3 Ingredient Sloppy Joe's

Sloppy Joe

Great for lunch or a quick dinner. Super easy to make! Yes your non cooking husband and teenage kids can do this! And it's yummy. Taste better than the canned stuff!

1-2 lb hamburger

1 jar of your favorite salsa

1 can condensed tomato soup

Cook the hamburger in a large skillet over medium heat until browned. Drain the grease and return the hamburger to the pan. Add salsa and tomato soup. Continue cooking until thoroughly heated. 

Serve over rolls or bread!

Strawberry Cheesecake Torte

Strawberry Cheesecake Torte

I love this recipe. It came from Pampered Chef. I hosted a party and the salesperson made this! It's just WOW! Perfect for summer and use blueberries instead of kiwi for a little festive 4th of July coloring. Also, don't get overwhelmed by all the Pampered Chef tools listed in the recipe. I don't have them all and still make the cake. Try it out and enjoy!

Strawberry Cheesecake Torte
1 package (16 ounces) pound cake mix (plus ingredients to make cake)
1/2 cup water
1 package (3 ounces) strawberry gelatin
1/4 cup seedless strawberry jam
1 lemon
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup cold milk

1 container (12 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 package (3.4 ounces) cheesecake instant pudding and pie filling
1 kiwi, peeled, sliced and halved
1 cup hulled and sliced strawberries


Preheat oven to 400°F. Line stoneware bar pan with 13-inch piece of parchment paper. Prepare cake mix according to package directions; pour into pan, spreading evenly. Bake 15-18 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean; cool 10 minutes. Carefully lift cake onto cooling rack; cool completely.

In small micro-cooker, microwave water on HIGH 1-2 minutes or until boiling. Add gelatin; stir until dissolved. Add jam; whisk until smooth. Invert cake onto smooth side of large cutting board; remove paper. Prick cake at 1/2-inch intervals. Brush cake evenly with all but 2 tablespoons of the gelatin mixture. Trim 1/4 inch around edge of cake; discard edges. Cut cake crosswise into 3 equal layers.

Zest lemon; set aside. Juice lemon to measure 2 tablespoons juice. In a bowl, combine cream cheese and lemon juice; whisk until smooth. Add milk; whisk until smooth. Spoon whipped topping over cream cheese mixture. (Do not mix.) Sprinkle with pudding mix; mix well. (Mixture will be very thick.)

Place one cake layer on a platter. Attach open star tip to a decorator; fill with filling mixture. Pipe a straight border around edge of cake layer. Place 4 scoops of filling down center; spread evenly to border. Top with second cake layer. Repeat filling as above. For third layer, pipe a decorative border around edge. Spread any remaining filling down center.

Slice kiwi; cut slices in half and arrange on top of cake. Hull strawberries and slice. Place strawberries and reserved gelatin mixture in a bowl; mix gently. (If gelatin mixture has set, microwave on HIGH 5-10 seconds or until softened.) Spoon strawberries over top of cake; sprinkle with reserved lemon zest.

Source: Pampered Chef

Oh my! Cherry pie!

Cherry Pie

4 Cups Cherries

1/2 Cup Sugar

1/4 Cup Flour

1 Tbls Cinnamon

Your Favorite Pie Crust!

Combine cherries, sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a bowl until covered.  Pour into your favorite pie crust.  Cook at 350 for approximately 40-50 minutes until crust is golden brown.

Blueberry Pie

Blueberry Pie

Sweet, yummy and summery.

3 pints of blueberries

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

Pie crust

Place blueberries, sugar and flour in a freezer bag and shake to coat blueberries. Pour into a deep dish 9" pie crust. Cover with a second crust. Poke holes to let the pie breathe. cook at 350 for approximately 40 minutes. Enjoy!

Sausage, Peppers and Onions Oh My!

Super easy and super yummy!

2 packages sweet or hot Italian sausages
2 large onions
3 large bell peppers, any color, I used green orange and yellow
olive oil for sauteeing

Grill your sausages. It really brings the flavor out. In a large saute pan heat upo your oil. Slice all veggies in strips and add to the oil. Heat until tender but not mushy. Pile cooked veggies onto your sauasage and enjoy. Pair with a fresh veggie salad or the Versatile Mac Salad.

Roasted Potatoes

Roasted Potatoes

These are a family favorite! If there are ever leftovers they make great home fries the next day.

