Kora's Sloppy Joes

Kora's Sloppy Joes
     This recipe came from a family friend. 10/10 would recommend.

2 lbs. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1/2 c. celery

2 TB vinegar
2 tsp. lemon juice
3 tsp. worcestershire sauce
2 Tb brown sugar
ketchup to taste
1//2 tsp. prepared mustard
1 1/4 tsp. salt, pepper

     Brown and mix beef, onion, and celery. Drain extra fat and juices from mixture. Add additional ingredients to meat and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve on buns.

Note: For more versatility this recipe can be altered to become 'Taco Joe.' Now it can double as Sloppy Joe filling and also taco meat. Just omit the brown sugar, use less ketchup, and add some taco seasoning.

Spanish Rice

Spanish Rice
     This one pot meal is easy and delicious! Serve with tortilla chips and some freshly cut veggies or fruit to round out the meal. Bonus: it's great leftover as well.

1 TB vegetable oil
1  medium onion, thinly sliced
1/2 lb. lean, ground beef
1 c. regular rice, uncooked
1 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce
1 3/4 cups hot water
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. mustard
dash black pepper

Heat oil in skillet. Add onions, beef and rice. Stir over high heat until meat is lightly browned. Add tomato sauce and remaining ingredients. Mix well. Bring quickly to boil, lower heat, cover tightly, and simmer for 25 minutes. Serves 4.

Mom's Chocolate Chip Muffs

Mom's Chocolate Chip Muffs
     These muffins were a staple in our household growing up. Now I regularly make them for breakfast and keep them in the freezer so they last. Just nuke them in the microwave and they're good as new!

1 egg
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 c. milk
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. chocolate chips

     Beat egg in a mixing bowl. Stir in oil, milk, brown sugar, and vanilla. Sift in dry ingredients and add chocolate chips. Stir until just mixed. Fill 12 muffin cups and bake at 375 degrees for about 18 minutes, or until done.

Mini Ground Beef Crescent Rolls

Mini Ground Beef Crescent Rolls
     This recipe was inspired by a meal served at my high school. It began as an experiment, but I would say it was a success.

1 container refrigerated crescent roll dough
ground beef. browned
Optional: other fillings such as jam or cinnamon sugar.

     Open can of dough as instructed. Use a small handful of ground beef as a filling before rolling crescent rolls. Bake as instructed. Necessity is the mother of invention - I didn't have a regular baking pan, so I placed the rolls in my muffin tin. They self greased themselves and came out perfectly! Serve with a dipping sauce or gravy.

     If you are feeling adventurous, try experimenting with other fillings. These rolls can be served as a meal or snack.

Apple Crisp

Apple Crisp
     Apple crisp is a mix between apple pie and a fruit cobbler. It's great because it's easy to make and it can be whipped up quickly, even quicker if you're a wiz at cutting up apples. Plus it tastes great!

1 TB lemon juice
2-3 apples, partly peeled and chopped
1/2 c. flour
1/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. butter
cinnamon
salt

Add lemon juice and sliced apples to pan. Mix together flour, sugar, and butter. Add a dash of cinnamon and two pinches of salt. Cover apples with mixture. Bake for 40 min at 350 degrees.

Corn Dog Muffins

Corn Dog Muffins
     This recipe uses a boxed corn bread mix to make simple 'corn dogs.' It's like hamburger helper! Just add hot dogs!

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
1/2 package hot dogs
8 muffin liners

     Follow directions for boxed mix. Place mixture into lined muffin tin, filling liner up about 2/3 full. Cut hot dogs into appropriately lengthed segments and place in batter. Bake according to directions on box.

Note: Needing something to do with the other half of your hot dogs? Either make another batch or try out this recipe for easy Hot Dog Dinner!

Hot Dog Dinner

Hot Dog Dinner
     This meal creatively uses hot dogs for a unique spin on a one-pot dish.

