Sloppy Joes - A Very Tasty Recipe

 

Sloppy Joe (w/bun tilted to show the filling)

Here's a yummy meal we haven't had in years. I had to make these to counteract the disappointing results we had from Manwich's Sloppy Joe sauce, which actually used to have a pretty good flavor in the not so distant past. Forget that stuff! Don't waste your money. If you think about buying it, just buy a can of tomato sauce & mix it with your ground beef instead. That would be the equivalent. Manwich is a weak shadow of itself now. The bold, satisfying flavor that they used to claim on their commercials is gone.

So enjoy this recipe! It's simple and delicious!

1# ground beef

1/2 a medium onion, diced + equivalent amount of diced green bell pepper

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 Tbsps Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp. mustard (yellow or dijon)

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp smoked paprika

4-5 shakes of Tabasco 

1 8 oz. can of tomato paste

Water or stock (beef, chicken, or vegetable) as needed

S&P to taste 

Buns! (or your favorite bread)

1. Brown & break up the beef into smaller pieces (a 10" to 12" frying pan works well).

2. Add onion & bell, mix well. Cook until tender but still firm, stirring once in a while.

3. Add garlic, cook for a minute or two. 

4. Make a well in the middle, then add tomato paste. Gradually mix with other ingredients, allowing the paste to caramelize a bit. 

5. Add water or stock gradually, until it reaches a good thickness. If you add too much, don't worry,  just let it simmer until it reduces after you add the rest of the ingredients listed below.  (Adding too much and letting it reduce is a good idea anyway, because it helps the beef absorb the other tasty ingredients). 

6. Add Worcestershire, mustard, garlic powder, paprika, S&P, and Tabasco. Stir well. Let simmer for 20 to 30m. If it gets too dry, add more water or stock. 

7. Great on toasted buns or bread!

Product Review: H-E-B Bakery Tortilla Chips

Ahhhh...H.E.B. Bakery Tortilla Chips...they come in handy when we have leftover taco filling but don't want to open another package of crunchy taco shells. 

These chips are light, crispy, and delicious! 

Great for taco salad, dips, chilaquiles, or crushed & used as a coating for chicken (or fish). 

Bonus! You don't have to worry about these being "recycled" (like some restaurants tend to do). 😁

The H.E.B. where I found them had 3 varieties: unsalted, sea salt, and chile limon. So far we have tried the unsalted & sea salt versions. No complaints at all!

Many years ago there was a company that made these & they could be easily found in grocery stores, even in our little town. Then either the company closed, or the chips just lost their luster for shoppers. Maybe "Santitas" killed them, but I can't imagine why. Santitas are some of the worst tortilla chips on the market. 

Big thanks to H.E.B. for this offering! 

Product Review: H.E.B. Nacho Cheese Chips - Shout Out To H.E.B.!

I was craving Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips (Frito Lay version), but the price for a 7 oz. bag at Walmart is insane, and it doesn't get any better at any other store. Some crazy price like $2.78 (at our local store. Close to that, anyway.) Tooooooo much! So I nixed that idea. I didn't want to buy a giant bag either. I don't crave them that often. 

About a week later I was at H.E.B. when I noticed their version: Same size for a buck! Count me in! 

They are not exactly like the familiar Frito Lay version, but they are very tasty. They satisfied the craving. If I had seen a price like that anywhere else but H.E.B. I would have been skeptical. But H.E.B. strives for quality, so I wasn't worried. 

It took me 4 days to finish the bag (because of the calorie count), so this "fix" should last a while. 

Thanks once again to H.E.B.! 

Here's a pic of the chips in the bag. This is not a full bag. It was just before my third "round." 

Restaurant Review: Cazadores Mexican Restaurant - Sealy, Texas

Mexican Guacamole

Call me cautiously optimistic. This is a restaurant that has been around for decades. On the visit prior to this one, I had already made up my mind that I was not going to eat there anymore, because of the severe decline in quality. They just weren't even trying anymore, so it seemed. 

We have numerous Tex-Mex and other eating establishments in this town, but not many have the space we need for a meeting. We were expecting quite a few people, so this is the place we had to use. 

I decided ahead of time to only order things that were "safe." (I hoped so, anyway.)

They brought out the chips. Wow! No dark brown chips at all! They were all fresh. Let's be real here. There are establishments that recycle chips. I know this place did because I saw it with my own eyes one day when I was waiting to pick up an order many years ago. 

But you don't need to see it to know that it's happening, because different shades of chips brought to your table is a dead giveaway. It was getting out of hand here though, because the last few times we were there, the chips were almost unpalatable. A few fresh mixed in with a ton of recycled. About 

25% fresh/75% ugh, but I'm being kind. It was really more like 10/90. 

