cup of sugar plus 2 tbs, preferably golden bakers'
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tbs. all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
• 2 tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tbs sour cream
• 1 tsp. lemon zest

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is pale and smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each one.
2. Sift the two flours together in a different bowl. In another bowl, mix the milk, lemon juice, and sour cream together. Add 1/3 of the flour to the creamed mixture, beat well. Add 1/3 of the milk mixture, beat well. Repeat steps until all flour and milk have been added. Mix the lemon zest with the last third of flour.
3. Using a 1/4 cup, scoop the mixture into the cupcake liners in the cupcake baking pan (2/3 full.)
4. Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes.
5. Remove from oven, and allow to cool for 10 minutes before icing.

Costs:

• Stick of butter- $0.16
• 1 cup of sugar plus 2 tbs, preferably golden bakers'
• 2 large eggs-$0.20
• 1 cup self-rising flour-
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tbs. all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
• 2 tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice-$0.20
• 1 tbs sour cream
• 1 tsp. lemon zest

Approximate Total Cost: $5 for 20 cupcakes

xoxo,

Amy

Peanut-Ginger Green Bean Salad

Spring break is over, back to real life. Sorry guys that I haven't posted in awhile! It's a bit difficult to cook when you don't have your guinea pigs (roommates) to taste your food! :)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs green beans
• 1 cup of peanuts
• 1 one inch of ginger
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tbs. soy sauce
• 1 tbs. granulated sugar
• 2 tbs. vegetable oil
• 3 tbs. red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. salt

Prepartion:

1. Clean green beans. Break off tips.
2. Coarsely chop peeled ginger and garlic clove. 

Instructions:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add green beans to boiling water. Cook for about 4-5 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Refrigerate.
2. Coarsely chop peanuts in a food processor or blender. Take out 1/3 cup of peanuts to toss in salad later. Continue mixing until the peanuts are finely chopped. Add vinegar, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, oil, salt, and 2 tablespoons of hot water. Blend until smooth.
3. Toss the green beans with the dressing. Sprinkle the 1/3 cup of chopped peanuts over the green beans.

Costs:

• 2 lbs green beans- $2-2.60
• 1 cup of peanuts- $1.00
• 1 one inch of ginger- $0.30
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tbs. soy sauce
• 1 tbs. granulated sugar
• 2 tbs. vegetable oil
• 3 tbs. red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. salt

Approximate Total Cost: $5 for a serving of 5-6

xoxo,

Amy

FIL with sprouts - Simple spicy sprouted green moong dhal fry

Everytime i am getting excited like going to visit a new born baby whenever i unbundle the sprout knot, which i tied the previous day night. This looks wonderful ryt??? I cant belive that i made this.

Very Nutritious food for kids and expected mothers.

To make sprouts: Soak green moong dhal in plenty of water. After 12 hours drain the water completely and bundle the lentil in a clean cloth. Tie the knot with enough space on top so that the plant can breath. Place the bundle inside a big vessel to have the environment warm. Open the bundle after 12 hours now you can see the lovely sprouts.
If u r planning the dish for tmrw, soak dhal today morning, drain and bundle tonight. Sprouts will be ready tmrw morning !!!

Ingredients:
Sprouted green moong dhal - 1 1/2 cups
Cooking oil - - 1 tbs
Red chilli powder - 1 tbs
Salt to taste
Fresh grated coconut - 4 tbs

Preparation:
1. Heat oil in a pan and add the sprouts. Stir fry for a min.
2. Add chilli powder and 1 cup of water and close the pan with lid for 15 mins. Cook in slow flame.
3. Add salt and grated coconut, mix well and serve hot.

Note:

Good combination for Rasam rice / Curd rice.

Can be served as a evening snacks also.

We can make sprouts from other lentils too like whole channa / Horse gram in the same method.

Fancy baked penne pasta with chicken and sun dried tomatoes

I mentioned this recipe last week when I posted about freezer cooking, but I wanted to give this recipe its own post because it was super tasty! I'm only posting a link to it, but you can find the full recipe and a picture there. It's definitely not a low calorie dish, but it is yummy. The only thing I would do differently is make sure there is enough salt-the instructions say to add salt to taste near the end, and I wish I would have added just a hair more. Other than that, I wouldn't change a thing! 

