Category: Recipes

Beef, Main Dishes, Recipes

Not Your Summer Camp’s Sloppy Joes

Sarah

Up until this past spring, I had a strong dislike for Sloppy Joes. I liked them well enough growing up, but working at a summer camp for two years–aka two summers’ worth of kid food–kind of killed any liking I had for childhood staples like Sloppy Joes. I had visions of salty, goopy, ketchup-y, messy sandwiches that came out of an industrial food service can. Don’t get me wrong, not all food at Camp T was bad. Some was pretty darn good! Others though, I chose to load up on the salad bar and PB&J and pray it was my night off so I could get some real food for dinner.

However, my distaste for Sloppy Joes changed after my mom mentioned she was making them and my sister said how good they were. After getting over the initial shock [if you knew my mom you’d be surprised to know she was making Sloppy Joes], I promptly got the recipe, made it for myself, and was hooked.

Not Your Summer Camp’s Sloppy Joes

This Sloppy Joe recipe is sweet and savory and fast, perfect for a busy night. I love the slight crunch of the green pepper, and think this could be veggied-up some more… I just haven’t tried yet. Ben loads it up with extra hot sauce; I like mine as is. This is a great base recipe for Sloppy Joes that works as is or can be adjusted to meet your tastes. Enjoy!

Not Your Summer Camp’s Sloppy Joes

  • Servings: 6
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from The Neelys

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1 green or red pepper, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 4 ounces tomato sauce
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup BBQ sauce [I use Sweet Baby Ray’s original–different kinds of BBQ sauce would give it a different flavor profile.]
  • 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

Directions:

In a large skillet on medium heat, cook peppers and garlic in oil for about 3 minutes or until they are just getting soft. Season with a dash of salt and a generous amount of pepper. Add beef and cook through. Drain well. Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, BBQ sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. Stir to combine. Simmer about 10 minutes or until thickened. If needed, add a pinch of flour or cornstarch to thicken sauce to your liking.

Question of the Day: What was your favorite school lunch growing up? I bought lunch a few days a week, and breakfast for lunch day was always one of them! Sloppy Joes was not. In fact, I would always bring my lunch on Sloppy Joes day. If my school made Sloppy Joes this way, there would have been no contest. 🙂

Breakfast, Recipes, Scones

Cran-Tan-Oat Scones

Sarah
Cran-Tan-Oat Scones
fresh outta the oven!

This recipe is all iTunes’ fault. So if you hate it, blame iTunes, okay? But if you love it, well, then you can thank me for using iTunes. 🙂

Confused? Let me back up.

I have a big project for school due today, and have been at my computer more hours  than I have not recently. Bummer, huh? So I’ve been listening to iTunes, particularly their Genius mixes made with my music. I was a little surprised to hear “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” to come on in the Country mix… especially because it’s classified as “Holiday,” not “Country.” I normally have a strict provision against listening to Christmas music until Thanksgiving weekend, but this time, it was forced upon me.

Naturally, the lover of baking I am, I began to wonder what holiday-inspired treat I could make as a procrastination device that wouldn’t be too seasonal. I had wanted to whip up some cookies but I was swayed.

Enter Cran-Tan-Oat Scones.

Sweet cranberries. Chewy oats. A hint of citrus. A touch of sweetness.

Perfect for fall. Perfect for Thanksgiving morning. You should try ’em now first though, just as a test run…

Cran-Tan-Oat Scones
the goods…

…and remember, it’s iTunes’ fault. I think I’ll still use iTunes though, these scones are pretty darn tasty.

Cran-Tan-Oat Scones

  • Servings: 8
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adapted from Eat Better America

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3 tablespoons butter, chilled
  • 2 cups oatmeal
  • 6 ounces vanilla yogurt
  • zest of 1 tangerine
  • 1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • sugar
  • cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lighly flour a large baking sheet. In a mixing bowl, use a wooden spoon to combine flours, brown sugar, and baking soda. Zest 3/4 of the peel of 1 tangerine into the mix and stir to combine. Use a pastry blender or two knives to cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the yogurt, then stir in the rest along with the cranberries, egg, and oatmeal. Mixture will be sticky and loose–don’t worry if it doesn’t stay together.

