Sloppy Joes

So tonight was the first time that I have ever made homemade sloppy joes. Usually in the past I have just used the Manwich sloppy joe sauce but I found this recipe on http://www.allrecipes.com/, and I had all of the ingredients so I decided to give it a try. It turned out very easy and really tasty so I think I'll go with this recipe from now on!

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:

In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef, onion, and green pepper; drain off liquids.

Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, and brown sugar; mix thoroughly. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

The original recipe can be found here. I doubled the recipe so that I could have leftovers to freeze for another meal. I also added a splash of worcestershire sauce, a splash of red wine vinegar, and a couple tablespoons of good BBQ sauce. I served them on onion rolls that I toasted under the broiler with a little aged cheddar cheese.

Very tasty!

Paula Deen's Pumpkin Pie

To go along with my roasted chicken, I really wanted to make a pumpkin pie for dessert. I always use Paula Deen's recipe because I love the flavor of it, and I love how it has cream cheese in it. Unfortunately, I couldn't find canned pumpkin at my grocery store, but they did have Libby's pumpkin pie filling so I decided to use that and just adapt the recipe by adding a little more pumpkin and a little less sugar and spices. It turned out great considering I didn't have canned pumpkin, but here is the original recipe that I will use this year for thanksgiving when I can find regular canned pumpkin!

Ingredients:

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

2 cups mashed canned pumpkin

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg, plus 2 eggs yolks slightly beaten

1 cup half and half

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, optional (I don't use this but I do add in a little pumpkin pie spice)

premade pie crust

whipped cream, for topping

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place 1 piece of pre-made pie dough down into a (9-inch) pie pan and press down along the bottom and all sides. Pinch and crimp the edges together to make a pretty pattern. Put the pie shell back into the freezer for 1 hour to firm up. Fit a piece of aluminum foil to cover the inside of the shell completely. Fill the shell up to the edges with pie weights or dried beans (about 2 pounds) and place it in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and pie weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the crust is dried out and beginning to color.

For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined. Add the eggs mixed with the yolks, half-and-half, and melted butter, and beat until combined. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger, if using, and beat until incorporated.

Pour the filling into the warm prepared pie crust and bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is set. Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Cut into slices and top each piece with a generous amount of whipped cream.

I would highly recommend this recipe! When I was growing up, I wasn't too fond of pumpkin pie, but I loved this recipe from the first time I tried it! Here is a link to the original recipe:

Paula Deen's Pumpkin Pie

Whole Roasted Chicken

For yesterday's dinner, I wanted to make a delicious, comfort meal that was kind of a Thanksgiving replica. I decided my menu would be whole roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing (from a box), rolls, and pumpkin pie. It turned out great! I had never made a whole roasted chicken before, and it took a little longer than I thought it would but ended up being really juicy and flavorful. I ended up making two so that I could freeze the meat of one and use for a dinner next week. Here's how I made the chickens (I read a few recipes and created my own with the ingredients I had on hand):

Ingredients:

2 whole chickens (giblets removed from the cavity)

2 yellow onions

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 can chicken broth

minced garlic (I probably used around 1/4 cup on each chicken

salt

pepper

Directions:

1. Place the two chicken in roasting pan on a roasting rack.

2. In the bottem of the roasting pan, pour in the can of chicken broth and also add 1 stick of butter (sliced up).

3. Cut onions into quarters, and stuff the inside of the chickens with 1 onion each and the rest of the butter (sliced up).

4. Season the chicken liberally with salt, pepper, and the minced garlic.

5. Roast the chickens in a 350 degree oven until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees (I put my meat thermometer into the middle of one of the breasts, and it took about an hour and a half to cook).

6. Remove from oven, baste with the juices from the bottem of the roasting pan, cover with foil, and let rest until the internal temperature reaches 180 (I let the chickens rest for 15-20 minutes), and carve.

Overall, easy and great recipe! Make sure you have plenty of time to cook the chicken because depending on your oven and how big the chickens are it would take awhile to get up to 180. Very juicy and flavorful :)

New Blog!

Hi, my name is Kellie, and my husband's name is Kevin. We've been married for a little over a year and live in Chicago, IL (Bucktown neighborhood) with our dog, Windy.

This is my first attempt at creating a food blog. I love cooking and trying new recipes so here it goes!