8-10 red skinned potatoes (washed and cubed)

1 medium onion

1 Tbl chopped garlic (this is approximate, we love lots)

Italian seasoning

Adobe all season

salt, pepper, paprika

Cayenne or chili pepper powder

In a large frying pan heat oil and saute onions and garlic until soft. Add potatoes and all other ingredients. I didn't write exact amounts because I do it to taste. Sometimes I don't add the cayenne at all. Sometimes I add extra of everything! Cover and cook until potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally. 

Versatile Mac Salad

Versatile Mac Salad

This is probably one of my favorite things to eat. There are so many things you can do with it. I can make mac salad with almost anything in my fridge! Here's one recipe:

1 lb box of cooked elbows (or shells, or penne, what ever you fancy!)

4 hard boiled eggs (diced)

a couple hand fulls of shredded carrots

5-6 baby dill pickles chopped

pickle juice

mayo

Lawry's seasoning

salt, pepper, basil

Seriously I just dump everything in a bowl until it looks good but for the sake of trying to give a better explanation I'm going to guess at amounts, In a large bowl mix together about 1 cup mayo, 1/4 cup pickle juice, and 2 tsp Lawry's seasoning. Add in the eggs, carrots and pickles. Season with salt and pepper. Add a dash or two of the basil for some color. 

I use the same base all the time leaving out the pickle juice if I'm not using pickles. Sometimes I'll substitute with a vinegar and sugar miture. But try these add ins:

Tomatoes and cucumbers

Roasted red peppers and jalapenos and ham

Onions

Celery

Peas, corn, and grilled chicken breast

Pretty much anything you have left over in your fridge

Ribs!

Ribs

Remember the basic maple bbq sauce?  Smother these ribs in it. Add some Montreal steak seasoning, grill on low heat and you have some juicy, tender and delicious ribs! 

If you have time and it's not a hundred degrees in your kitchen wrap the smothered ribs in foil and bake for about 30 minutes before you put them on the grill. This makes them very tender. Use the sauce to baste the ribs every so often on the grill.

Revamped Easy Summer Salad

Revamped Easy Summer Salad

Remember yesterdays pasta dish? Do you have left overs? Try adding mayo, rice vinegar and a few more Italian seasonings.

The rice vinegar gives it a nice tang. We had about a quart size bowl left and I used a few generous splashes of the vinegar and a generous amount of mayo. I added enough seasoning for a little extra flavor and color and voila! A new dish! 

Easy Summer Pasta

Easy Summer Pasta

Want something light and yummy? Try this out! It's not sauce based. It's not really anything based but it has a nice light flavor and we even eat it cold the next day for leftovers.

1lb box of penne pasta

2-3 chopped roma tomatoes if you have them if not try a can of diced tomatoes(I like the seasoned ones)

1 medium zucchini sliced and halved

1 medium yellow squash sliced and halved

1 Tbl chopped garlic

2 tsp Italian Seasoning

Boil your water for your pasta. When you drain it reserve about 1 cup of the water with the pasta. In the meantime heat a large skillet. Add olive oil or butter, garlic, the zucchini and squash and saute` till tender. Add in the tomatoes and Italian seasoning. At this point you should have your cooked pasta and reserved water. Go ahead and add all the pasta and reserved water to the skillet. Gently toss or stir to mix. Enjoy.

Cucumber Tomato Salad

Cucumber Tomato Salad

Cool and delicious!

1 cucmber sliced and quartered

2 roma tomatoes diced

Oregano, salt and pepper to taste

Mix in a bowl and enjoy!

If you like onions a yellow or white one choppec up would be a good addition.

Maple BBQ Chicken

Maple BBQ Chicken

Super Easy! Super Delicious! Can you tell I'm all about quick and easy meals? There is never a night that we aren't cooking for 3 to 7 or 8 kids! Dinner is busy at our house! This is a basic version of Joe's recipe. (He won't tell me all the ingredients!) Not to be worried it's a recipe that progresses. The first time I tried it I used the basic version. Delicious!

Basic Maple BBQ

1 jar of your favorite BBQ sauce

1/2 cup real maple syrup (yes it has to be real or it just doesn't work)

2 Tbs crushed garlic

Brush on your chicken on the grill. Yes it's that easy! Try it and let me know what you think in the comments! oh an added bonus the maple syrup helps keep the chicken from sticking to the grill.

For a less basic version try mixing in your favorite spices and seasonings!

On a side note if you need real maple syrup contact my son @ emisner96@yahoo.com

Carrot Soup

Carrot Soup

This is a sweet soup and so easy to do. Plus lots of vitamin A is found in carrots!

