R's Savory Sloppy Joes

I thought I'd post my sloppy joe recipe, since I haven't yet. It's not something I fix a lot, just when we have a taste for it.
I don't like the store bought, sweet sloppy joe or ketchup based sauces. Most people seem to & that's fine, but I do not. So, I came up with my own.

1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef (or whatever you like)
1/2 onion & green bell pepper, diced (optional)
1 can tomato sauce, low/no sodium
2 tablespoons wooshy sauce or A1 (whatever you have on hand)
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
1/2 teaspoon or less hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon each salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder (can also add garlic Season All or Steak Seasoning if you like)
Essence or Red Pepper Flakes to taste (if you like it a bit spicy)
Hamburger Rolls

Cook ground beef (& veggies if you like) until well browned, stirring often to separate the meat. Drain off any grease.
Stir in remaining ingredients & cook until mixture is hot & bubbling. Serve on rolls.
Yum-O!

*Can substitute red wine vinegar for wooshy/A1 if you don't have either of those.

*Can adjust amounts to feed your family.

*Can cook meat as directed, then add everything to crock pot & cook on low all day

*Total carb guess around 9-10g per serving + roll.

Corn on the Cob (COC)

It has been a wonderful season for local corn on the cob. I have found that the most flavorful way to fix it is the microwave of all things! It roasts it. It steams it. It comes out so nice & tender all in its own husk. And so easy!
Cut the tips of the cob.
Do not shuck it, but open up the end of the silks just a tad.
Put a paper towel in your microwave (just to not have silks & husk in the bottom of your microwave).
Lay the cob on the paper towel.
Microwave 1 cob at a time for 5 minutes each.
No turning or fussing or anything.
Use oven mitts to remove the cob to a plate & cover with a paper towel to keep warm.
Put in next cob & repeat process.
I use oven mitts to take them out because they are steaming hot.
When they are all nuked, I shuck them all at the same time using the oven mitts as well (still hot).
You can butter, S&P them individually or all at the same time.
Perfect!

My Crock Pot Pasta Sauce

1.5 - 2 lb ground beef, browned & drained
4 regular or 2 large cans of low sodium tomato sauce
1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chilies
1 small can tomato juice
Spices to taste - Garlic Season All, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Black Pepper, Oregano

While ground beef is cooking, put everything else in slow cooker.
When meat is done, drain or strain, & add to slow cooker.
Put lid on, turn on high for 4-6 hours & then lower to low until dinner time.
Stir occassionally.
Add to your favorite pasta & top with your favorite cheeses if ya like.
We serve garlic bread or bruschetta & salad with it.
Add to meatball hoagies if you like, too.
Enjoy!

Easy Caesar

Diamond loves Caesar salad. I thought it would be easy to look up online a recipe for her, but I was wrong. All of the recipes I found didn't have all of the ingredients the way I wanted them. So, I came up with my own. Now it's EASY Caesar salad dressing.

Easy Caesar
(salad dressing)

1 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed or pressed
¾ cup grated Parmesan Cheese
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/3 cup lemon juice
½ cup egg beaters
Dash Worcestershire sauce
Anchovy paste

Put lemon juice, eggs, & mustard in blender.
Beat well.
Add oil, garlic, salt, pepper, & Parmesan cheese; blend well.
Add dash of Worcestershire sauce & squirt of Anchovy paste.
Blend all ingredients together & store in refrigerator.
Serve on Romaine lettuce & top with garlic croutons.

Roasted Riggies

Roasted Riggies
(Sorry, no pic yet. Was gone quickly. LOL)

INGREDIENTS:
½ - 1 lb ground Italian sausage
1 cup heavy cream & 1 cup ricotta
1 (28 ounce) can diced roasted tomatoes
1 (7 ounce) jar roasted red peppers
1/2 teaspoon parsley
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or Essence(optional)
1 cup grated Parmesan/Asiago/Romano cheese or Italian blend
1 pound rigatoni or penne pasta
1/4 cup chopped scallions

DIRECTIONS:
1. Cook & drain sausage. Drain roasted peppers, reserving a small amount of the liquid. Blitz in blender or food processor until ‘saucey’.
2. Combine sausage, cream/cheese, tomatoes, roasted peppers with reserved liquid, herbs, garlic powder, salt and black pepper, and crushed red pepper/Essence in a saucepan. Cover. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the sauce heats through.
3. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, and transfer to a large serving bowl.
4. Stir cheese into the sauce. Stir sauce into pasta, and top with scallions.

