Sloppy Joe and Cornbread Bake

The inspiration for this receipe came mainly from two things. The first being I've been on the hunt for quick & great tasting recipes and came across Sloppy Joes in my cookbook du jour; The Best 30-Minute Recipes by the Editors of Cook's Illustrated.

Secondly, incorporating cornbread, which I both love and was stolen from another recipe, Skillet Tamale Pie which was on the page before. After I read the Skillet Tamale recipe, I knew it wasn't for me but I liked that it was topped and baked with cornbread. And so the journey begins...

The Sloppy Joe's: I use the recipe from America's Test Kitchan as a base but modified it by using ground turkey. I also added more of slightly heaping 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder, because I wasn't adding in the Tabasco. Additionally I added a tad more garlic & brown sugar. Just make sure the sloppy joes aren't too dry as you'll want some good moisture to go with the cornbread.

The Cornbread: I've made tons of cornbread from scratch and quite frankly, I still find myself going back to the Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix. It's cheap, fast and I love the flavor as it's a sweeter mix and goes well with the robust sloppy joe's.

The recipe is simple.

1) Make your favorite sloppy joes.
2) Put the hot sloppy joe mixture into a 9x9 baking pan
3) Make your favorite cornbread mix.
(A box of Jiffy Cornbread Mix works well).
4) Bake according to cornbread directions
(usually takes a little less time so watch it carefully)
5) Enjoy!

It turned out AWESOME! We liked it so much I'm going to make it in bulk and freeze some 2-portion containers for weeknight meals.

Spring 07 Roma/Plum Tomato Harvest

I got yelled at for not posting any pictures of the garden... These Pictures say it all! These were taken May 22, 2007. If you want a larger view... just click on the pictures.

The Bottle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil was part of a Christmas gift from my sister Denise!

Anyone have any really great unique AND delicious Tomato Recipe's?? We have plenty of Basil and Parsley (and Chives & Sage & Tarragon & Rosemary ...) growing too!

This plant was one for the record books! It grew out of a compost pile that I had started earlier last year. Combine that with added extra composting of egg shells, tea and coffee.

And for those of you who complained... guess you need to come Florida if you want to taste them!

And String Beans Too!!

Spitzad - Zucchini, Onions, Tomatoes & Yellow Squash

This is one of those great summer dishes that I would like to share. My mother made this dish a lot in the summer while growing up and it's one of the few vegtables dishes that Mark actually loves. I'm not really sure how it's spelled, so I spelled it like it's sounds.

It's great to make when the bounty of tomatoes, zucchini and squashes are at their peak. It's definitly versatile allowing for many variations. It's an excellent side dish. It goes great over rice and with pasta.

Get the frying pan going over med-high heat. Add 2-4 tablespoons of your favorite oil. Start with the onions, then zucchini/squash and finally the tomatoes. As you cut them, put them directly into the hot frying pan and let them start cooking in the oil. After vegetables are done, chop up herbs to your liking and add to vegetables reserving some for the end. Add salt and pepper to your taste cover and stir every 15 minutes or so. Keep it covered, allowing some steam to escape, but let it retain some of it's juices, especially when serving it over rice. After about 40 minutes or until veggies are cooked, remove from heat and sprinkle with cheese reserving about tablespoons. Mix gently and top off with reserve cheese. The basic recipe consists of:

1 med Zucchini sliced into 1" pieces
1 med Yellow Squash
- sliced into 1" pieces
1 med-large onion cut in 1/2
- cut into 1/2" verticle slices
3 cups of tomatoes
- quartered
4 tbsp Fresh Basil chopped
3 tbsp Fresh Italian Parsley chopped
1 tbsp italian seasoning (dried)
1 cup of grated cheese, parm. reggiano, locatelli, etc all work well.

Use any combination of herbs you want. I found that the dried Italian Seasoning works well when used with fresh herbs.

The day I made this, I used 2 green squash (in picture above) and 2 yellow squash, one very large "sweet" onion and about 3/12/ cups of tomatoes. It also refrigerates very well and never tried freezing it. For it's simplicity, you gain something that is very healthy and tasteful. I like to serve it with a my egg & cheese pasta, but that's for another time.

