Pioneer Woman's Sloppy Joes

This week on The Pioneer Woman's show on the Food Network she made sloppy joes. I had been thinking lately that sloppy joes seemed like an easy dinner to make one night after a busy day at work, and had been thinking about picking up some Manwich, but after watching The Pioneer Woman make them from scratch I thought I can do that! And I had almost all of the ingredients on hand, just needed to pick up some ground turkey and a bell pepper.

What's great about this recipe is that you can season it to taste. I used a little more Worcestershire Sauce to give it a little more tang. It took a little more time than Manwich because it needed to simmer on the stove for about 15 mins, but it gave me time to clean up the kitchen before dinner was even done. That is kind of my goal, to have a clean kitchen before dinner is finished cooking so that there is no clean up after dinner. Don't you just hate looking at a messy kitchen right after you had enjoyed a great meal. What a buzz kill! :)

I also fixed some steak fries. I just cut up some potatoes (leaving the peel on) into fry like sticks, drizzled with a little olive oil, and then sprinkled some steak seasoning, salt and pepper and baked at 400 degrees until crispy. This took like 30 - 40 mins. I didn't really time it, just kept an eye on it until they looked like fries.

Pioneer Woman's Sloppy Joes
Original recipe here
Makes about 3-4 medium sized sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 1 pound Ground Beef or Turkey (I used turkey)
• 1 whole Large Green Bell Pepper, Diced
• 2 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 cup Ketchup
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1 Heaping Tablespoon Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Dry Mustard
• Worcestershire Sauce, To Taste (I used about 4 or 5 shakes)
• Tabasco Sauce, To Taste (I used about 2 or 3 shakes)
• Salt, To Taste
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
• Kaiser Rolls

Directions:

Add ground beef/turkey to a dutch oven over medium high heat. Cook until brown. Drain most of the fat and discard.

Add green pepper and garlic. Cook for a few minutes, or until vegetables begin to get soft.

Add ketchup, brown sugar, chili pepper, dry mustard, and water. Stir to combine and simmer for 15 minutes, adding salt and pepper to taste. Also add Worcestershire and Tabasco if desired. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Spoon meat mixture over the rolls and enjoy!

Chocolate Beef Stew

Chocolate Beef Stew you say?!? Anytime there is chocolate for dinner I am all for it!

A few years ago Sandra Lee had a Valentine's Day segment on Semi-Homemade that used chocolate as the special ingredient for her Valentine's Day dinner. She had a recipe for chocolate beef stew, and chocolate vinaigrette for salad. I recreated this meal for my girlfriends one year since we were all single that year for Valentine's Day. Everyone loved the beef stew (the chocolate vinaigrette was a little strange), and so this recipe has become one of my staples, and a staple for some of my friends as well!

It's such a super easy recipe that you can quickly put in the crock pot and enjoy later in the day. It’s a great recipe for busy families. It's also a great conversation starter to tell your guests they are eating chocolate for dinner!

A couple of things to note:

1. This does not taste at all like chocolate, so I hope that doesn't disappoint anyone.

2. You use unsweetened cocoa (or bittersweet chocolate like the original recipe, I just substituted cocoa since that is what I had on-hand), so it is not sweet at all...just very savory!

3. The red wine and the chocolate help to make a nice rich sauce for the beef stew and make the dish very flavorful!

This recipe is just something you have to try and is a very easy, but impressive dish to serve to your dinner guests! Just tell them they are having chocolate for dinner and I bet you they will RSVP right away!

Enjoy with a glass of red wine!

Chocolate Beef Stew
Inspired by Sandra Lee

Ingredients:

• 1.5-2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
• Salt
• Ground black pepper
• Garlic and herb seasoning (or you could use steak seasoning, whatever you have on hand)  
• 1 small package of baby carrots
• 3 cups diced red potatoes
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 2 tbs unsweetened cocoa (original recipe called for bittersweet chocolate, but this worked fine)
• 1 (14-ounce) can low-sodium beef broth
• 1 cup red wine, preferably Merlot

Directions:

Place beef in slow cooker. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and seasonings.

Please note that Sandra Lee seasoned the beef and then seared on all sides before putting into the crock pot. Please also note that I am not Sandra Lee, so I skipped this step and it worked fine. If you have the time feel free to sear away, it is supposed to help lock in the juices or something like that. My version was still very juicy, so I say do whatever you have time to do :) 

Add the carrots, potatoes and tomatoes (I included the juice). Then add in the beef broth, red wine, some more seasonings and the cocoa. Stir the seasonings in a bit and then cover and cook on HIGH setting for 6 to 8 hours. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve hot. Enjoy!