Nutrition
Information
Servings Per Recipe: 8
Calories: 571 Amount Per Serving
•Total Fat: 32g
•Cholesterol: 104mg
•Sodium: 1294mg Amount Per Serving
•Total Carbs: 53.6g
•Dietary Fiber: 4.4g
•Protein: 18.9g

Diamond's Surprise Muffins (Conni's Doughnut Muffins)

This is a home ec recipe Diamond got a couple years ago & I just love them! They come out wonderful every time! And they're super simple to make.

Diamond's Surprise Muffins
3 1/2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups milk
2/3 c vegetable
2 eggs
Your favorite Jelly or Jam or chocolate or Nutella, etc

Topping:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
2/3 c sugar or Splenda
2 tsp cinnamon


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a larging mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar.
In another mixing bowl, beat milk, oil and eggs.
Pour milk mixture into flour mixture, and stir to combine.

Spoon 1 Tb batter into each cup of a paper-lined muffin pan.
Top with 1 tsp of your favorite jelly or jam.
Cover with batter, filling the cups about 3/4 full.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until test done with a toothpick.

While they are baking, melt butter and place in a small bowl.
Combine additional sugar and cinnamon in another small bowl.
When the muffins are done, carefully remove a hot muffin from the pan, and dip the top into the melted butter.
Then immediately dip it into the cinnamon sugar.
Repeat with all of the muffins.
Let the muffins cool a couple minutes.
Eat warm or room temperature.

Num Yummy!!

Chicken Concoction Casserole

This evening I had chicken tenders to fix for supper & didn't know what to do with them. I wanted it to be something different, but can't go too different with all our picky tastes. Sooo, I thought we'll come up with a casserole of some sort. Turns out, it's pretty tastey. So here it goes.

Chicken Concoction Casserole
EVOO
1 package chicken tenders, cut bite size
1 package medium egg noodles
1 can ls cream of chicken soup
1 can ls cream of mushroom soup
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup Parmesan/Romano cheese
1 small package shredded Italian cheese blend
1/2 soup can heavy cream
2 Tbs butter
Essence, Garlic Season All, Salt, Pepper, Oregano
PAM

Season chicken with Essence & put in pot with a little EVOO, stir around for a few minutes. Barely cover with water & bring up to a simmer. Add veggies & stir. Cook thoroughly.
Meanwhile cook egg noodles in salted water until done, about 7 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, combine soups, Parm, most of cheese blend, cream, Season All, Pepper.
Drain noodles & chicken & veggies and add to bowl. Stir to combine.
Pour into a sprayed casserole dish.
Top with rest of shredded cheese, little pieces of butter, & Oregano.
Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese and butter are melted & bubbly. Yummy!

*Serve with Bruschetta or Italian Bread.

*If you're not in a hurry, you can cook chicken in 1/2 pot of water & then remove & cook egg noodles in that chicken broth.

My version of Minestrone

MINESTRONE

Ingredients
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
• 4 slices bacon, coarsely chopped
• 1 pkg ground mild Italian sausage
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon sage
• 1 teaspoon parsley
• 1 chopped onion
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 2 cups chopped canned San Marzano tomatoes
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 1 can chopped green beans
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 cup small pasta (penne/shells/ditalini) or 1 pkg cheese Tortillini
• Salt and pepper
• 4 scallions, chopped
• 1/2 cup parmesan

Directions
Heat oil in large pot and cook bacon until crisp. Add the sausage and cook, breaking up the sausage with the side of a big spoon, until well browned. Stir in onions and celery and cook until tender. Stir in carrots, herbs, garlic and toss to coat. Pour in chicken stock and tomatoes bring to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes until potatoes are tender. Stir in green beans and shells. Cook for 6-8 minutes or until pasta is tender.Top with cheese & scallions. Season to taste. Yum-O!

*Serve with Bruschetta or garlic bread.

