Hello Folks!

The cold weather is fast approaching! Not that anybody living in Los Angeles can tell. But for those lucky few that do have a bit of the fall chill in their lives I wanted to share a simple and easy recipe that I love. For me, fall is about comfort food and darker liquor. Something about both just warms the soul! With that in mind, Sloppy Joe Sliders seemed perfect, especially if the meat was marinated with the terrific taste of Jack Daniels.

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

2 tsp unsalted butter
3 cups of Jack Daniels whiskey
1–¼ cup onion, chopped
1–¼ cup green bell pepper, chopped
1 lb of lean ground beef
1–½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp yellow mustard
1–¾ cup ketchup
3 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Directions:

First thing you want to do is prep your meat. I like to let the meat marinate for a day if possible so it gets soaked up really nicely. You can simply add your pound of lean beef into a large zip lock bag and add the first two cups of Jack Daniels. You will save the third for when you are making the meal.

After the meat has marinated for 24 hours go ahead and prep the rest of your ingredients so it is easier to add while cooking. Then you want to grab a medium size pot and melt your butter to coat the surface so the meat doesn’t stick. Bring the pot up to medium heat; once it is nice and warm add your meat, onion, and green peppers. Let the meat brown and the vegetables soften. Stir occasionally to ensure even browning.

Once the meat has a nice brown look to it take the pot off the heat for a moment and carefully drain the excess liquids that built up over the previous few minutes – you don’t want the sloppy joes to be runny. After you have drained the liquid put the pot back on the heat and stir in the rest of your ingredients, excluding the final cup of Jack Daniels, which will come in to play later. Make sure you mix it up really well so everything gets thorough attention.

After you’ve mixed your ingredients together reduce the heat on the stove to a simmer and let the ingredients cook uncovered for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally so nothing burns. About 15 minutes into the simmering pour in your last cup of Jack Daniels and stir it into the meat.

After the ingredients have simmered for the allotted time you are ready to finish up your Sloppy Joes Sliders. The only other thing you will need is your slider buns of choice. Simply scoop the flavorful meat onto the bun, add a little cheese, and you’re done.

This recipe is really easy and wonderfully tasty. The sliders go great as an appetizer or a snack on Sunday while you’re watching the game. Plus it is easy to prepare and while the alcohol burns off during the cooking process you are left with the wonderful sweetness and earthiness that comes from good old Jack Daniels.

Good Spirits Folks!

Happy Debate/Election season, y’all!

I don’t know about you, but I love a reason to gather my friends around and have snacks, so I’m hosting a debate party tonight to watch, munch, and enjoy what should be an interesting debate. And despite my aversion to a themed party, I do love themed food! So here are a few themed food options to serve at a debate/election party near you!

Cupcakes are a crowd please – four years ago, I made cupcakes for Obama.

I believe that this year, they’ll be better. I have faith that my piping skills have advanced in the past four years.

Here is a fun dip idea from Hungry Happenings that makes any dip seem a little more American!

You could also take our dipped pretzel idea using only red, white, and blue.

Who doesn’t like a rice krispie treat? Especially a flag-colored one?

 Other ideas: red, white, and blue chips, parfaits, kebabs (think blueberry, strawberry, marshmallow , cupcake toppers supporting your favorite politician.

What is your favorite patriotic food? 

Don’t you wish that recipes would include the time it takes to chop the vegetables in their estimate of how long it’s going to take you? I mean, if you have to cut up jalapeno, ginger, scallions, chicken, and cabbage, it’s going to take you a few minutes!

For Chicken Peanut Stirfry, your first instruction is to chop.

The recipe is here. I imagine you could use different vegetables, depending on what you have in the house, and it would still be delicious.

I take what I said about that first step. Step one is: PUT ON RICE. Do you ever get half way through making something you were going to make with rice and then realize you never put the rice on so you make couscous instead? No? Just me?

Luckily, Trader Joe’s make a quick rice, so this was done before the stirfry, if you can even believe it.

I put the raw chicken in a bowl with soy sauce/cornstarch/rice vinegar mixture while I chopped, so that it could soak in some of that delicious flavor.

So basically, it goes: chop chicken, marinate, make rice, chop.

Got it?

So you cook the chicken, then take it out of the pan and saute your ginger, scallions, and jalapeno.

Add your cabbage, which will wilt and cook down quickly — don’t cook for too long, because you want your cabbage to be crunchy…or at least, I do. So don’t over cook!

Add your chicken back in, and your brown sugar sauce…

Then, add your peanuts. I eyeballed it, based on the fact that Jeff loves peanuts, and so do I.

Serve over rice. Delicious!

What is your favorite stir fry dish?

Here’s what we got up to last week!

Corelyn enjoyed some coffee and catching up with Melissa, and Charlie the cat watched from the cabinet.

Jennie enjoyed the Hollywood San Gennaro Italian Feast!

We spent all day Saturday having an editorial meeting, and managed not to take a single photo. But you may have noticed that we made a few changes around here.

Afterward, Jennie went to a Train concert with our lovely friend Ana.

Sunday, Corelyn relaxed and watched Doctor Who, while Jennie cleaned house and repotted her plants.

So that wraps up our weekend. What about you?

As you may know, I’m job hunting. That means money is very tight, and I’m trying to get as much as possible out of my food budget. For me, this means taking a mix and match approach to my groceries.

It also means I’m paying a lot of attention to what my staples are. It turns out, I rely on a few unexpected basics that can be combined in a lot of ways.

Salad ingredients: I stock up on lettuce, carrots, celery, and red pepper and my favorite salad dressing. Annie’s Naturals Goddess Dressing.  Once you try this, you’ll never be able to use another salad dressing ever again. Of course, I make a lot of salads, but I always buy veggies that can be used other ways. I roast the carrots or saute the red pepper with some onion, maybe chop it all up and make a bean or pasta salad.

Proteins: Eating cheap usually means eating vegetarian. We all know I love to eat meat, but soy substitutes can last a lot longer in the fridge and are sometimes half the price of the real thing. I buy lots of tofu and soy chicken patties, because they can be used in so many ways. I make chik patty sandwiches, or just cut up a patty and eat it with a salad. Sometimes I’ll eat the tofu raw with some veggies, or cook it according to our own Rebecca’s rules for cooking tofu and eat with some rice and veggies!

Frittata: It was my mother who taught me this trick. Did you know you can probably make a frittata out of almost anything? Do you have eggs? Do you have ANY other vegetables in your house? Great! Make a frittata. It will take you 10 minutes and it will be delicious. This is my favorite decadent treat when I want something fast but fancy. I usually include onion (another kitchen staple for me), maybe thinly sliced potatoes, maybe some red pepper, but usually I just start cooking and adding whatever I have lying around the kitchen, and I’m always pleasantly surprised by the results. Here’s one I made with sweet potato, yellow bell pepper, onion, and spinach!

If I had to pick only 5 ingredients to stock my kitchen (and excluding coffee, which is in it’s own category) I’d pick rice, tofu, salad veggies, eggs, and onions. Five foods, infinite possibilities. What are your most flexible staple foods?