Sloppy Joes

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
3/4 cup ketchup
3 teaspoons brown sugar
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1.In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef, onion, and green pepper; drain off liquids.

2.Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, and brown sugar; mix thoroughly. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.


This recipe is super easy and tastes great!  It's almost as easy as opening a can of sloppy joe mix.  The recipe is originally from AllRecipes.

Canned Chicken

Our local stores have chicken breasts for $1.39 this week so I pulled out my never-used-before pressure cooker and tried canning chicken. I was a little nervous because of our infamous family story of my Grandma Coombs' pressure cooker blowing up while full of red beets.

I thawed the frozen chicken by placing it into a bowl of warm water for about 20 minutes. This is about five pounds of chicken. I did a total of 20 lbs. My 16-quart pressure cooker states that it will process 10 pints at a time, but it really only did 8 - maybe because I used wide-mouth jars. Each jar held about one pound of chicken.

When it was completely thawed, I trimmed off any fat on the chicken (which wasn't much). I then put the raw breasts into clean jars with about 1 inch of head space. I didn't add any water. I could have added a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, but because the chicken had already been injected with some broth, I choose not to add the salt.

After fastening lids and rings onto the pint jars, I placed them into my pressure cooker with 3 quarts of water and fastened the lid (the water amount will vary - see your own pressure cooker manual for specific instructions).

My pressure cooker manual states to cook meats at 13 pounds of pressure (adjusted for my own altitude of 5700 feet) for 75 minutes (90 minutes for quarts).

I think this was the hardest part of processing the chicken. Every pressure cooker works differently. I had to carefully read the manual several times. Make sure to read yours carefully for water amounts, pressure required, and processing times (always adjusting for altitude as described in your manual). I vented mine for 10 minutes, added the weight, processed for 75 minutes and then let the cooker drop pressure and cool. It required some watching to maintain the pressure at 13 pounds. By the third batch, I had a pretty good idea of where to set my stove top and was able to get some other things done.

This is the result! I did 20 pints of chicken (each pint is about one pound of chicken). Prepping the chicken was easy. Learning to use the pressure cooker was a little harder, but now that I've done it, I won't be hesitant to do it again!

Liege Waffles

This is a Liege Waffle. We were introduced to these at Bruges in Salt Lake City. I got a Belgian Waffle Maker for Christmas so tonight we gave it a try. These are NOT a traditional batter waffle. Instead, they use yeast and rise like a bread dough. Pearl sugar, which is not easy to find, adds a caramelized crunch. These are more of dessert than a breakfast. Divine!

Liege Waffle Recipe:

2 1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
3/4 cup lukewarm milk
3 eggs
1 cup melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups pearl sugar

1.Sprinkle the yeast and white sugar over warm milk in a small bowl. The milk should be no more than 100 degrees F (40 degrees C). Let stand for 15 minutes until the yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam.
2.Whisk the eggs, melted butter, and vanilla extract into the yeast mixture until evenly blended; set aside. Stir together the flour and salt in a separate large bowl, and make a well in the center. Pour the egg mixture into the well, then stir in the flour mixture until a soft dough forms. Cover with a light cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Gently mix in the pearl sugar.
3.Preheat a waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.
4.Place a baseball-size ball of dough on the preheated waffle iron. Cook waffles until golden and crisp, about 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough. Allow waffles to cool for 2 to 3 minutes before serving.

Source: All Recipes