This week I did lots of food prepping for regular meals and quick fix meals at home. I made a double batch of these sloppy joes. This evening I’m going to freeze up what’s left in the frig. One of the other things I made for the freezer this week were homemade beef burritos. Readers if you don’t do this for yourself every now and then, well, there’s not a fall back. Let’s kick off the discussion on the burritos, they’re not even a recipe!
When you head to the store to select a flour tortilla look for brands that are thinner than the rest. I could write lots of my favorites down for you, but I’d be in Dutch! There’s one national brand that is extremely thick and it feels like you’re just eating tortilla! Ok, get about ten of them gathered. Grab 2 lbs. of ground beef or even ground turkey, sauté with onions if you like, & drain. Add your favorite spices or reach for 2 pre-made packages to season the meat. Get a good brand of mashed pintos. I like the seasoning in the ‘Old ….’ Cans. Prepare a bit of rice, or not. This can be instant or long cooking. Select your favorite cheeses. Now for extra kick how about adding green chilies or corn to the wrap. Get everything set for an assembly line.
Spread a smear of beans, add rice, meat, cheese and roll the burritos. Wrap in saran and place inside a freezer bag. Two pounds of beef usually yields me about ten ‘large’ burritos. When they come out of the freezer I prefer to let them thaw first. However, with my household, that’s almost an impossible feat. I would cook the frozen one for about 3 minutes on level 5-6.
Monitor and go from there. Be careful on the wrap up and be sure to get the ends tucked in nicely so things don’t fall out.
Sloooopy Joes! We love these simple sammies at our house. I never know if I’ll find the guys eating them in a bun or scooping them up with a Frito! Like I stated in my opening paragraph make plenty of this delicious recipe. Freeze a portion, and you’re ready for surprise guests or a fast meal. Some of you, especially my mom, will find it interesting that I am ‘canning’ a version of this sloppy joe recipe. Oh yeah, about 13 years ago I did this when Phillip was little. It was so wonderful having meat that would work as sloppy Joes, lasagna or spaghetti.
If you RV or tent camp you’ll find it marvelous having things like this made in advance and stashed in the dry storage. No refrigeration needed. Nothings worse than taking up all your precious freezer space with meat. Last week I made homemade vegetable soup in quart jars.
It tasted wonderful, and now I have something to serve on cold winter nights when I just don’t want to cook. For those considering the vegetable soup canning, I did mine for 1 hour and 20 minutes at approximately ten pounds.
As you prepare the sloppy joe supper how about broiling the buns ahead of time. Make sure you set out pickles and fun mustards too. My friend Terry Durand always served a grits dish with her sloppy joes. Oh man, I can taste them now! Hey, no complaining on my grits! If you dress them up with a few spices and cheese they are delicious. Sometimes I even put tomatoes and crumbled bacon in them. Of course, they’re also good with a ladle of sausage gravy poured over them.
I’m going to attach another recipe this week for a very fast bar cookie. Take a look at it and then step outside the box. Use different flavors of cake mixes and additional fillings for the occasion or season.
Tip for the week: ‘For low potassium eat dehydrated fruits.’ The best is dried apricots!
This coming week I have to make serious stabs at putting up all my fall décor. Due to football games and other unforeseen events mine still isn’t up! After all this is my favorite season.
What am I going to be cooking this week? Donuts, homemade bread, and meat sauce for ‘canning’. Sounds busy to me! Alrighty, embrace the day and have a terrific week my friends.
Simply yours, The Covered Dish. www.thecovereddish.com
Sloppy Joes
2 pounds burger or chuck
1 large onion, very finely diced
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (10.5 ounce) can tomato soup
1/4 cup Hickory BBQ Sauce
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
Fry the burger and onion, drain thoroughly through a sieve. Return meat to the skillet and add the minced garlic, sautéing lightly. Stir in the remaining ingredients mixing for a good blend. Cook the dish down for 15-20 minutes resulting in a thick mixture of beef. Consider making for a large event and then reheating in a Crockpot! Serves between 10-14 sloppy Joes, depending upon how big you make them! The meat also freezes well.
Chocolate Chip Cheese Bars
(In a hurry? This is a cinch!)
1 tube (18 ounces) refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
Cut the cookie dough in half. For crust press half of the dough into the bottom of a greased 8 x 8 square baking pan. In a mixing bowl, beat the remaining ingredients until smooth. Spread over the crust. Crumble the remaining dough over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Yields 16 squares. Refrigerate leftover bars. (Two cups of fresh cookie dough may be used.)