Skillet Lasagna

On a recent episode of America's Test Kitchen, they demonstrated an effective method of making Lasagna on the stove in one pan, hence, skillet Lasagna. After watching the episode (and specifically this segment) a second time, I was off to the store to gather up the ingredients. Even though I love lasagna, it can be quite the time consuming process to put together! (Nothing still beats a lasagna layered with homemade pasta sheets!) I used the Barilla lasagna sheets but they used regular lasagna noodles in the show.

I think Mark will agree with me, this dish came out absolutley delicious! It made so much that I was even able to freeze some for a future meals! The recipe is available on the America's Test Kitchen website. If you are looking for a fairly quick way to make a very tasty lasagna, I highly recommend this recipe! Finire di mangiare! (Eat Up!)

A Favorite Winter Dinner

Sweet Potatoes, Apples & Onions with Chicken-Apple Sausage

This was so good, I thought I'd share! I whipped this up pretty quick tonight while I was on the phone with Dee. (Love and Miss you!)

I also made an awesome variation of the classic mac 'n cheese, which I will also share!





More To Come . . .

Smothered Pork Chops - Picante Style

After buying some very nice butterflied boneless pork chops, to just season and throw them into the oven just wasn't going to happen. So I opened the refrigerator, started pulling stuff out and the following was the end result. This dish was so good, it has become a favorite at the dinner table. And personally, I think it's very easy to make as it cooks and cleans up beautifully in my Le Creuset.

The sauce that is left on the bottom is so delicious that I will freeze it or use it for something else. I had made roasted chicken the next night and we used it to pour over the rice.

I was going to take the pork out of the pot to plate them and snap some pictures. However, I decided to just snap the picture as they were. This shows you exactly what they looked like when I took them off the stove. I usually serve this with plain white rice and a vegetable. It would also work well with potatoes.

Some Notes on the Recipe:

Pork - If I need to sear one at a time, I reserve them on a plate to trap any of the flavorful juices that escape. Boneless chicken breast work well too.

Oil - I use a blend of Olive/Canola oil.

Wine - You can certainly use red wine in a pinch. The white I use is generally on the dryer side and don't hesitate to use less if desired. You can certainly substitute chicken or beef stock.

Salsa - I like using Pace Picante Sauce because it is nice and chunky. Picante means hot in Spanish but we use the mild version. I also like using Cha chi's Mango Salsa. Using a "sweeter" salsa/picante sauce is a preferential taste, which I think adds another layer of flavor to this dish. You can substitute sugar for the Splenda.

Here's the recipe:

Smothered Pork Chops - Picante Style
Servings: 2

2 Boneless Pork chops
2 Tbsp Cooking oil, more if needed
2/3 Cup White Wine
1 1/2 Cups Pace Picante
2 Packs of Splenda

Place salsa in small mixing bowl, add splenda. Mix well and set aside.
Heat oil over medium-high heat. Quickly sear/brown pork chops on both sides, one at a time if necessary. Remove from pot.

Being very careful as this will splatter, slowly pour wine into the pot and deglaze. Allow alcohol to evaporate. Place pork chops back into pot including any juices that escaped. They may overlap if needed.

Spoon all the salsa/picante sauce over chops. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cover loosley. Cook 20 minutes, less if pork is thinner, longer if thicker.

Serve Immediately.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

If you like peanut butter and jelly then you will probably love these. I made these last weekend and they were so delicious. The recipe comes from Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network, another one of my TIVO favorites. My only advice is not to be tempted to cut them early as they will totally fall apart. (Take it from experience). I let them cool about 3 hours and then I put them in refrigerator. They condense the longer you let them sit and cool. Oh, and I use 1 1/3 cups of sugar. You can probably get away with using even less or substituting some splenda. Enjoy!

Click Here for the link to the recipe:

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups (18 ounces) creamy peanut butter (recommended: Skippy)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 cups (18 ounces) raspberry jam or other jam
2/3 cups salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch cake pan. Line it with parchment paper, then grease and flour the pan.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light yellow, about 2 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the vanilla, eggs, and peanut butter and mix until all ingredients are combined.

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture. Mix just until combined.

Spread 2/3 of the dough into the prepared cake pan and spread over the bottom with a knife or offset spatula. Spread the jam evenly over the dough. Drop small globs of the remaining dough evenly over the jam. Don't worry if all the jam isn't covered; it will spread in the oven. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts and bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown. Cool and cut into squares.

Yield: 24 bars.