Scoop dough out onto the prepared pan. Using your hands, press and shape dough into an 8 inch circle. Brush dough with remaining yogurt, then sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, and tangerine zest.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until cooked through and golden brown along the edges. Cut into 8 wedges and serve warm.

Note:

I ended up baking this for about 15 minutes, then cutting into wedges and baking a few more minutes because they weren’t cooking well in the center.

Question of the Day: When do you break out the seasonal treats, music, & decorations? I’m usually a strict Thanksgiving weekend purist… but now, we will see!

Desserts, Other, Recipes

A Tale of Contrasts: Twice Baked Apple Crisp for Two

Sarah

I love fruit. Growing up, I often preferred fruit to chocolate in desserts. While I can’t say the same is 100% true today, I still love fruit in my desserts. Or as a snack. Or anytime, really. Fruit is so tasty and sweet on its own… it doesn’t need anything else to make it better.

However… [there’s always a however] it can be a little better with some mix-ins.

That’s why I love apple crisp so much. Apple is the star of the show, complemented by some side-show characters. Enter oats. Brown sugar. Cinnamon. Nutmeg. Ginger. The taste of fall.

Twice Baked Apple Crisp for Two
Dessert for two!

This tale of delightful contrasts plays its masterpiece in your mouth. Yum! That’s the best place to play, in my opinion. This apple crisp is simple and oh-so-sweet. The apples are baked twice for an extra oomph of tenderness and softness, and the crisp is perfectly crisp. [Anything else and would it be crisp?] You’ll enjoy the spice against the sugar and the soft, tart apple against the sweet, crisp oats. Each bite will bring you just enough crispy goodness and the perfect amount of real apples–none of that fake filling stuff here! No siree! And the best way to enjoy this delectable show? With a hearty scoop of ice cream, melting over top the warm apple crisp. It’s so good that you’ll want an encore. And you probably have all the ingredients in your kitchen, so make it today.

Twice Baked Apple Crisp for Two

  • Servings: 2
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Ingredients:

  • 3 cups apples, roughly peeled, chopped, and cored [I used 2 Granny Smith and 1 Gala.]
  • 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 4 tablespoons melted butter
  • cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet and 2 – 1/2 quart baking dishes with cooking spray. Arrange half of the apples on the cookie sheet, and divide the other half of the apples between the two baking dishes [1/4 of the apples will be in each dish, and 1/2 will be on the cookie sheet]. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Pour in the melted butter and stir to combine with a fork to create coarse crumbs. Top the apples in the baking dishes with about 1/4 cup of the oats mixture each. Reserve the rest of the oats mixture and stash in the freezer so it doesn’t get too warm.

Meanwhile, bake the dishes and the cookie sheet for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, and transfer half of the cookie-sheet-apples on top of each of the baking dishes [this makes a second layer of apples]. Then, divide remaining oats over top of the second layer of apples. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until apples are soft and tender and the top is crisp. Serve with ice cream!

Are you a fruit or chocolate person?

Cupcakes, Desserts, Recipes

Maize and Blue Cupcakes

Sarah

My dad’s birthday was last weekend, and to celebrate, my parents and sister came down to Bloomington for the weekend. We hung out at home and went to the Indiana/Michigan football game. My dad is a huge Michigan fan [born in Ann Arbor; it’s in his blood!] so when I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, he said, maize and blue, kind of as a joke, I think.

Maize & Blue Cupcakes... perfect for the diehard U of M fan!
Cupcake tower!

My initial thought with that request was something lemon and blueberry. However, I quickly nixed that idea because my dad isn’t the biggest fruit lover you’ll ever meet, so I thought I should find a recipe that he would love. It was for his birthday after all. After spending some time researching recipes and scouring cake supply stores, I finally found something that would work: food coloring.

I chose to make cupcakes out of a simple white cake and buttercream frosting, and use gel food coloring to dye the cupcakes and frosting. I dyed half the cupcakes and half the frosting maize, and the other half of each blue. Frost the maize cupcakes with blue frosting and frost the blue cupcakes with maize frosting… and you have a true Michigan cupcake dream! Next time I’ll have to be more adventurous with the decorating. I can’t say I am an expert cupcake decorator but these did turn out pretty cute if I do say so myself… and they were tasty too!

The cupcakes were moist and rich, even a week later as I was finishing up the leftovers. The frosting was sweet but not overly sweet, which is a welcome change from the frostings that leave you in a sugar coma. Paired with vanilla bean ice cream, this is the perfect birthday dessert.

