Sloppy joes...not just an Adam Sandler song

Did I just date myself by using such an old Adam Sandler reference?  I saw him live, at Radio City Music Hall back, oh, about 18 years ago.  He was all the rage then and I loved him!

But I digress.  The concept of a Manwich-type sloppy joe always made me feel a little nauseous.  I think it's similar to my Other People's Meatballs situation I referenced before.  I just get picky about meat.  My friend, who works at William-Sonoma, made sloppy joes when I visited her this summer.  She used the William-Sonoma sauce which was ridiculously tasty.  But it is just a tad too pricey for my budget.

One day, however, I was just in the mood for a sloppy joe.  I went to the Food Network site to see what they had to say about them, and found many recipes.  I took a few recipes and melded them together, tasting and adjusting the spices as I went along.  I made it a second time, really fine tuning what worked for me and my particular taste.  Many recipes include bell pepper, sometimes I add it, sometimes I do not.  Feel free to add it, if you like.  It is a quick recipe, good for a work night.  Toast your roll in the oven for a few minutes, then pile the meat on top. Serve a nice mixed green salad with a crisp vinaigrette alongside it.  Voila!  Dinner is served! You could even serve it over brown rice if you are GF.  

Mellie's Sloppy Joes

Olive oil for browning the meat and onions(1-2 TBSP)
1 pound ground beef or turkey
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons steak seasoning (I happened to have McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning.)
1 medium onion, chopped small
1 1/2 TBSP red wine vinegar
1 1/2 TBSP worcestershire sauce
1 tsp chili powder (feel free to omit if you don't want the little kick)
1 tsp dry mustard
2 cups tomato sauce (the kind in the can, not jarred)
2 TBSP tomato paste (if it was frozen like mine usually is, then you can add earlier in the cooking to help it defrost.)
crusty rolls for serving

Deliciousness.  One of the keys is breaking
up the meat into tiny bits.

Heat a large pan over medium high heat.  Add oil and then meat , spreading the meat around and starting to break it up.  Add the steak seasoning while the meat is browning.  When it is no longer pink, drain the oil off then return to the large pan.  Meanwhile, saute the onions in a small pan until tender and translucent. Add the brown sugar and onions to the browned meat, mixing it in.  Reduce heat to medium and add vinegar, worcestershire, chili powder, and dry mustard.  Cook for 5 minutes.  Add tomato sauce and paste, stirring to make sure all the ingredients are well combined.  Simmer on low for 10 minutes.  The meat is already cooked through, but the flavors need a chance to come together.
I like to toast my roll in the oven for 2-3 minutes.  It helps prevent roll sogginess.  Add a large spoonful of the mixture to the roll and enjoy!

Amazing slow cooker chicken

The perfect bite - chicken and tomato together.

This morning I was trying to think about what to to with this chicken I bought on Thursday.  I got a really great deal on chicken breasts, but, as tends to happen with these deals, they were huge and it was a 3-pound package.  So, what to do?  What I usually do is make a garlicky lime chicken for use in chicken tacos or over rice.  I thought I had blogged that recipe but I haven't yet, so that might be Amazing slow cooker chicken part 2.  And so it is, since I have now added it.  

I had some canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, and spices.  I googled slow cooker chicken and canned tomatoes and found this recipe.  I altered the recipe a bit, based on what I had in my pantry.   This is the recipe I came up with, with my ideas for the next time in italics.  

Balsamic and Tomato Slow Cooker Chicken

Serves 4 to 6

-2-3 pounds of chicken.  I used boneless chicken breast, the very thick kind.

-Salt and pepper to taste

-1 onion, very thinly sliced If you really like onion use 1 large or 2 small.

-4 whole cloves garlic, peeled Again, add more or less depending on how much you love garlic.

-1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

-1 small can diced tomatoes 

-1 large can crushed tomatoes with oregano and basil

Next time I would do the opposite because we loved the chunkiness of the tomatoes - 1 large can diced and 1 small can crushed.  I also would use stewed if I had them.

-1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

-1 teaspoon dried basil

You can see the chicken just under
the surface but not all the way on the bottom.

-1 teaspoon dried oregano

-1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary

1.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides.

2. Put onion, garlic, balsamic vinegar, tomatoes, rosemary, thyme, basil, and oregano into the slow cooker.

3. Place the chicken in the sauce.  I did not push it all the way in, just under the surface.  Whatever sauce was on top formed a delicious topping as it cooked down.

4. Put the slow cooker on for 6-8 hours on low.  There is enough liquid with the crushed tomatoes that the chicken was not even close to drying out.  

5.  I served it over brown rice.  But you could over pasta.  We also put some on the crusty Italian bread we were eating with dinner.  Oh my..delish!  

Notice how the tomatoes cooked
down to form a nice glaze on top.

I happen to love Hunt's tomato products and they have tons of flavor choices for their diced tomatoes.  You could really change the flavor profile depending on what kind you use.  

