Sloppy Joe's...from SCRATCH!

Growing up, I think the only way I had Sloppy Joe's was out of a can. And rightfully so, it was a quick and tasty option for dinner, and if you were like my mom and had 6 kids, the former was extremely important. But for me, with no time to meal plan this weekend and some ground beef thawing in the freezer,I had to figure out dinner quick and work with minimal items so I didn't have to stop at the store. We haven't had sloppy joe's together....EVER, so what a great option! And, I found this recipe that sounded great, and I knew I had all the ingredients. It was better than the canned stuff, and really not that much more involved. I highly rec this for your next quick, easy, tasty dinner! I served it with some raw veggies and dip.

INGREDIENTS

* 1 pound lean ground beef
* 1/4 cup chopped onion
* 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
* 3/4 cup ketchup
* 3 teaspoons brown sugar
* salt to taste
* ground black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef, onion, and green pepper; drain off liquids.
2. Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, and brown sugar; mix thoroughly. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Making Meatballs Part II

Today, we are making meatballs sweet and sour style. So as stated in Making Meatballs Part I, I doubled the recipe and froze half of the cooked meatballs. If you have an interest in both these recipes, I HIGHLY recommend doing this. The meatballs take awhile to make, but freeze very nicely. So...make the meatballs, or if you are a smart cookie...defrost them.

1lb hamburger
1/2 c bread crumbs
1/4 c milk
2 tbsp onion
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 egg

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Create balls a little smaller than a golf ball. Cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

Ok, so now let's get to the saucy part.

1/2 c packed brown sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 can pineapple chunks
1/3 c vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce

Mix brown sugar and cornstarch in skillet. Stir in pineapple with syrup, vinegar and soy sauce. Heat to boil stirring constantly. Reduce heat, add meatballs, cover and simmer stirring occasionally for 10 minutes.

Notes: SUPER YUM! Really, these are awesome. That's coming from the girl that doesn't like balls of meat. And the leftovers are just as good. I served this over a bed of rice...mmmm now I want these again.

Making Meatballs Part I

I made these so long ago, I honestly can't remember when it was. I was procrastinating posting it because well honestly, I didn't think they looked very nice. But gosh darnit...they were tasty! So a blog entry they rightfully deserve! This recipe is from my father-in-law, and while I'm not typically a fan of balls of meat, I do enjoy these.

Traditional Meatballs with Gravy

1lb hamburger
1/2 c bread crumbs
1/4 c milk
2 tbsp onion
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 egg

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Create balls a little smaller than a golf ball. Cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
Add about 1 cup of beef broth and 1 tbsp cornstarch. These amounts are approximate- but it is simply to make gravy- so just add until you get a consistency you like.

Notes: Ok- we doubled the recipe and froze half of the meatballs with our food saver...the next post shows what we did with them.

My Mom's Chili

As a kid, one of my favorite fall/winter dinners was my mom's chili. She uses the seasoning kit pictured, but does it a little different than what the package states. Be warned though: this makes a crap ton of chili! You could easily cut this in half and still feed 6 hungry growing boys. We usually have leftovers for 3 days...(and we usually are sick of chili by day 2). It's alright though...this chili is worth the excess!

Ingredients:
1 Carroll Shelby's Original Texas Brand Chili Kit
1 large can of crushed tomatoes (like the 30 oz size) or two regular cans
1 can of tomato sauce
2 lbs ground beef
1 can of chili beans (size is to your discretion depending on your love of beans-I use one very large or 2 regular)

Instructions:
Brown ground beef in skillet and drain grease. Dump ground beef into stockpot (at medium heat) and add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce and 1/2 can (15 oz) of water. Add in the chili seasoning packet (the big packet), the salt packet, and unless you want your tongue to literally fall off, just half of the cayenne powder. Mix all that together.
Next, fill the can 1/2 with water and add the masa packet (the white packet)and blend together. Add to the chili mix. Continue to stir and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. The chili will thicken up quite nicely, that's when you know it's done!

Notes: Can I really consider this homemade? Probably not. Could I create my own chili figuring out exactly which spices to use? Probably. Do I want to? Probably not. Honestly, this is the best hearty chili I've ever had, and you know me, I'm not one to mess with perfection :)

Ground Beef Casserole

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion diced
1 large can of tomato soup (regular can works too...)
1 can green beans
1 can corn (really you can use whatever vegetables you want, these are just my favorites and I always have them around)
Mashed potatoes for about 6 people (instant is ok too)
Salt/Pepper
Other spices (you'll see my suggestions below)

Make the mashed potatoes. Heat the oven to 350. Brown the ground beef and throw in the onion. Drain the beef. Feel free to add whatever spices you have laying around- I like garlic powder and chili powder but really...whatever you've got. And season with salt and pepper! And of course a package of onion soup mix is always approved per monica if you really want it.

Spread the beef into a 9x13ish casserole pan (i use my pampered chef deep dish baker- because it is biiiiig). Then spread the uncooked green beans and corn over that. Then poor the tomato soup over the entire thing and add about a half a can of water to make sure the whole thing has some juicy goodness going on. Top with the mashed potatoes over the top and bake for about 25 minutes or until the edges start to get brown.

I really love this casserole...but definitely add the salt and pepper- it needs it! As you can see...I really don't have set amounts. We'll call this Shelly Cooking...or grandma cooking. My sister gave me an actual recipe but I used it like 2 times and then never needed it again. You can blame me if it turns out bad...but I haven't had that happen yet.