Sloppy Joes

I hadn't had a sloppy joe since...3rd grade? Just hearing the words make me think of the smell of the school cafeteria on sloppy joe day. And it was gross. But these are amazing and one of Jack's favorites. I make the sauce on the weekend and then throw it together during the week in a flash... These would also be good with ground chicken or turkey.

1 lb ground beef
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup tomato puree
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tbsp + 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp molasses
Hamburger buns

1. Cook the beef in a large skillet until lightly browned. Remove from pan.

2. In the fat/juice still in the pan from the meat, cook the onions and garlic until soft. Add the spices and cook until fragrant. Add the rest of the ingredients until well incorporated.

3. If eating right away, add the beef back into the sauce and bring to a simmer. If making ahead, put the beef and sauce into separate containers and when you're ready to eat it, throw it all in a pan and bring to a simmer. Serve on hamburger buns.

Spicy Turkey Burgers

I don't know about you, but when I think of turkey burgers I think of hockey pucks. Or sawdust? Let's just say I usually go for the juicy, grease-dripping beef version. Until now. This turkey burger recipe is out of this world (actually out of Joanne Chang's Flour Too cookbook). I can't get enough of her...or these burgers. This makes 4 - double it and put half in the freezer and have the others during the week over a salad. You won't be disappointed. The tomato-onion jam by the way, is optional but highly recommended. You'll use all of it, but even if you didn't, there's a million things you could do with it. Also - do not substitute the fresh breadcrumbs for that store bought stuff...remember how I mentioned saw dust...?

Tomato Onion Jam
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, in 1/2-inch slices
1 lb plum tomatoes, halved, pulp and seeds removed, chopped
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
Generous amount of salt and pepper

Turkey Burgers
3 slices of white break (I used a bun and a half from the buns I bought for this)
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground turkey
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1 minced chipotle chile (I keep these in a jar in my fridge - you open the can, use one and then what? Add them to soups, use to marinate chicken, in chili...etc)
1 egg
3 tbsp chopped basil
2 tbsp chopped parsley
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 350.
1. To make the jam, heat oil in a saucepan, add the onion and tomatoes and cook for 30-40 mins, stirring occasionally until it's thickened. Add salt, pepper, pepper flakes and stir until mixed. Let cool.

2. In a food processor (or with your hands), process the bread until it turns to crumbs.

3. In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium. Add onion and cook until softened, add the garlic and cook for another 2 mins.

4. In a large bowl, add the turkey, cooked onions and garlic, the mustard through the salt and pepper. Using your hands, mix until well incorporated. Form the burgers - make them as thin as possible without breaking them (and so that you can get them into the pan).

5. Heat your skillet and add some olive oil. Cook the burgers about 3 minutes per side - only turning once, when they're browned a bit. Transfer to a baking sheet and pop in the oven for about 20 minutes (depending on thickness) - internal temp should be at least 165.

Serve on a roll with the tomato jam.

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

I never knew how the heck pita bread turns out hollow. And...I still don't. It's amazing, even after making it. And making pitas is very easy! I've been making these a lot since I've been on a bit of a bread roll (so to say) since getting my shiny Kitchen Aid mixer back in November. The equipment certainly helps here, otherwise, you'll end up with a much larger right bicep really soon...

1 tbsp active yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (found in grocery store (surprisingly) - look in organic grains section
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1. Dissolve yeast into water for 5 minutes in the mixer bowl.

2. Add the salt and 1/2 the flour. Knead with your dough hook on medium low until incorporated.

3. Add the rest of the flour and knead for another 8 minutes.

4. The dough will be sticky so flour your hands and all surfaces, and the dough itself. Break the dough into about 10-12 balls, flour them and roll them with your hands. Then, roll out each ball to a thin ~5-6 inch disk.

5. Place each disk on a floured baking sheet as you go. Let the rolled dough sit for about 30-40 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 425. Flip each dough disk. Place in oven and bake for 10 minutes or so.

BBQ Chicken Tacos with Blue Cheese Slaw

You all know I abuse the taco. If it can be squeezed into a tortilla, I'll try it. Here's a perfect example and these are actually great as tacos or on buns - as sliders would be great! I came across this recipe over the summer when I was helping my dear friends Kel and Chad 'use up' some of their CSA veggies. Little Hazel had just entered the world and she required much more attention than the produce. Thing is, there was a lot of it...and lots of eggplant and cabbage - not my strong points. But I wanted to make them some stuff that could sit in the fridge for a few days and be easy and quick to assemble when they needed it. These are delicious and a jazzy twist on what's often the same ole coleslaw.

For the Chicken:
You can do just about anything here. Grilled and shredded chicken works great. Or taken off a roast (roasted at home or one of the lil roasts you can buy already cooked at the store), or even boiled and shredded chicken (if you have to).

The key is a good BBQ sauce. From the bottle (yes, I know, shocking - I do buy a packaged sauce once and a while and this is worth it) Sweet Baby Rays is my favorite. But, making your own is even better - so check out this great recipe for Texas BBQ Sauce from an earlier post (and make those coffee rubbed burgers - they've been buried in the blog and need to be resurrected.)

Either way, have enough on hand for the number of people you need to feed.

For the Slaw (good recipe to cut in half but then again, you'll have the rest of the cabbage, so...):
3 cups green cabbage
3 cups red cabbage
2 cups carrots
3/4 cup mayo
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tbsp grainy mustard
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 blue cheese crumbles
1 tbsp parsley
1/2 tbsp oregano
salt and pepper

1. Shred the cabbage and carrots using your food processor. Or, for a finer consistency (which I prefer), put the cabbage in the food processor and pulse a few times or do half and half.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and mix. Pour over the cabbage/carrot mixture and stir together.