I had also steamed some carrots to have as our veggie and Vinnie and I threw them in the same bowl as the rice and chicken.  They were very tasty mixed in.  It made me start to think about what other variations I could do.  I might add peeled, diced potatoes and carrots to make it more like a chicken stew.  If you added peppers it would be more like a cacciatore.   You could also shred it with forks when it is done, like I do with the garlicky lime chicken.  If you added more mexican seasoning and some poblano or jalapeno peppers depending on your heat preference, to it, it would be the perfect chicken and sauce for enchiladas.  

There are so many slow cooker recipes that involve browning something first, and I just can't handle that at 6:30am on a workday.  This will definitely go into the rotation of recipes because it was the easiest thing in this world  and according to Vinnie, tasted out of this world.  

Popcorn Balls

Stove top popcorn

For the last week of camp I decided to have fun with the campers and piggyback onto the Carnival Day that was being held on that Thursday.  We made popcorn balls which I had never made before, but I will most definitely be making again!


We started out with making popcorn on the stove, which is the only way I make it.  If I had an air popper I would use it.  But I do not eat microwave popcorn. In my opinion, if you are eating popcorn there should only be ingredients that you can read and pronounce:  oil, popcorn kernels, butter and salt. Back to the recipe... We made the popcorn and did not salt or butter it.

Kernels and canola oil before the lid went on.

For the sauce that allows you to make the popcorn into balls:
Melt 1/2 stick of butter in a large pan.

Add 1/4 cup brown sugar and a 10 oz bag of mini marshmallows.  Interesting note about the mini versus regular sized marshmallows is that the mini melted faster and more evenly.  But the regular sized got more caramel-y because they had to cook longer.  I kind of preferred the larger ones for that reason but it was hard to balance the melting and not burning it.  

Stir constantly over medium heat until it is all melted.  Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan because that is where it will start to caramelize and eventually burn.  I started off the week having the campers stir this, but their last week giddyness was making me nervous so I put an end to that.  If you are doing it with your children, just make sure they are safe because sticky and boiling is not a good combination if it gets on skin.  

Pour the goodness over the popcorn.  I transferred the popcorn to a different bowl so that I could try to keep as many unpopped kernels from going in as possible.  Also, a plastic bowl is a better choice than a metal one, just saying.  Not that I burned myself on the metal bowl that was filled with molten marshmallows or anything.

It tastes as amazing as it looks.

At this point you butter your hands and get to work very quickly and carefully forming balls.  For the campers, I put a large spoonful in front of them on a clean table top and had them wait a minute or so before touching it.  I experimented with packing them tightly or keeping them looser.  I enjoyed them a little looser because it made it a little easier to bite into.  I have no pictures of the balls because my hands were a sticky mess.  The campers had a blast making and eating them.  All different shapes were made: hearts, flowers, squares.

I can definitely see myself experimenting with add-ins, like pecans in the near future.  I was even thinking I could break it into clumps and let it cool on a silpat.  That would be a fun gift if you put it in decorative bags or tins.  My first plan?  Make them small and dip them into melted dark chocolate.

How easy was that?!

This week in camp I decided we were "traveling" to Greece.  I love tzatziki, to the point of ordering extra when I get a chicken souvlaki at the diner.  Whenever I have tried to buy it from the grocery store, however, I found that it just did not taste that good.  I became content with having it only when at the diner. And then....and then I decided to make it 27 times this past week with the campers.

Step one?  Drain the yogurt.  Cheesecloth would be the traditional way to do this, but I used paper towels.  I was a yogurt draining fool!  I should have taken pictures of the inside of the fridge.  I did take some of the yogurt draining.

Isn't that beautiful?  That was after about 24 hours.

This was the coconut yogurt draining.  This was also after about 24 hours.

As you can see from the pictures, the coconut yogurt did not get as thick.  The soy yogurt did get to be the same consistency as the dairy yogurt.  I was reading that you can let the yogurt drain for even longer and it ends up having an almost cheesy consistency.  Then add whatever you choose!  Yum.

The other cool thing was that I found out what whey looks like!  Apparently you can use it for many things but I haven't quite figured out what.  Anyone?  I have lots and lots of whey from above mentioned 27 groups of drained yogurt.

Okay, so for the actual making of the tzatziki, it was so easy.  Add the olive oil, salt, pepper and chopped fresh dill and garlic to a bowl and whisk together.

Add the yogurt and mix until well combined.

Add the chopped and seeded cucumbers.  Mix again.  It tastes best when you refrigerate for a few hours for all the flavors to meld together.  Voila!  We served it with carrot sticks and pieces of pita or tortilla chips for my gluten free campers.  I could just imagine it on my grilled chicken or steak, though, and cannot wait to make some for that purpose!  

Tzatziki Dip

Substitutions: dairy free yogurt as needed.  

• 3 tbsp. olive oil

• 1 tbsp. vinegar

• 2 cloves garlic, minced finely

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1/4 tsp. white pepper

• 2 cups greek yogurt, strained

• 2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced

• 1 tsp. chopped fresh dill

Strain the yogurt by placing cheesecloth or a papertowel in a sieve or colander with small holes. Add the yogurt and place the sieve over a bowl to collect the whey.  Strain for at least 12 hours.  Dairy-free yogurts took longer to strain. Measure olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Mix until well combined. Add the olive oil mixture to the yogurt and mix well. Finally, add the cucumber and chopped fresh dill. Serve with pita pieces or carrot sticks.