Italian Sausage Delight

This was a winner! The only thing I did different was I used half a box of fresh sliced crimini (baby portabella) mushrooms instead of canned.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Italian-Sausage-Delight/Detail.aspx

~T~E~A~

I love tea. Well, let me rephrase that. I love most all black tea. Every now & then I will want green tea, but most always I prefer black & with NO fruit. (With 1 exception, I will drink orange tea when I am sick, but that is not the norm.)
I usually drink hot tea, but I also like iced tea. I prefer my tea with Splenda, tho I can drink it black. I also enjoy Splenda & milk/cream in my tea (I read that's a British thing.)
So I thought I would list the teas that I like. There are a lot. I keep 6 different black teas in my tea box at all times & another 4-6 kinds in the pantry.
So, here we go. My favorite teas in no particular order:

Regular Black Tea
http://www.liptont.com/our_products/black_tea/index.aspx

Decaf Black Tea
http://www.liptont.com/our_products/black_tea/blk_decaf_cup_size.aspx

Orange Black Tea when I am sick
http://www.coffeeam.com/manortea12lb.html

English Breakfast Tea
http://www.twiningsusashop.com/english-breakfast.html

Irish Breakfast Tea
http://www.twiningsusashop.com/irish-breakfast.html

Tazo's Awake Tea
http://www.tazo.com/tazo.asp?init=

Tazo's Joy Tea
http://www.amazon.com/Tazo-Tea-Joy/dp/B001VZ0M38

Oolong Tea
http://www.twiningsusashop.com/china-oolong.html

Earl Grey Tea
http://www.bigelowtea.com/Catalog/Product/36/1/13/Earl+Grey.aspx

Darjeeling Tea
http://www.twiningsusashop.com/darjeeling.html

White Tea
http://theteanation.com/ItemDetails.aspx?ItemID=164

On occassion Green Tea
http://www.bigelowtea.com/Catalog/Product/36/3/246/All+Natural+Organic+Pure+Green+Tea+-+USDA+Organic.aspx

Depending on the spices I also like Chai (I do not say Chai Tea; they are the same words. It's like saying tea tea.)
http://www.twiningsusashop.com/chai-100-percent-organic-and-fair-trade-certified-tea-page.html

I'm sure there are more. I like trying new black tea blends all the time. :)
HTH

Deb's Pork Chop and Potato Scallop

Got this recipe from a friend. Had to alter it a little with what we had on hand, but it was a big hit! Thanks Deb! :)

Pork chop and potato scallop
4 pork chops (used several really thin, boneless chops)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c. sour cream (used heavy cream because we didn't have sour cream)
1/4 c. water
4 c. thinly sliced potatoes
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown chops in skillet. Blend soup, sour cream, water and parsley in a 2 quart casserole. Alternate layers of potatoes and other ingredients, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place pork chops on top. Cover and bake at 375 for 1 1/4 hours (only took 40 mins).

Calzone Rolls

This is a RR quick take on calzones. You can "top" it with anything you like. We changed out the salami for Italain Sausage & Pepproni. Yum-O!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/calzone-rolls-with-salami-tomato-and-basil-recipe/index.html

Famous Queso Dip

I started fixing this when we lived in SC. It's a quick, easy dip & Restaurant style Tortilla chips or Pita chips, or homemade ones, go perfect with it. Yum!

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/famous-queso-dip-51301.aspx

Rhon's Spicy Chops

This is 1 of the 1st recipes I ever created myself. I wanted to "doctor up" pork chops, but in a different way. I like the cans of Rotel tomatoes & green chilis. I do not like marinara sauce on chops. So I thought the tomatoes would be better. It's really easy. Just throw everything in the pan & bake. :)

Pam
Garlic Season All
Poultry Seasoning (yes for pork chops)
S&P
Olive Oil
Enough Chops for the family
1 can Rotel tomatoes & green chilis
Shredded Italian Blend Cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray pan with cooking spray. Coat chops on both sides with seasonings to taste & lay in pan in single layer. Top with can of tomatoes. Drizzle with just a little olive oil to make shiny. Bake for 45 mins-1 hour or until done. 5 minutes before they're done, top with cheese & put back in oven to melt.

*If you don't like the little bit of heat from the chilis, you could use just a can of tomatoes.

Enjoy! :)

Bob's Oven Fried Chicken

Bob makes awesome oven fried chicken. Tastes just as good as fried chicken, but without all the oil & mess.
He uses this Betty Crocker recipe & adds extra seasonings like Garlic Season All, garlic powder, & poultry seasoning to taste.

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/oven-fried-chicken/63392ed9-c33b-4e6b-887b-0f9c30e5e693?p=1