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.

Reggae Rice

I have a massive soundworm going... now I'm going to share with you while assembling dinner...

Ooh, yeah! All right!

We're jammin'

O wanna jam it wid you.

We're jammin', jammin'

And I hop you like jammin, too.

Gonna be an easy one using pantry staples and freezer ingredients. In addition to crushed tomatoes and beef broth, I have a bag of peppers cut in half with seeds removed and a bag of browned ground beef.

 Lay peppers in large pan, this one is my favorite, a cheery splatter painted 9x13. I left open space for just the rice/meat/cheese for the non pepper eaters.

 I had planned to use the leftover chinese takeout rice, that no one USUALLY eats... but I didn't write, "touch this and die" on the box... so it's been tampered with. I can make up with a small batch of microwaved rice... but it does cut back on the super easy plan I had. Downgrade from Super Easy to Rather Easy.

Ain't no rules, ain't no vow, we can do it anyhow:

I'n'I will see you through,

'Cos everyday we pay the price with a little sacrifice

Jammin' til the jam is through.

 While extra rice is cooking in micro (1 cup rice, 2.5 cups water, 5 mins on 100% power, 12 mins on 50%)
Normal batch of rice (4+ cups) 2 cups rice, 4.5+ cups water, 5 mins on 100% power, 18 mins on 50%)

While rice is cooking, add frozen ground beef to pan with 2 cups beef broth and lg can of crushed tomatoes.

Add to pan with rice/beef/tomato mixture. (about 4 cups rice total). I added garlic and onion powder as well as cumin and Adobo seasonings. Stir together and then spoon onto pepper halves... and non peppered space.

We're jammin'-

To think that jammin' was a thing of the past;

We're jammin',

And I hope this jam is gonna last.

Cover with shredded cheese and bake at 350 for approx 30 minutes

We're jammin', we're jammin', we're jammin', we're jammin'

Hope you like jammin' too

Serve warm, with or without a dollop of sour cream.                                                                                    

Dinner? 

Say Cheese....

I've decided that any pasta can be greatly improved by the addition of "Baked" at the beginning... which means "smothered with cheese and heat applied until melty".  The other day was "Baked Mostaccioli". Today is "Chicken Tuna Casserole" - err, "BAKED Chicken Tuna Casserole". It's made with chicken... no tuna... but the premise is the same: Cheap. Filling. Miscreants will eat.

Cheese makes everything better. Cheese enhances... many songs were actually written about cheese... producers had them change them because love songs sell better than dairy based. Hmph. I'm sure these are valid examples before the re-writes:

Hit Me With Your Best Cheese
The Woman in Me (Needs the Cheese in You)
Sweet Dreams (are made of cheese)
Pride (in the name of cheese)

The other day, I cooked up extra ingredients to make a few dinners faster/easier. Including pre-cooking some pasta.

I started by pulling the pre-cooked pasta and some chicken quarters from the freezer. Left the pasta to thaw on the counter.

Next, I put 3 chicken quarters (on sale for $1.73) into my pressure cooker. Could do this in crockpot for 3 hours on low, letting it simmer on warm til closer to dinner time. Added 2 C of water and then I set the pressure cooker for 15 minutes, walked away to continue my work from home activities. (Could use crockpot for 3-4 hours, or on the stovetop, 2-3 c of water added for an hour or so).

I left the chicken in the cooker, on warm for a few hours. I gently removed meat from bones with a couple of forks.

Added back into cooker.

Added 1/2 c sour cream, 1 can cream of celery, and partial bag of frozen peas and carrots. 

 Once mixed, I stirred in the now thawed pasta.

 Poured into a baking dish.... wait for it....say it...

CHEESE!!!

That's right... smother that casserole with cheese. Bake at 350 for about 30 mins- til melty and browned. I'm also baking a loaf of "cheesecake factory-esque brown bread" at the same time. I also cut up a couple bunches of broccoli, microwaved for 6 mins, then added CHEESE.

 Baked Tuna Chicken Casserole... Baked=Cheese

I Love to Work at Nothing All Day

And I'll be... 
Taking care of business, every day
Taking care of business, every way

2 crockpot meals for the effort of one.

With veggies already prepped, this is beyond easy. Embarassingly easy. Dump into crockpot, set on high 3 hours, walk away.
I've been taking care of business, it's all mine
Taking care of business. and working overtime
Work out

 Once home, slice ham and serve the miscreants.

Chances are you'll go far

If you get in with the right bunch of fellows
People see you having fun
Just a-lying in the sun
Tell them that you like it this way
It's the work that we avoid

Crockpot Tomato Soup... dump and run, baby!

 Into crockpot goes veggies, broth, 2 cans diced tomatoes, and seasoning, Bouquet Garni this time.

 Set crockpot for 4 hours on high, finish it up later....

 After cooking all day, it's almost good enough to eat just like this! Smells fantastic!

 I didn't dice veggies small as recipe directed, that takes more time. Besides using a boat motor/submersible blender stick is an easy cheat. I blended til thick chunky, but not smooth.

 Make a roux... spelled scary, looks scary at first. I used half of a stick of butter and 3/4 C flour. Melt butter and add flour. Whisk til thick but not lumpy.

A couple of ladles of hot soup get whisked into the pot with the roux. Whisk until smooth. It will still look thick and kind of scary. Add more ladles of soup into the roux until about half of the hot soup is added...keep whisking until it is stirred smooth. Then add soup/roux pot into crockpot. Whisk again.

 Rinse roux pot and then add 2 C half n half and warm on stove top. You could micro, but that would be another dirty dish. Once warmed, DO NOT BOIL, whisk into crockpot. Let "meld" in crockpot while preparing cheese sandwiches.

 Trader Joe's Oat Bread with swiss and co-jack cheeses. Serve with a sprinkle of cayenne pepper.

One, two, three, four
And we be... 
Taking care of business every day
Taking care of business every way
I've been taking care of business, it's all mine
Taking care of business and working overtime