3. Cover with plastic and let sit for at least 2 hours in the fridge so that the flavors blend together.

4. When ready to eat, heat a large pan to medium. Toss in the chicken to heat it up a bit and mix in the BBQ sauce so it all gets nice and hot and saucy.

5. Heat your tortillas or buns, load 'em up and top with a good bit of the slaw. You'll never make coleslaw any other way again.

Chicken Gyros and Tzatziki Sauce

As many of you know, we went to the Greek islands on our honeymoon last year. The beaches were lovely, the people were warm and friendly, the Ouzo was, well...Ouzo, but the GYROS, oh man!! In Santorini we had a little corner spot that we liked to hit up on our way back from the beach. An appetizer, before our hors d'oeuvres of olives, cheese, and wine, before dinner. Yes, lots of eating. Anyway, the buttery grilled pitas with the greasy seasoned chicken oozing with cucumber yogurt sauce and fresh tomatoes were just about heaven. I found this recipe online as I was looking for stuff to do with cukes. This tzatziki sauce is just about spot-on.

Gyros:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1/4" strips

2 tbsp finely chopped dill

2 tsp dried oregano

1 onion, thinly sliced

A little olive oil for the saute

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt and pepper

Tzatziki: 

8 oz Greek yogurt

1/2 cucumber grated and squeezed to remove all water

2-3 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped

4 scallions, finely chopped

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Drizzle of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

*Optional: 1 clove garlic (use garlic press)  

Serving:

8 pitas

Fresh lemon juice

Diced tomatoes

Feta

Lettuce  

1. Place chicken and other gyro ingredients in a large freezer bag and marinate a few hours or overnight.

2. Mix the tzatziki ingredients together in a medium sized bowl and set aside in the fridge.

3. Heat large skillet to medium high and saute the chicken in a little olive oil with onion until chicken cooked through (remove chicken if onions need to cook longer - they should be soft).

4. Heat a separate pan to medium high heat and drizzle a little olive oil in the pan or lightly spray the pitas with Pam or other spray oil.

5. Heat each pita until it's warm and soft, keep closed tightly in tinfoil until ready.

6. Assemble the gyros by loading the chicken, onions and other serving ingredients onto the pita (not as a pocket but they should be soft enough to fold around the insides like a taco). Spoon the tzatziki on top and you're ready! 

Philly Cheesesteak

I wasn't sure if I should post this since it's so ridiculously simple. But I made these recently and I don't know what took me so long to make them at home. I LOVE cheesesteak! Laur would probably be disappointed in this recipe - it's not quite authentic but this is a really easy 5 minute dinner to satisfy a craving.

(Makes about 2)
1/2 lb roast beef from the deli counter
1/4 lb sliced American cheese
1 baguette

1. Heat a pan to medium high and add a touch of canola oil. Fry the roast beef until it browns a bit and gets a little crispy around the edges.

2. When the meat is just about done, layer the American cheese over it in the pan so it melts.

3. Stuff the meat and cheese into your baguette and enjoy!

Banh Mi (Vietnamese Meatball Sandwiches)

YUUUUUM. One of the best things about traveling is street food. While a lot of the places I go for work aren't exactly culinary paradises, from time to time I hit the jackpot. And southeast Asia has the best street food and some of the best food in the world...haven't you noticed a bit of a pattern in the recipes post on this blog? Banh mi is a delicious marriage of Vietnam and France. They're a wonderful use of ground pork (cheap eats), they're flavorful, addictive and if you can find yourself a really good loaf of crusty French bread (not the supermarket stuff) then this becomes one of the best meals on earth...

Not only are these meatballs great in a sandwich, but they're really good with some chicken broth, ginger and some noodles in a soup. I like to make a double batch, freeze extras and use the rest for dumplings.

Meatballs:
1 lb ground pork
1/4 cup finely chopped basil
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 green onions finely chopped
1 TB fish sauce
1 TB sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
salt and pepper
Dark sesame oil

Fixins:
2/3 cup mayo
1 TB chili garlic sauce or another hot sauce
1/3 cucumber, thinly sliced in long strips
Bunch of cilantro
1 large carrot, peeled in ribbons
2 TB sugar
2 TB rice vinegar
Lettuce

1. Start with the fixins, the pickled veggies to go on top. I cheat here and make my own version to soak as I make the meatballs. Combine the sugar and rice vinegar until dissolved. Add a TB of water. Throw in the carrots and mix well. Mix every few minutes as you work on the meatballs.

2. Combine all of the meatball ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well with your hands.

3. Form them into balls - not too big, slightly smaller than a golf ball. They'll be a bit gooey. Put them on a foil lined baking sheet as you go.

4. Heat about 2 TB of sesame oil in a large frying pan. Once it's nice and hot, put your meatballs in and fry away. Turn them every 30 seconds or so to get them nice and brown and caramelized.

5. Do them in batches if you need to. Put them on a plate with paper towels as you go to get rid of the excess oil.

6. Slice your baguette in half. Combine the mayo and chili sauce and put a good coat on both sides of the sandwich.

7. Lay a piece of lettuce. Then a bunch of the pickled carrots. Then some cucumber. Add a few sprigs of cilantro. Then put one layer of meatballs - usually about 3 fit on a good sized sandwich (depending on how hungry you are!!)

You'll never know how you lived without these!!!