1 bag of baby carrots ( chopped)

4 cups of chicken broth

1 small onion (chopped)

2 Tbs crushed garlic

2 tsp parsley

1 tsp cilantro (optional; I like it my son thinks it tastes like soap!)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup sour cream

In a stock pot saute` onion and garlic until tender. About 4-6 minutes. Add spices, broth and carrots and bring to a good simmer. Simmer until carrots are tender about 25 minutes.

Place soup in a blender, you may need to do this in batches depending on blender size. Puree` till smooth. Put back in the pot add the sour cream and heavy cream continue to heat if needed. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Apple Turnovers

Apple Turnovers

These came about because my uncle used to have us bring him Freihofer's Apple Turnovers whenever we went to visit. Well they stopped making them or at least we can't buy them in our area. So I searched the internet and read 100 recipes and tried making pastry dough and this is what I came up with.

For the filling

*4 apples peeled, cored and cut ( I mix varieties)

*1/2 stick of butter

*Splash of lemon juice

*1/4 cup sugar

*1/4 cup brown sugar

*Cinnamon to taste

Combine all ingredients in a micro-wave safe bowl and nuke on high for about 8 minutes. The apples should be soft and the mixture in the bowl will be juicy. Once the apples are soft use a potato masher to make them into small chunks.

For the dough

This is where I get lazy and buy pastry dough! But feel free to make your own or borrow a friends recipe!

*1 egg and splash milk mixture for brushing on top 

*Sugar for sprinkling 

Roll out your dough so it's about 1/4 inch thick no more than that. Cut into 4x4 squares. Spoon about 3 Tablespoons of filling into each square and close, sealing the edges with a fork. Combine the egg and milk together and brush on top of the closed turnovers. Sprinkle with sugar and bake @ 350 for about 12-15 minutes. The dough should rise and get poofy looking and it will turn a golden brown color to it.

Garden Salad

Fresh Garden Salad

I know right! Who can't make a salad? Well actually, I grew up thinking a salad was iceberg lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes. Well that gets old. So this one was romaine, tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers and then not shown in the pic because I added it after the fact avocado and hard boiled eggs. It was delicious and refreshing. I topped mine with Asiago and garlic dressing!

SO? What goes in your salad?

Grilled Cauliflower

Grilled Cauliflower

So delicious and tender! I can't even believe how good this one came out.

Soak a head of cauliflower in water for about 30 minutes(with the stem and leaves). Drain. Cover the top in butter and Adobo all spice. Wrap in tin foil and set on the grill for about 40 minutes. WOW! 

I'm sure this would work with all sorts of different spices. I started with Adobo because it has good flavor but is fairly mild. I really liked the outcome so I'm sure next time I will try seasonings with a little more pizzazz!

Avocado Wrap

I love avocado's. I will eat a whole one plain for a snack sprinkled with just a bit of salt. It's a new found love. I always enjoyed guacamole but never really had just avocado until about a two years ago. I can't seem to get enough of them when they are in season.

I add avocados to salads, sandwiches, Actually, we hiked yesterday and packed lunch. Tuna, lettuce, tomato and yup avocado on wheat bread. I'm understand they are supposed to be good for you too, so it's good that we enjoy them! You'll find that I'm not necessarily all about the healthiest of eating but I like to enjoy my food so if it doesn't taste good to me I'm probably not going to eat it. That said, I'm not all about processed and pre-packaged food. I like to know what I'm putting in my body. I like ingredients that I see before I process them into something yummy!

So in the picture above was my lunch from the other day. It's not just avocado. It was lettuce, ham, provolone and avocado. And it was so good! I added a little bit of honey mustard and mayo. Just enough for a little extra flavor. It's wrapped in a flour tortilla wrap but you can try the flavored wraps too. Spinach, tomato, wheat, etc. Change it up! Hope you enjoy!

Strawberry Shortcake

As promised...This is one of the cakes I made for the restaurant. It's not too sweet and very yummy! My photos do not do it justice. I've tried it out on pretty much everyone and I haven't had a bad review yet. I say strawberry shortcake because my cake layers don't seem to rise as much as I think they should and the denser layers seem to give it more of a shortcake taste.

I actually saw the recipe on facebook and tried it out. Here is the link to the recipe Courtney Luper Danish Heirloom Cake

I also copied it exactly from her page so you don't have to click so much!




CONNIE'S DANISH HEIRLOOM LAYER CAKE


So Light and moist ~ Not Too Sweet ~Perfect after a heavy meal!!
This recipe is so different from any cake you have ever tasted!! Give it a try....I know you will love it!!

