The Pioneer Woman Wannabe: Sloppy Joes

I think my mom secretly works for The Pioneer Woman. She's managed to not only introduce myself, my 3-year old, and my brother's girlfriend to Ree Drummond but make us obsessed with her. Ok, that happened on it's own after we started watching the show, but still. From not having heard of her before, suddenly we're buying her books, trying her recipes, and making sure we're home from our errands in time for her show to come on. Recently it was my turn to try out one of her recipes and I chose Sloppy Joes. My husband had suggested it the night before and as I scoured the internet for recipes, I remembered watching one of her shows feature such an item. A quick trip to her website, http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/ and we were on our way!

Now, I'm not feeding anyone or anything on a cattle ranch, just myself, husband, and toddler who seems to have a bottomless stomach for snacks and sweets but not so much for entire meals. I take that back. She'd sell her soul for some eggs and 'tatoes. So I had to scale back and alter the recipe a bit. Here is Ms. Drummond's Sloppy Joe concoction: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/04/sloppy-joes/, and here is what I did:

1-1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 Tbs butter
1/3 of a large onion, chopped
3/4 of a green pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cup Ketchup
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 Tbs brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp chili powder, more or less to taste
1 tsp mustard powder
Few dashes of Worcestershire
1 1/2 Tbs tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste

I put the butter in a big pot then added the ground beef when it started to bubble. I browned the beef then drained off a little bit of the fat. Then I added the chopped onion, green pepper, and garlic and let it cook until the onions were very tender. We enjoy the taste onions bring to a dish but not so much the crunch that goes with it.

I then added the ketchup, brown sugar, mustard powder, chili powder, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and water and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.

 Being pregnant, I'm sensitive to smells, especially that of cooking food. But this made the house smell absolutely heavenly as it cooked.

I didn't serve with Kettle chips like The Pioneer Woman, sour cream and onion seemed to fit the bill just fine. And with my toddler just about finishing an entire sandwich and my husband going back for thirds, the chips were pretty secondary to non-existent. 

Success! Add another Pioneer Woman Wannabe to the mix!

Cheeseburger Soup. Hold On to Those Summer Nights

For my husband's birthday one year, I wanted to make his favorite meal. All I could really come up with was hamburgers, and being new at kitchen roulette, I had never made them before. And this was back when I still thought I could cook without having to touch raw meat so making beef patties was clearly out of the question. Then it was like the daytime television world caught my EPSN, The Chew was showcasing a recipe on Cheeseburger Soup. Perfect!

As you saw from my previous post, I don't follow recipes to the letter. Sometimes it's because I want to - there are spices my palate can definitely do without. But most of the time it's on accident because I have trouble following directions. I try to follow the recipe instructions fairly close, however, since I only look like a person who knows what they're doing. So here is the recipe I used from my food go-to website, allrecipes.com: (You can also find it by clicking here.)

1/2 lb ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 tsp basil
1 tsp parsley
4 Tbs butter
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups cubed potatoes
1/4 cup flour
2 cups cubed cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream

In reality, this is what I actually used, either out of necessity, or personal preference:

1 lb ground beef (this comes from the mountain of ground beef you get at Costco so I'm just estimating this particular chunk is one full pound)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup  chopped carrots (shredded? Why?)
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
1 green onion, chopped
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
4 Tbs butter
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups potatoes chopped
1/4 cup flour
2 cups cubed cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream

Per the recipe, I melted 1 Tbs of the butter in a large pot on the stove. Then I threw in the beef, onion, garlic, and veggies to cook until the meet was brown. I then stirred in the basil and parsley, and added the potatoes and chicken broth. I brought that to a boil then let simmer for about 11 minutes, or until the potatoes were tender.

In a separate bowl, I melted the remaining 3 Tbs of butter then whisked in the flour. I added the milk and while I was supposed to mix it until smooth, it didn't happen so I dumped it into the soup anyways. I think the problem was that I wasn't stirring the mixture as I was adding the milk; yet another thing in the kitchen where having a third arm would be handy (PUN!). Anywho... I stirred the soup constantly and brought it to a boil, then reduced to simmer again.

Finally, I stirred in the cheese and when it was melted, added the sour cream. The soup is to then be heated through but NOT BOILED. Within only a few minutes, it's ready to be served, Seinfeld soup mug and medieval spoon or no.