That wasn't the only issue though. Menu items were below par too. Even the basics, like rice. Overcooked, 1 tick away from the point of mush. You could have made pudding out of it. 

The cheese enchiladas were getting "hit & miss" as well. Originally, though they were not as good as the best ones I've ever had, they were good. Many Tex-Mex restaurants use Extra-Melt cheese (usually Land o' Lakes), that's not easily accessible for the rest of us. You can buy it now in bulk online & in some food warehouses, but you'd better have freezer space, or some chums to toss in $$$ to share among households. That is what they normally used here, but they were getting lax about it. If they ran out, they would sub with regular cheese, and it's just not the same. No creamy cheesy goodness to mesh perfectly with the sauce. 

I could list more, but this post would get really long. 😆

Back to the story: The chips were fab, and the tea...omg! So good this time! Miles away from the weak offerings we had been getting before. No excuse for that at any restaurant. Consider the cost of tea bags. Restaurants can buy at wholesale prices, so - pennies per pitcher. No reason to make it weak, especially considering the charge per glass, (even with refills). 

The complimentary salsas: red sauce was great! Green sauce had an odd aftertaste. I tried it twice & gave up on it. 

After viewing improvements, I still decided to err on the safe side & ordered Mexican guacamole, queso with extra jalapeños, and threw in a bean tostada. The bean tostada was okay. It was a "puffy" tostada, so very dramatic visually, but lacking in flavor. That's it in the pic below. It looks like a salad, but there is a tostada under there. 😆

Tostada Hide 'n Seek

Queso was on point. It's not easy to screw that up, though it is possible. It was a generous serving, so I shared it with tablemates. 

Queso! (Large bowl of jalapeños not pictured.)

After viewing the plates of my tablemates & questioning them, I got a good report overall, so next time I might take a chance and order a full meal. Without rice though, because that didn't pass anyone's "smell test." Still overcooked and mush-mush. 

There's really no excuse for mushy rice. It is so easy to make it attractive AND flavorful. Maybe I should give them Mom's recipe. The rice consumption would go WAY up. People would be ordering a plate of rice for dinner & small entrees as a side dish. YES. It is THAT good.

I'm happy to see that this restaurant appears to be going in the right direction now: up instead of down. I hope this trend continues. 

Recipe: Green Bean Casserole - The Stovetop Method; A Holiday Shortcut

I started thinking about a stovetop version of green bean casserole a few months ago. I decided to try it out just for the heck of it to see if it would be as good as the oven method. Finally got a chance when I happened to have 1/2 can of mushroom soup hanging around, along with an open package of crispy onions that needed to be used up. So I decided to go for it, using one can of green beans. 

This method can come in handy, especially around the holidays when and oven gets a workout and some dishes have to take turns. Also great if you don't have an oven, or if you get a craving for this dish but don't want to heat up the kitchen with the oven. If you have a microwave but no oven, you can still use part of the recipe, because obviously the crispy onions MUST be toasted. It's just not the same if they aren't. 

Also, some things just don't work well in the microwave. I have started this dish in the microwave & finished it in the oven before, when time was short, but there wasn't a problem doing it that way. Microwave only? No way! 

Sometimes I see posts that mock this dish, but I would really miss it if I didn't have it at least once during the holiday season, or for cravings at other times of the year. Nostalgia food. Comfort food. All good as long as you don't make it a weekly habit. 😁

It turned out really well on the stovetop, next time I will let it simmer a little longer, but other than that, it was very satisfying with the crispy onion topping. 

First: toast your onions. I used a stainless steel pan and it worked just fine. A bonus with this method is you can leach some of the oil out of the onions if you let them rest on some paper towels while you prepare the rest of the dish, and leach out a few calories too. 😆 Otherwise, just put them in a bowl & set aside. Also, if you like them darker, go for it. These were dark enough for me after toasting.

Before Toasting

After Toasting

Next, wipe out the pan out with a paper towel, (or not). There will be bits left in the pan from the onion toasting. I left those in. Add the soup & milk. Add a little pepper, mix well, drain beans, and add those in. Let this simmer & reduce for a few minutes.

Add part of the crispy onions. I always save as many of the onions as possible for the crispy top layer. Too many in the soup layer can get a little funky anyway. 

I always sprinkle extra pepper on the top. Just ignore this if you don't like a lot of pepper. Simmer for a while, let it reduce a little more, Then sprinkle the rest of the crispy onions on the top & serve.

The Result - Success! Still tasty as ever & saves a parking space in the oven for another dish that is waiting in line.