1/2 package (1 pound) hot dogs, halved lengthwise and sliced
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 medium onion, halved and sliced
1 celery rib, coarsely chopped
1/2 medium green pepper, julienned
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Hot cooked noodles or rice

     In a a large skillet, cook and stir hot dogs in 1 Tb butter over medium high heat until lightly browned; remove and keep warm.

     In same skillet, sauce the onions, celery and green pepper in remaining butter until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add the tomatoes, oregano, paprika, pepper and hot dogs. Cook and stir until heated through. Serve with noodles or rice.

Note: Recipe can be altered to cater to serving amounts and taste preferences.

Ham and Potatoes Casserole

1 pkg (1 lbs 10 oz) frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
1/8 tsp pepper
2 T onion, chopped
1 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp salt
1 can cream of chicken soup
3/4 lb ham, diced
1 1/2  c. cornflakes + 1 1/2 Tb butter for topping

Mix thoroughly thawed potatoes and all the ingredients except cornflakes. Place in 9" X 13" pan sprayed with cooking spray. Top with cornflakes. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Stir Fry

     This is my final meal that I made while living by myself for a week - stir fry!

     Stir Fry is one of my go-to things to make. I especially like to make it with leftovers since it is quick, fun, easy, and gets old food out of the fridge. This time I did not have any leftover meat to work with. However, it just so happens that there was some already trimmed, cubed, and marinated chicken in the freezer that I could use.

     The first thing I did was to cook my rice (I just used the rice setting on the microwave. It works!) and chop my vegetables. You can use whatever kind of vegetables you want. I used carrots, onions, and celery, as well as some leftover broccoli.

     Next I cooked my raw vegetables. After they were cooked I removed them from the pan and cooked my chicken. When that was all done I added in my vegetables, including the precooked broccoli and warmed everything up. Served with the rice my stir fry was ready to go!

A Variation on Green Bean Casserole

     One of my favorite side dishes is green bean casserole. For this variation I was inspired from another green bean casserole recipe from one of our recipe books. I took out some of the things I didn't like (like green peppers) and added somethings I did.

Ingredients:

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

Milk

Soy Sauce

1-2 cans of green beans (drained)

Ground hamburger (browned)

Frozen tater tots 

This recipe is really easy, if a little vague. Some of the things you just have to eyeball. 

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl mix the cream of mushroom soup with a little milk and soy sauce. Add in the green beans and hamburger. Mix. (Note: I would advise draining the green beans. I forgot to do this and my end result was still palatable, if on the soupy side). Top with tater tots and bake for an hour at 350.

This recipe works great for leftovers as well. I only used one can of green beans, and all together it was enough for two full meals for me!

Taco Soup

     For a week this month I was all by myself. I had to act responsibly, cooking and cleaning up for myself. One of the main challenges was cooking meals. I think I overcame the challenge and considering I survived the week alone, I was pretty successful. So, I would like to share some of my successes here.

     One of the things I made was Taco Soup! This is a great dish because it is easy to make and tastes good the second time around. Yay leftovers!

Taco Soup

(makes 11 cups)

1 lb ground beef (browned)

1 onion, chopped

1 can chili beans, pour it all in

1 can kidney beans, mostly drain off

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

2 cans peeled/diced tomato

1 c. water

1 4 oz can green chiles

1 package taco seasoning

     Basically, you have some stuff and a bunch of cans, dump everything into a pot, warm it up, and create something delicious like this:

     This recipe is really good when topped with corn chips! Enjoy!

Mug Cake

Ingredients:

- 4 T all-purpose flour

- 2 T unsweetened cocoa powder

- 1/4 tsp. baking powder

- 3 T granulated sugar

- 1/8 tsp. (pinch) salt

- 3 T milk

- 3 T vegetable oil

- splash of vanilla extract

- 1 T Nutella/peanut butter OR 3 T chocolate chips (optional)

Method:

1. In a bowl mix dry ingredients.

2. Whisk in milk and vegetable oil with a fork until no clumps remain.

3. Pour batter into a large (14 oz. +) mug.

4. Add 1 T of optional ingredients.

5. Place mug in microwave on top of a paper towel. Cook for 70 seconds (950 watt microwave). Enjoy!