Dad
The Birthday Boy!

Maize and Blue Cupcakes & Buttercream Frosting

cake from The Taste of Home Cookbook and frosting from Good (Cheap) Eats

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 4 egg whites
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/3 cups half and half [this recipe called for buttermilk, but I used what I had…]

Frosting:

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon half and half
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin pans with paper liners or grease well with cooking spray. This recipe should make 24 cupcakes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg whites, one by one, mixing in between each addition. Mix in vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add to butter/sugar/egg mixture gradually, alternating with half and  half; beating well to combine after each addition.

If desired, divide batter in  half and add food coloring to desired shade. I used gel food colorings, which provide more intense color. 🙂

Fill individual tins 2/3 of the way full, then bake for 15-20 minutes. Mine took about 17 minutes to bake. They are done when they spring back when lightly touched in the center. Remove from tins and let cool on cooling rack, frost, and enjoy!

For the frosting:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar, half and half, and vanilla. Mix on low until all ingredients are fully incorporated. Adjust with additional sugar or milk, depending on your desired consistency.

Frost when cupcakes are cool… otherwise you’ll have melty frosting! And no one likes melty frosting…

—

Here are some more photos of game day! 🙂

Ben
My husband shares his name with the IU quarterback. Ben is such a good name! Interestingly enough, my Ben is a huge OSU fan. Needless to say, he was rooting for IU… just like the IU Ben. However, Michigan won–a present for Dad!
Ben and Sarah
Ben thought my hat was gross. It did clash with my sweatshirt…
Indiana Marching Band
IU Marching Band before the game.
mom and daughters
With my mom and sister, freezing and getting wet in the rain at the game!
Maize & Blue Cupcakes... perfect for the diehard U of M fan!
A cupcake enjoyed with ice cream after the game!

Are you a sports fan? I’m not, except for running… but going to the game was more fun than watching football on TV! How about you?

Breakfast, Recipes, Scones

Oatmeal Scones

Sarah

I love scones. I love oatmeal. I love warm bread fresh from the oven. I love butter melted on top of those aforementioned things. Except on oatmeal. Well, I’ve never had butter melted on oatmeal but I don’t anticipate that being the tastiest thing ever, but perhaps it is… Anywho… excuse me. I get easily distracted.

Last week I saw a recipe for 15 minute oatmeal scones. I was instantly intrigued, because usually scones are a little more time consuming. So, I decided to see if this recipe really did just take 15 minutes, from start to finish, as claimed. I’ll admit, I was a little hesitant. Fifteen minute? For scones? I could hardly wait to find out. I’m competitive like that.

To up the stakes, I made them in the morning, after I got back from my run, as I was getting ready for the day. Ya know, blow dry your hair and cook at the same time… uh huh… smart, right? But I had been thinking about warm dough during that chilly run… and I had to meet my craving.

The verdict?

In less than 15 minutes, I had these little babies hot in my hands.

oatmeal scones... quick & easy & absolutely wonderful with jam
scones & tri-berry jam…

Burning my tongue. Dazzling my taste buds with flaky, soft, warm [make that HOT] crumbs. Melting butter. Heating up jam. [Why don’t I ever heat up jam before using it? It is so good warm!] Being all delicious like scones should be.

These scones are so easy. So tasty. So flaky. So delicious. So QUICK! I think I’ll go make them again now.

TTFN! [ta ta for now!]

Oatmeal Scones

  • Servings: 4
  • Print

from EatLiveRun

  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Grease a small baking sheet with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, salt, baking powder, and flour. Use a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in the milk and stir until combined. Turn dough out onto the baking sheet and flatten slightly, so it is shaped into a large oval [check out EatLiveRun’s picture if you need a visual]. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown and sizzly. Cut into four sections and enjoy with butter or jam or whatever else you desire.

Notes:

While I loved this scone recipe, I thought it was really salty. Next time I make them, I am going to decrease the salt by about half and see what happens.If you’re particular about salt, I’d suggest experimenting. Update: This totally works. For me, 1/4 teaspoon of salt is perfect.

And also, for a totally different [read: non-flaky] texture, try omitting the baking powder. Mmmhmmm… guess who did that? They’re edible… but not as good! 🙂

Are you competitive?