Pork Chops with Cherry Salsa

It's Cherry season! If you haven't picked up some fresh cherries at the market I highly suggest you do so now. They are super fresh and at a good price this time of year. Then you can make Pork Chops with Cherry Salsa.

This is a great sweet and savory meal and is super easy to make. I just drizzled some EVOO and sprinkled some salt and pepper on pork chops and then baked in the oven for about 25-30 mins. While the pork chops were baking I whipped up this easy recipe for cherry salsa which took all of maybe 5-8 mins. The hardest part I'll admit was pitting all of the cherries, but even that didn't take too much time. AND, you can always snack on some delicious cherries while you are pitting them...bonus! :)

The cherry salsa was super tasty. I wanted to just eat it right from the bowl with a spoon! I think you could do a lot with this cherry salsa, so even if you don't like pork, spoon it over chicken, or use on top of bread for a unique bruschetta. Or it might even be good on beef, the possibilities are endless!

Pork Chops with Cherry Salsa
From Iowa Girl Eats

Ingredients:

• 1 lb cherries, pitted & roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup minced red onion
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 pork chops (or chicken)
• extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Drizzle some EVOO and sprinkle some salt and pepper on both sides of the pork chops. Bake at 375 for 25 - 30 mins.

2. While the pork chops are baking, mix up your salsa. Combine cherries, red onion, lemon juice, basil, balsamic vinegar, honey, and salt in a bowl. Place into the refrigerator until ready.

3. Let the pork chops rest for 5 minutes before topping with fresh cherry salsa.

4. Enjoy!

I could actually eat this salsa straight out of this bowl, and I might have done just that! :)

Dr Pepper Spicy Pulled Pork

Happy Monday! I made this recipe last week and it was so delish that I want everyone to make this for dinner sometime this week! It's just THAT good!

This recipe comes from The Pioneer Woman, and it's a really easy crock-pot recipe. I have actually made this a couple of times, and each time we comment on how we need to make this more often.

I ended up buying a 6.5 lb pork shoulder, which I thought was going to be way to much meat for 2 people. We ended up killing all of this off in about 3 days. Now please note we did eat this for lunch and dinner each of those days, but we did not mind eating these left-overs because they were so tasty. We ate it plain with veggies, then on a bun as a sandwhich, and then mixed it with BBQ sauce (this was my favorite!), so we mixed it up a little bit. I also wanted to make tacos out of it, but we ran out of meat and didn't get a chance :( Next time for sure!

This recipe can be very spicy, so I used about half of the suggested Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce. You can buy these in 7 oz cans in the mexican section of your grocery store (in the actual authentic mexican section, not the taco section) and I used one 7 oz can instead of the suggested 11 oz of peppers. I also removed all of the onions that were mixed with the peppers due to dealing with an onion allergy in the family.

Even without the onions this was still very flavorful and by cutting the peppers back by half, it had just the right amount of spicyness. The adobo sauce helps to make the pork kind of smokey. The BBQ sauce really took it over the top and I would definitly include that in the future. Also, I ended up cooking mine in the crock pot instead of cooking in the oven like the original recipe. I put it in the crock pot before leaving for work and came home to the house smelling oh so good!

Dr Pepper Spicy Pulled Pork

From The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

• 1 whole Large Onion (I omitted this due to an allergy)
• 1 whole Pork Shoulder ("pork Butt") - 5 To 7 Pounds (I used a 6.5 lb roast)
• Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1 can (11 Ounce) Chipotle Peppers In Adobo Sauce (I only used one 7 oz can to cut down on some of the spicyness)
• 2 cans Dr. Pepper (or a 20 oz bottle will suffice, I did NOT use Diet either BTW)
• 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

Directions:

Peel the onion and cut it into wedges. Lay them in the bottom of your crock pot (please note I did not include the onions due to an allergy). Generously salt and pepper the pork roast, then set it on top of the onions in the pan. Pour the can of chipotle peppers over the pork (include the sauce.) Pour in both cans of Dr Pepper (or a 20 oz bottle). Add brown sugar to the juice and stir in.

Plug in your crockpot, turn on low and go about your day. Check meat after 6 - 8 hours; it should be absolutely falling apart (use two forks to test.) If it's not falling apart, continue to cook for another hour.

Remove meat from pot and place on a cutting board or other work surface. Use two forks to shred meat, discarding large pieces of fat. Strain as much of the fat off the top of the cooking liquid as you can and discard it. Return the shredded meat to the cooking liquid, and keep warm until ready to serve.

Enjoy and try not to fight over the left-overs!

In other news....