You can Freeze the layers easily and have a picture perfect cake ready at the drop of a hat!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup of sugar
pinch salt
1 egg
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 + 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pint whipping cream - whipped and sweetened with 1 Tbsp. icing sugar
1 - 2 pounds sliced slightly sweetened strawberries - or fruit of choice

Directions:
In a medium bowl, mix together with a whisk or wooden spoon, yogurt, sugar, sour cream, egg, salt, baking soda, baking powder. Add flour and vanilla.
Grease or spray 3 - 9" layer pans and divide batter evenly between pans. (the batter will seem skimpy....but spread as evenly as you can with a spatula in each pan - layers will rise on baking).
Bake at 350 oven (325 if using Convection oven 325 oven) Bake for only 10 - 12 minutes....till Very Light Brown. Cool on racks...and remove from pans with a plastic spatula onto racks to finish cooling as soon as you can handle the cakes.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT over bake!! If not using immediately - put wax paper between layers, cover with plastic and refrigerate or freeze till ready to assemble cake.
Layer cake layers: 1/3 sweetened whipped cream and 1/2 sweetened sliced strawberries, or fruit of choice - then 1/3 sweetened whipped cream and 1/2 berries. Last layer - just sweetened whipped cream. Decorate with berries.
This cake tastes even better the next day and the day after that....if there is any left!! The Trick is Not to Over bake the layers...or it will be dry and not nice and moist.

Baking Hot!

So yesterday was a hot one in my kitchen. After taking my daughter to the orthodontist I scored some london broil and salmon on sale! Figured dinner is served! And then I remembered that I had to bake an apple pie and a strawberry shortcake for one of the restaurants in town.

 I think it was 100 degrees or more in here until about midnight. Of course I had to make double of everything or all the growing boys in the house would have eaten my profit!

Sorry no pictures of dinner :( but it was delicious!

Dinner is Served!
-Grilled steak- I leave this up to Joe. He coats with Montreal Steak Seasoning and we love the flavor and he always cooks it to perfection
-Southwestern spiced Salmon on a grill plank- I didn't have to do anything with this as it was
pre-seasoned
-Breaded and Deep fried Squash and Zucchini
-Potato salad


FLAVOR ALERT!!!!!!!!!
STEAK TOPPING- Sauteed mushrooms and onions-Easy right? I like a little extra flavor... I saute` in butter and then towards the end I add a few splashes of soy sauce and Worcestershire.

Leftovers!- not many but for breakfast I cut up some small pieces of onions, steak and mushrooms and sauteed in a pan with extra home fries I had in the fridge then added 2 eggs and cheese and made a breakfast sandwich for Joe. Would have made a great omelet too!

For his lunch I used steak, some fresh mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, and cheese and made wraps 

I try to stretch and create as much as I can with the leftovers. I cut smaller pieces for the wraps and omelet which still adds all the flavor and fills both items but I can get a couple more omelets for the kids when they wake up this morning and I really only had a few sliced strips of steak left.

I will work on some mouthwatering pics for every post but no promises...  Stay tuned for apple turnovers and strawberry shortcake pics and recipes!

Grilled Sweet Potatoes

Tonight we had a simple dinner since it was only 3 of us eating. Some grilled Polish Keilbasa I got on sale, mac salad and grilled sweet potatoes.

3 ingredients!  Seriously a healthy side doesn't get easier than this!

Sweet Potatoes- I used 1 large one to feed three of us
Olive oil
Brown Sugar

I put tin foil on the grill with a little olive oil drizzled on it to keep the potatoes from sticking.  Cooked unill just about done then added a pinch of brown sugar to both sides till melted. I then placed them directly on the grill to get the grill marks.
Place them on a serving plate and sprinkle with brown sugar for garnish.

Welcome! And please laugh with me as I learn and conquer this blogging thing! This is going to be a lot about food and maybe a little about family and friends (because all 3 go hand in hand)!

A friend of mine whom I met in the corporate world has been pushing me to do this for quite sometime. I finally took the jump as I find myself unemployed and in the kitchen a lot more the last couple weeks.

Cooking is a passion for me. I don't know all the slang and politically correct terms you hear on the cooking shows. What I do know is I love food. My family loves food. It brings us together. I love to cook to make people happy. When someone is smiling because they just ate something I made it makes me happy.

We love homey feel good food and sometimes I like to try new things with words I can't pronounce. Food is fun. And baking! Oh baking! Nothing smells as good as fresh baked bread or cinnamon rolls or....never mind you get the point.

So please join my journey, try my recipes, and most of all enjoy!

P.S. Forgive my photos as we start out. My goal will be to make you want to grab the food from the computer, however, that will take some time!