Sloppy Joe Casserole

Made this for some friends who DEVOURED it! also shared with my sister who substituted a lb of ground turkey instead of beef and added an extra can of mexicorn - Jack and my sister also loved it! Got the recipe from Pillsbury.com Didn't mine turn out purdy?!

INGREDIENTS

1	lb. lean ground beef
1/2	cup sliced green onions
1	(15.5-oz.) can sloppy joe sandwich sauce
1	(11-oz.) can Green Giant® Mexicorn® Whole Kernel Corn, Red and Green Peppers, undrained
1	(6-oz.) can Pillsbury® Grands!® Jr. Golden Layers® refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

DIRECTIONS

1.	Heat oven to 375°F. In large skillet, brown ground beef with onions; drain. Stir in sandwich sauce and corn. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally.
2.	Spoon mixture into ungreased 1 to 1 1/2-quart casserole. Separate dough into 5 biscuits; cut each in half. Arrange, cut side down, around outside edge of hot mixture with sides of biscuits touching.
3.	Bake at 375°F. for 15 to 20 minutes or until biscuits are deep golden brown.

Love and delicious casseroles,
J

Happy 2010!

Wow, in a flurry of lazy days (I've been slightly sick since Christmas!) I have had recently, I feel like I have a million things I want to remember.

Firstly, WAC. it's a party I have almost annually (skipped last year due to the Wednesday after Christmas being new years eve and I wasn't up for that kind of pressure!) was actually more of a small gathering than a party. No one attends my parties anymore. I blame it on: lack of communication with the outside world on a daily basis on my part, and not making a facebook event until the day before (even though I told people to save the date because I was indeed going to continue the tradition. ) But all of the people there were people I wanted to spend time with, so that was indeed special and good. We made cheap champagne toasts to Ben and Sofie's engagement, drank sangria and Bailey's milkshakes, played a wine trivia game on and off and just hung out.

Secondly, New Year's Eve. (unofficially Date 2 :) )Drink of the night: Amaretto sour. yummm! What I remember most is being extremely cold. All dressed up and kept my coat on the whole time. We went to Emporia so Andrew could spend time with his friend Kyle and so we could marvel at silly new year's eve flirtations. Looked at in pieces, without the new year's kiss, it was at the most, decent. But add that five minutes right before and after midnight, and it was absolutely wonderful. My first new year's kiss! and he made it a good one! Complete with him dipping me while standing right under the balloon drop! (and about 30 seconds before new years he may have almost poked out my eye with his top hat we borrowed from one of my roomies!) and then I kissed two more boys on the cheek, got a plastic cup of champagne, and bent down to pick up a balloon. A bouncer walked by and made some comment about 'more than a new year's kiss!' He was thinking I was bending down for some other less innocent reason than getting a balloon!

New years day and resolutions: I haven't thought these through yet! My most basic are to look good in a swimsuit and all of the new fancy clothes I will buy to get a new fancy job after I graduate as soon as possible! (which will probably be at the end of June instead of the planned May! boo! )

Run a few 5ks

Stay with him until at least summer as per his request and my hope so that we can enjoy some quality Lake of the Ozarks time.

Take care of my friends and relationships more. (dating him has realized how much I can give and support if I just pay attention to what a person needs. Whether it be something simple like a carabiner when they need one (I have too much stuff and love giving away all the crap - especially when it was free!) - or something more valuable - like a listening ear at the right time.) This includes mostly him, my close friends, and my family.

Church activities? Maybe concentrate more on the service activities the church next to my house does - rather than the masses that I rarely attend. And keep going, if I can, to the bible study with my friend RT

Spend more time with kids - mostly cousins. whenever possible.

allow myself to be goofy and do things like make pyramids of snow! (this pyramid was gorgeous for a while, and has now been peed on. Why yes, I do live in a college town!)

Cook more.

And things not having to do with holidays...

I'm reading too many books and am racking up some library fees! I'm still reading Julie and Julia - which is hillarious and light hearted and makes me want to cook!

I also have some good cookbooks I want to dive into! Joy of cooking and Julia Child's Mastering the art of French cooking!

Yesterday I made this basic rice thing I make a lot.

Delicious Chicken, rice, veggie Goop

• Bag of frozen veggies (I prefer California mix of caul, broc, carrots)
• Minute rice
• Cream of Chicken
• Spices (optional)
• canned chicken (optional)

Steam veggies

make rice (minute rice works great)

drain veggies

stir all together in whichever of your pots is bigger.

Wonderfully easy, delicious, filling, and cheap! Makes great leftovers.

Hope your 2010 has been beautiful so far and will continue to be filled with happy thoughts.

Love and great holidays,
J

A few recipes!

Rotten Strawberry recipes.

