Tuesday, October 15, 2013

I'm Stomping on Sunshine

It's a dreary morning... rainy, I haven't had coffee yet and I'm cranky. 
I'll probably still be cranky later... better get dinner in crockpot...or it's pbj's for everyone tonight... as in everyone can make their own. Or not...my Care-O-Meter is broken.
Grab some stuff.... turkey sausage, 3 chicken quarters, 2 green peppers, bag of frozen corn, bag of sliced celery and onions. 
Grab spices and 2 "jalapeno cubes" for flavor.
Pour bag of dried beans into micro cooker, cover with water, cook on 100% power for 15 minutes.
Let sit in micro (about an hour) while getting kids off to school
and readying myself for work.
Start dumping everything into crockpot; along with 1 box of chicken broth
                                      
Rinse before adding half the beans. (Save other half bag in a ziploc in freezer for another day.)
Chicken on top
Set crockpot for 4 hours on low, walk away... don't make eye contact....
Oh.... that looks pretty good...
\
I'm walking on sunshine whoa
And don't it feel good hey alright now
Yeah.... that's the stuff.....

(Bread courtesy of this recipe)

I'll take door #2 please....

Love me two times, baby 
Love me twice today 
Started with a pile of steaks, on the cheap
One for tomorrow 
One just for today 
Love me two times 
If you can, marinate them using some leftover bottle dressing in fridge. Any oil/vinegar based flavor works. 
Toss onto screaming hot grill
Work on a couple of sides... Slice up some mushrooms
Saute with butter, garlic and onion powders
Dump a bag of baby carrots into a sauce pan with an inch or so of water, bring to boil. Once tender, drain water and add a pat of butter and either 2TBSP brown sugar or herb of choice.
Check steaks on grill... realize that propane tank has run empty
Finish cooking in grill pan on stove
Serve with mushrooms and carrots. I cheated with a couple of heat and eat mashed potato thingies from grocery store...miscreants are "too good" for instant potatoes.   Camera decided this was last picture before SD card corruption occurred.
Love me one time 
I could not speak 
Love me one time 
Yeah, my knees got weak 
But love me two times, girl 
Last me all through the week 
After dinner, bagged up leftover steaks to use for part II, a few days later... once they forget they had steak already...
Using grilled (even slightly grilled) meat in another recipe adds a level of flavor.
Sliced up 3 bell peppers and half an onion. For flavor, 1 can of diced tomatoes, pepper, and Penzey's Southwest seasoning plus Cumin.
Put tomatoes and seasonings on bottom, stir, then add steaks
And peppers/onions.
Set crockpot for 4 hours on low. Shred meat, which is now very tender, can be done with forks. Add juice of one lime and or a bundle of cilantro if you have it. Meh if you don't.
Love me two times, babe 
Love me twice today 
Love me two times, babe 
Gather usual taco makings: tortillas, shredded cheese, salsa, and sour cream.
2nd easy meal.... they never knew what hit them.
Love me two times, babe 
'Cause I'm goin' away 





Saturday, September 28, 2013

sloppy joes, beef and chicken

I know how's you'se kids likes 'em sloppy!!!
Chicken Sloppy Joes, for when you've planned ahead.
 Start with bag of chicken breasts... 
List of ingredients to add is short, and sweet:
1/4 c vinegar
1/4 c brown sugar
sm bottle bbq sauce, prefer baby ray's, use what you like
Pinch red pepper flakes, I used Penzey's black and red pepper to add a zing.
Mix together in bowl, pour over chicken breasts
Set for 5 hours on low... I want these fork tender and easily shredded
Pick a vegetable, apply heat
 Cut into bite-sized pieces, micro for @6 mins; add cheese and nuke for 30 seconds longer
 Shred chicken and add sauce from crockpot
Sorry for the pic quality on this one... I'm pretty sure the lights in the kitchen were on... I typically don't cook in the dark.

Beef Sloppy Joes, for when you didn't plan ahead.
Oh yeah... dinner... hello ground beef... did the penguin send you?

 Brown ground beef, stir/chop using a spatula
 Add sprinkle of garlic and onion powders, stir in bottle of bbq sauce, again SBR's.
 More cauli and some tater tots....
Beef or Chicken... they get scarfed up like 30 sack lunches on a field trip.