Here is the link:
Baked penne pasta with chicken and sun dried tomatoes
from Freeze Happy

Freezer cooking when preparing for a baby

As I recently mentioned, we're expecting another baby in May. We are so excited, and are busy getting prepared to welcome this little bundle of joy into our life. I will say that one thing that is really intimidating to me right now is the thought of cooking with a toddler at my feet and a newborn in my arms. That said, one thing I'm working on is freezer meals to have on hand when the baby arrives. When our first child was born, we were given many meals by friends from our church, and they were always a welcomed sight...truly some of the best gifts a new mother could receive! I honestly do not know how we would have made it without those dinners the first few weeks, and am forever grateful for them. However, we are now living in a different town, and live far away from our new church, so I am determined to be prepared this time around with having my freezer stocked up. Any meals we happen to get will be a wonderful blessing and gladly accepted, but I want to have a few meals stashed away so I'm not dependent on receiving them. 

Freezing meals is something I have mentioned on here time and again, and I even have a section titled "good to freeze". Many times when I make a recipe, I'll double it if I have enough ingredients so that I can stick an extra meal in the freezer. It really takes very little extra time to just go ahead and make twice as much, and stick the extra in aluminum foil pans. And often, if a recipe makes a 9x12 portion, since we only eat about one 8x8 on our own, I can double to recipe and get one 8x8 for dinner and 3 9x12's to freeze for the future.

I originally intended on freezing one meal a week starting at the beginning of the year. While I've fallen somewhat short of that, I've been able to freeze several and am doing my best to stick to freezing something every week, even if it's just bread or a side. Some weeks I don't get time to freeze anything, and then other weeks I'll freeze a couple of different items...which always helps me feel a little more prepared. Some things I've frozen are just small portions to add to a meal, and then there are other meals where I have managed to get 1-3 8x8 main course dishes into my freezer.

Here are some things I've frozen so far:

Taco Soup

Minestrone Soup

Focaccia Bread

French Bread (always good to have on hand)

Corn Bread (we have pinto beans and corn bread about once a week, so this is an easy meal)

Mashed Potatoes (yes, you can freeze them! Just add a little more milk and butter or sour cream when you reheat them).

Poppy seed chicken

Beef Stew

Pizza dough (healthy whole wheat version here)

Pizza sauce (scroll down pizza dough recipe for the sauce recipe)

Farmstand Marinara sauce

Taco meat (no recipe. just ground beef, onions, and taco seasoning. Here is a make-your-own seasoning)

Lasagna (new recipe I never posted. great except I'm not a big sausage person so next time I'll use beef).

Inside out ravioli

Baked penne with chicken and sun dried tomatoes
Sloppy Joes
King Ranch Chicken
Classic Spaghetti Sauce
Chicken Pot Pie (I doubled this recipe and managed to get 3 pies out of it!)
Chicken Noodle Soup (similar ingredients to pot pie, so I made them at the same time)
Baked Ziti
Strawberry bread
Strawberry gelato (such a yummy dessert!)

There may be a few more things I've frozen, but mommy brain has taken over and I can't find the list I made when I took inventory of my freezer last week. I have several other meals I would like to freeze in the next few weeks, and am always looking for new freezer meal recipes to try. In addition, I'm hoping to start using my crock pot more often, having the super easy pinto beans and corn bread one meal a week, pizza once a week (because it's a fun  treat that is so easy and home made pizza isn't nearly as unhealthy as take out),  having my husband grill weekly since it will be summer, and having some vegetable nights with all the produce that will be in season. I'm also going to stock up on frozen vegetables when they are on sale to keep on hand.

One thing that is helpful if you are into freezer cooking is to have an additional deep freezer. We bought one at a scratch and dent appliance store, and it has served us so well. I love keeping items such as freezer meals, extra frozen veggies, and meat on hand.  Sometimes I have more than at other times, but times like these when a baby is about to arrive make it such a blessing to stock up beforehand.

I love getting aluminum pans at the dollar store. I usually wrap the pan in two layers of foil, and label the top one. Once it's time to cook, I remove the top layer and leave the bottom one on until near the end of cooking. Most meals that are frozen can be cooked unthawed by just doubling the cooking time. I usually aim for cooking most meals for 2 hours on 350 degrees F-1 1/2 hours covered, then the last 1/2 uncovered.

As I continue to freeze more meals, I'm updating this post with links to each recipe in case you are interested in freezing meals as well. And if you have any meals you love to freeze, please share them! I would love the recipes.

Artichoke!

Simply boiled and eaten warm, leaf after leaf, with vinaigrette until getting to the best part–the heart. Yum!