Is what I google searched from my work at a deli sandwich restaurant. The fresh fruit was not fresh and I was determined not to waste it. So I purchased a large serving of rotten fruit for about .50cents and went home to make the first thing that popped up on google. It was deliciously simple and made my house smell amazing! I recommend it and will make it again.

Rotten Strawberries and Banana Bread

SERVES 8 , 1 loaf (the best ones I did were today (1/8/10, in jumbo muffin pan!))

• 1/2 cup butter (regular or low fat)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups flour (can use half wheat and half white)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup banana (use rotten bananas- mashed)
• 3/4 cup strawberry (use rotten strawberries- mashed)
• 2 eggs
• nuts (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream together stick butter (low fat or regular) and sugar in a large minxing bowl.
3. Mix in flour.
4. Sift together the baking soda and salt.
5. Mix this into the bowl.
6. Mash the bananas and strawberries together until you have 1 1/2 cups combined. *Can use just 1 1/2 cups bananas.
7. Mix thoroughly all ingredients.
8. Add two eggs and mix.
9. Add nuts if desired, mix.
10. Pour into a loaf pan (or muffin tins), bake anywhere from 40 minutes to 1 hour (depending on oven). Keep watch on the bread, make sure it gets finished but don't let it get overdone.

In mine, the muffins I made worked tons better. I recommend spraying the pan with Pam or something to lessen the mess or use cupcake liners. The bread I made didn't cook all the way through because I filled it too full (would leave about an 3/4 inch at top of pan next time) I had to empty out the loaf onto a cooking sheet and cook for 10 or so minutes extra. ended up just being chunks of still delicious, but not as pretty bread!

I've also been sick lately and made a lot of this classic soup! so simple and delicious! multiply this for more servings!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

• 2 c chicken broth (or 1 can)
• veggies (I like chopping up carrots and celery - but anything will do- even flimsy celery works!)
• black pepper
• small can of chicken
• egg noodles (I prefer a lot!)

1. pour broth into saucepan and heat on high
2. cut up veggies and add a few generous shakes of black pepper
3. when it boils, add noodles and chicken
4. cook until noodles are tender (it won't be long! egg noodles cook fast!)

The veggies and chicken are optional - it still tastes good with just broth, pepper, and noodles - but it sure is delicious with them! I also use egg noodles a lot to 'beef up' other premade soups - like chicken noodle from a can or even Ramen! it works with so many things because they only take a few minutes to cook and they are SO cheap!

Love, successful cooking and good smells,J

Today I received an awesome book. Julia and Julia. (Thanks Danielle!) The book that the movie was based on. Already loving it and yes, it just mentioned Joy of Sex, a book I bought as a gift for someone at this time last year! And it mentioned The Joy of Cooking, another cookbook that I have recently acquired.

"Maybe I should be a part of something that was not easy, just simple. "

I want to make Julia Child's recipe - Potage Parmentier - potato leek soup.

I've spent the last two hours perusing 'The Joy of Cooking' and deciding on what to attempt to cook.

Thing one: Artichokes (page 257)

steamed. with butter or hollandaise sauce.

hollandaise the easy way - put 3 egg yolks, 2T lemon juice, pinch of cayenne, and 1/4 t. salt in a blender. heat but dont brown 1/2 c of butter.

(edit 1/2/10 : done! made 3 artichokes over the last week - the first just with melted butter and the next two with melted butter mixed with fresh garlic, italian seasoning, black pepper, parsley, salt, paprika and some other random spices made by him - it was SOOO GOOD !)

Thing two: Broccoli

soak heads for 10 minutes.

flip.

boil covered.. in 2 in - so you steam the heads not the stalks.

Thing three: Game.?!?! Squirrel. Opossum. etc. Just kidding. This chapter made me sad. Grey squirrels are better and should be served with walnut Catsup. Opossums should be trapped and fed cereal and milk, Lucky Charms perhaps?, to enhance their flavor.

Thing four: Sweet Potato Waffles(217) and other potato dishes

sweet potatoes, eggs, milk, crisco, flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and a waffle iron. yum.

baked potatoes (293) wash, grease with butter, cook 40 minutes @425 degrees . puncture each with fork 20 minutes in.

Thing Five: Crepes Suzette. (213) Not sure about the suzette sauce yet - but

3 eggs

2T flour

1T H20

1T milk

pinch of salt

stir a lot. leave in fridge at least 3 hours or overnight.

put butter in a skillet until it bubbles then add paste very thin across pan. keep pan moving and cook for a minute. flip and turn it a lot. fold the cake twice into triangles.

stack crepes between foil or wax paper and reheat later in sauce.