I am a single puppy parent to these three this week! It's going to be a wild week, so let's hope they don't outsmart me and lock me in a closet or something by the end of the week! So far they have been fighting with each other on who gets to cuddle next to me on the couch. Oh to have so much love!!



Caprese Chicken

I absolutely love caprese salads. Fresh mozzarella is one of my favorite cheeses, and pair it with some tomatoes and fresh basil, and I am in love. It's like the perfect summer food!

I saw a couple of similar recipes online a few weeks ago, and wanted to take my spin on it by making this favorite salad into a dinner entree. This recipe is very simple, takes only a few ingredients that you probably already have on-hand, and is very flavorful. I used olive oil, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning to season the chicken. I then baked the chicken, but you could grill it as well. The olive oil helps to keep the chicken moist, and the Italian seasoning gives the chicken a nice fresh flavor. Add on the tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil and it's like summer on a plate!

Caprese Chicken

Ingredients:

*Please note that I don't have exact measurements because this is such a simple recipe. You can make it for 1 person, or a family of 4. Just determine how much chicken you will need for each person.

-- Chicken breasts (I used chicken tenders, so I used 2 per serving)

-- Olive oil

-- Salt and pepper to taste

-- Italian seasoning to taste

-- Tomatoes (1-2 slices per piece of chicken)

-- Fresh mozzarella (1-2 med slices per piece of chicken)

-- Basil leaves (1-2 large leafs per piece of chicken)

Directions:

Pour a small amount of olive oil over the chicken breast to coat. Sprinkle each side with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning to taste. Bake in the oven at 350 for 20 - 25 mins (depending on the size of your chicken breast). You could also grill your chicken if you preferred.

Once completely cooked, place your chicken on a plate and layer with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. You can then place back into the oven under the broiler for a few mins to let the fresh mozzarella to melt just slightly. Then before serving place a few large basil leaves on top of the chicken and enjoy!!

Bowtie Lasagna

I found this recipe on The Pioneer Woman's blog a while ago, and this has become one of my favorite go-to, easy pasta dishes. It is so simple and easy to make, but yet has the taste of a more complex comfort food. It's like eating lasagna, but only takes half the time and a lot less prep! It also tastes really good as leftovers and I think it might even taste better the next day. You totally need to try this, and you can make it somewhat healthy by using ground turkey and low-fat sour cream and cheese. If you try it, let me know what you think. You might become addicted to this recipe like I am!

Bowtie Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 1 pound Ground Turkey (or beef, chuck, whatever you prefer)
• 5 cups Bow Tie Noodles
• 3 cups Spaghetti Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• ½ teaspoons Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
• ½ cups Mozzarella Cheese
• ½ cups Sour Cream (I used low-fat)

Directions:
Brown ground turkey in small pan. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions.

After noodles are cooked, drain and drizzle with olive oil. Mix in your spaghetti sauce.

Add ground turkey, seasonings, cheese, and sour cream. Fold together and allow all to combine and melt together, over low heat, for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Serve with extra cheese on top if desired (of course why wouldn't you!)

Enjoy!

Product Review: Whole Foods Black Cherry BBQ Sauce

Last night, during yoga class none the less, I was thinking about what I was going to make for dinner. Not really what I should be doing in yoga class, but what ya gonna do. I really didn't feel like grilling out the steak and veggies I was planning on cooking, but yet really didn't want to eat a bowl of cereal either. I suddenly remembered the BBQ sauce I picked up at Whole Foods a month ago, and thought, yea, quick and easy dinner.

I have a major love of BBQ sauce. I love all kinds, although I really prefer the ketchup based sauces as opposed to the vinegar based sauces. One of my biggest goals is to try BBQ from all over the country. I have so far tried it in North Carolina and Tennessee.

I saw the Neely's make a cherry BBQ sauce a while ago on their show Down Home with the Neely's and thought some day I needed to try it. When I came across this Black Cheery BBQ sauce at Whole Foods, I immediatly put it in my cart, even with the $4.99 price tag.

This BBQ sauce is so thick and rich. It has a slight cherry flavor to it, but really it's just so sweet and smokey flavored. The first ingredient in it is black cherry puree, and then ketchup, brown sugar, brown mustard, sugar, lemon juice, liquid smoke and cinnamon. 

So far this has to be my favorite sauce, and unfortunatly I think it might be a seasonal item. I'll have to go back to Whole Foods and pray they still have some in stock and buy all that I can. If you get a chance, do pick some up. I just put a chicken breast in a pie dish, poured some BBQ sauce all over it, and then baked in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes. Along with some fresh corn on the cob, it was quick, easy and very tastey!