Cheesy BBQ Sloppy Joes

Another Southern Living recipe that we love. Confession: I don't always serve this on the Texas toast. It is certainly more fun when I do! This recipe is also good with coleslaw served on top of the sloppy joe meat. These are open face sandwiches that we eat with a fork most of the time.

 

Cheesy BBQ Sloppy Joe Sandwiches

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

14.5 oz canned diced tomatoes

1 cup ketchup

1/2 cup barbecue sauce

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 Tbsp chopped pickled jalapeno peppers (optional)

1 Tbsp liquid from pickled jalapeno peppers (optional)

1 11.25 oz package frozen garlic Texas toast

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Pickled jalapeno pepper slices (optional)

Brown ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat until crumbled and no longer pink, drain fat. Return to skillet and add tomatoes, next three ingredients and jalapenos and liquid, if desired. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Meanwhile prepare Texas toast according to package directions. Serve beef mixture over Texas toast, sprinkle with cheese and pepper slices, if desired. Serve with coleslaw.

Recipe Source: Southern Living

Homemade graham crackers

This recipe doesn't use graham flour, just whole wheat flour. We have soft white wheat and we grind it ourselves very fine so there isn't a big difference.

1/4 cup powdered dry skim milk
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, beaten lightly
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
6 cups whole wheat flour (approx)

Mix together the powdered milk, water and lemon juice.  In separate bowl combine the brown sugar, honey, oil, vanilla and eggs. Combine both mixtures and then add salt, baking soda and flour. The amount of flour needed will vary - add more if its too wet or sticky. The mixture will be fairly sticky but should pull away from bowl easily. Spray oil on your hands and divide the dough into 4 parts. Each ball can be rolled out on a cookie sheet to 1/8" thick. (This will take some patience!) Thicker will make them more cakey and cookie like. (We like them this way too!) Prick dough with fork. Bake at 375 F for 15 minutest or until light brown. Remove from oven and immediately cut into squares.

This makes a TON of crackers but we have always eaten them within two days so I can't tell you about storage. If you are concerned, cut the recipe in half easily. They are delicious!

Spanish Lentils & Rice

I love this simple dish. It's super tasty, super simple, frugal and a great variation from typical casseroles that are heavy and meaty. The lentils & rice make a good complete protein so you can just add a salad and its a quick, easy, healthy, complete meal. Approximate cost: $2.50 for entire casserole.

Spanish Lentils & Rice
from 2003 Southern Living
Makes 4-6 servings
approx 20 min. prep, 30 min cook, 20 min bake

3 1/2 cups water
1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
1 cup dried lentils
1 tsp salt
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 (10 oz) can ROTEL Mexican festival diced tomatoes
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Bring first 4 ingredients to a boil in medium saucepan, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes until lentils are tender.

Saute onion and bell pepper in large lightly greased skillet over med-high heat until tender. Add cumin, chili powder, garlic powder and cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes.

Stir onion mixture and tomatoes with rice mixture, and spoon into lightly greased 13x9 baking dish.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, top evenly with cheddar cheese, bake 5 more minutes.

Creamy Enchilada Casserole

Nava Atlas writes great cookbooks with great recipes. The Vegetarian Family Cookbook is wonderful. Simple, great tasting, kid-friendly...what's not to like? She also does a monthly newsletter from her website with scrumptious seasonal recipes. I checked it out again from the library and have been enjoying it! :)

Creamy Enchilada Casserole

(filling)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 16-oz can vegetarian refried beans
1/2 cup mild or medium hot bottled salsa or 4-z mild green chiles
2 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro (optional)
1/2 tsp dried oregano

(sauce)
1 1/4 cups milk, rice milk or soy milk
2 Tbsp white flour
1 1/2 cups grated monterey jack or other non-dairy white cheese

8-10 corn tortillas, cut in halves
1 scallion, thinly sliced
salsa for topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 400. Oil your 9x13 pan or 2 qt casserole

Heat oil in medium skillet, add onion and saute over medium heat until translucent. Add garlic and saute until onion os golden. Stir in remaining filling ingredients and cook unitl well heated thru.

Heat 1 cup of milk in small saucepan, dissolve flour in remaining milk .Whisk into saucepan, then sprinkle in 1 cup of cheese. bring to gentle simmer, stirring frequently, and cook until thickened.

Line pan with a single layer of tortillas, pour in filling and spread evenly over tortillas. Cover with remaining tortilla halves.

Pour cheese sauce evenly over tortillas, sprinkle with remaining cheese. Sprinkle scallions over the top. Bake 15 minutes, until cheese is bubbly. Serve at once, pass around salsa for topping if desired.

N.B. I used flour tortillas, we don't like corn ones in our home, it worked fine. This recipe was delicious, and has possibilities for improvization too. :)

Penne with Spinach and Feta

Tonight's dinner:

From my Allrecipes Cookbook. The recipe can be found at this link. I originally made this so I could add ham that I had left over, but then I forgot. It is a really simple, and delicious dish. I served it with breadsticks, applesauce and limeade. It was a delicious dinner!

All the work is in prepping the ingredients. Crumbling the feta, chopping up the tomatoes and cooking the penne (or mostaccioli) beforehand. Then it takes about 5 minutes to make this delicious dish.

This was also a hit with my kids, which is always good to note. My kids eat salad easily, but avoided the spinach in the dish. They ate the pasta and cheese though, so I figure some of the nutrition rubbed off the spinach into the sauce.

Which is one thing a picture can't really show - how saucy this dish really is. The tomatoes break down and mix with the feta and make a really great simple sauce. It is a thin sauce, but it surprised me how much sauce there was.

This dinner qualifies as a quick meal, a la Rachel Ray. With the previously made homemade applesauce, I had my son make limeade and the breadsticks took the most time, maybe an hour total. Quick and easy!