Other gifts I have received include soap and chapstick (fancy yummy smelling kind!) from Lily along with a gorgeous artful card! A beautiful Japanese-ish necklace from Brenna, because of a shirt I really enjoy wearing that it will match. and an old fashioned butter dish from scott. and berry infused vodka a la Sarah! My roomies are so awesome!

Love and good recipes,
J

Roasted Sweet potatoes etc.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

adapted from here

need:

• salt
• 2 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch-thick rounds

make: Preheat oven 450°F with rack in upper third.

mix garlic with oil and 3/4 teaspoon salt

Toss sweet potatoes with garlic oil in a large bowl, then spread in 1 layer in a 15-by 10-inch shallow baking pan.

Bake until golden in patches and cooked through, 20 to 30 minutes.

Blender Bottle Pudding

recipe from Becka and Jack

need:
pudding mix

2 c milk

make

put ingredients in one of these:

and shake for 2 min. follow directions on box.

I added vanilla protein powder.

YUM!

Love and good food, Happy Thanksgiving break,
J

Pork Chops.

So when I went to Chicago(btw, just added pics to that post finally!) to visit the sofie, I made them porkchops and Dara (the one already starting in on her chops before everyone else!) enjoyed them so much she just called me for the recipe! It's super simple and I thought I would share it here!

Acquire your desired amount of pork chops, lawry's seasoning salt, flour, cream of mushroom soup, and applesauce

combine some flour and Seasoning salt on a plate and cover the meat.
brown both sides in a skillet
add cream of mushroom (enough to cover the pork chops) and let sit for an hour. (I usually check it every once in a while to make sure the cream of mushroom is still covering the 'chops so they don't dry out.)

Serve with applesauce. (no really, sounds weird.. but dipping the chops in applesauce is an AMAZING combo!)

I also made mashed potatoes with it but it goes really well with any kind of vegetable side! (I've also used steamed veggies with lawry's seasoning salt on them -- which is also one of my favorite snacks in general!)

Love, cooking, and pork chops,
J

a pretty good monday.

Sitting at my kitchen table at home (the home I grew up in and one that rarely feels as such lately.) But when I woke up this morning (ok, I admit.. this afternoon) There was a bowl of grapes and all the best parts of the KC Star separated out for me. and it felt like home.

I know I make resolutions at the beginning of all things new. but I've made one this morning for 1247 1/2. (the house I will move into soon for this next school year. where I'll be living with people who are basically strangers.) I resolve to have open honest communication with all of them. to never go to bed mad at one of them. and to make them one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner per month. It might be waffles or just some fresh fruit for breakfast. simple sandwiches for lunch or maybe some JDel, and probably a classic one of my recipes (hamburger soup, pork chops etc) for dinner. something simple, but I think they will appreciate it. And I think if we all make an effort to make each others lives better, and not just our own.. then it will be a home.

Free video on itunes right now - I'm only 26 seconds into it and I like it. It's Brooke White (who I believe was on American Idol) singing Radio Radio

I like.

I also am really liking Pandora, I should get my own account because I'm still using someone else's who signed in on my computer. When we were in Apron Strings (a cutesy kitchen store in Hutch, KS) they were playing Pandora - a station made of songs similar to Duffy

I'm still watching this video - I love the imagery. It's bright and summery and I love the part where she's running and dancing. I so do that :) when no one is watching! haha that's why I like running in the dark or not on the street :)

Also. Today is a big day. I'm wearing an AGD shirt for the first time since I officially quit. It seems little, but half my wardrobe disappeared into storage that day, and I'm finally being okay with wearing it again.

Love, newspapers, grapes, and music,
J

Morning:Finals are this week. I'm worried but not doing anything about it. Instead I did laundry and made mini meatloaves. which turned out pretty okay - considering I had no clue what I was doing.

Last night I had real conversation w/ CG and RA It was the first time in a loong time that I have had a real conversation about real things in the hopes that that conversation will help us understand others and make life better.

Happy mother's day. I love my mom.

I'm so tired right now, mentally more than physically.

Afternoon:

Just got about 5 good hours of studying in. feel accomplished but I'm not even close to done! gonna head downtown to study for a few hours. how's your day been?
Love and studying,
J
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Trips to costco are amazing. I still have pasta and tomatoes and pineapple and cheese and strawberries and such and that is quite enough to make many recipes. today i used some of the big pack of pasta and made this cheese sauce, it was absolutely delicious!


2 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 c. milk

Grated cheese

1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce(optional, I didn't use it)


In microwave proof bowl or 1 quart measure pitcher:
melt the butter. Stir in flour. Add salt and pepper.Stir in milk. Microwave on high until mixture comes to a boil and thickens, stir every minute. Takes about 4 to 5 minutes. Add grated cheese and Worcestershire sauce, stir