Feed Your Peeps

 My love for cooking, eating, and entertaining continues. Now, I have found a platform for all of recipes and love of all yummy meals. Don't blame me if you drool on our keyboards and your computers short circuit. It's just how it goes.

 For many years people have asked me for my recipes and have raved about my meals. I can't imagine not knowing how to cook let alone cooking terrible food. I grew up surrounded by fabulous food and phenomenal cooks. Nothing fancy except the way it was presented. Pretty platters and bowls, served on fun table cloths, as well as, elegant table cloths, but the food was always the star of the show. I feel I am carrying on the tradition.

 I don't buy fancy ingredients or shop in fancy grocery stores. I am a "staple cook" meaning, I cook mainly from the basic ingredients that all kitchens should have readily available. Every now and then I might make something off the norm, but why fix something if it's not broken.

I also feel the need to mention that during these fast paced times, that taking much needed shortcuts, is a necessity.

Example: Instead of making your own pizza crust, Chef Boyardee makes a fabulous crust, in the box. All you need is veggie oil and water. Poof, it's done. It tastes as good as homemade. Bisquick is a nice boxed friend to have in your corner, as well-Wink.

 So here are my recipes and family recipes that are now at your fingertips.


Sloppy Joe's

(Please, note their is another recipe for these Sloppy Joe's leftovers below)

1lb. Hamburger

1 cup ketchup

3 tbls. white vinegar

1 tsp. black pepper

2 tsp. yellow mustard

4 tbls. sugar

1 diced onion

In a skillet brown down hamburger and onion until cooked. Then drain excess grease.

While hamburger and onion mixture is cooking make the Sloppy Joe's sauce.

Combine ketchup, white vinegar, black pepper, yellow mustard,  and sugar. Mix well. If you would like it a touch sweeter add tad more sugar to balance out the vinegar.

Add sloppy joe's sauce into the hamburger and onion mixture. Turn heat on the burner on medium until you get a nice boil and then turn it to low/simmer. Keep this on simmer for about 10 minutes or until you are ready to eat. Be sure and stir occasionally so it doesn't stick to the pan.

Serve on hamburger buns. You can also tear up slice of bread and pour the mixture over the bread. My husband enjoys dipping nacho chips into a bowl of this bbq and eating it as a dip.

This recipe will comfortably serve 4 people.

Note: I usually double, triple or quadruple the recipe-we love leftovers.

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Pizza Burgers

 (Made a couple of days later with the Sloppy Joe's leftovers)

*Preheat oven to 400 degrees

You will need:

1 pack of hamburger buns or 1 hotdog buns

1 bowl of your left over sloppy joe's. Enough leftovers to make 18-20 ice cream scoop fulls of sloppy joe's.

2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

While you are waiting for the oven to preheat. Put your leftover Sloppy Joe's in a sauce pan and warm it up on the stove. Make sure it is warmed through.

Next take a cookie sheet and put all of your hamburger or hotdog buns on it. As many as you can fit. If you are using hamburger buns put both the top and the bottoms down separately on the sheet and face up.

Your mixture should be warmed up by now.

Take a large tablespoon or an ice cream scoop and put put one big scoop on the hamburger buns or in the buns if you are using a hotdog bun. Be sure the mixture is spread all over. Now take your shredded cheddar cheese and sprinkle that over the top of the bbq mixture-to your liking.

Put in oven until the cheese melts together.  Which is generally about 5-8 minutes.

Take out of oven and let rest for about 5 minutes. Use a spatula and serve.

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Tator Tot Casserole

(This is a really great side dish the Sloppy Joe's)

*Preheat oven to 375 degrees

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1 regular size bag of tator tots

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. pepper

1 large Cheez Whiz



1 tub of sour cream (8 ounces)

1 small onion finely chopped

*8-12 tsp. of butter (reserved for the topping)

Stir the ingredients (except for the tator tots & butter) in a large mixing bowl until all ingredients are creamy. Once the ingredients are mixed now add the tator tots in to the bowl and stir it all together.

Grease a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Spoon the mixture in to pan and smooth it nicely the way you smooth the top of a cake.

Now, take just a regular teaspoon of butter it and just kind of take your finger and smear it out of the spoon and just drop it on top of the casserole while spacing it out every 2-3 inches or so. Do this 8-12 times. This just makes for a great brown color when it cooks and oh ya, it tastes fabulous.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil and at the last 15 minutes remove the foil to get the golden-brown color that makes it look so scrumptious. Put this in the oven and, because ovens vary, bake this anywhere form 45 minutes to 1 hr. I really start checking it at 40 minutes. You need to look for the top to be a golden-brown color and bubbling.

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Cheese Soup

1 lb. Velveeta

2 cups milk

1 can Campbell's vegetable soup (drained)

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

2 cans of cream of celery soup

4 Tbls. of Worcestershire.

Turn your crock pot on high. Cut the cheese into 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch cubes and put in the crock pot. Put all other ingredients into the crock pot. about 4 hours later you will have soup.

Note: Sometimes I add a bit more Worcestshire, just because I, personally, love the taste of it and it changes up the flavor.

I also, in a hurry, will make this and cook it on low on the stove top in a big sauce pan-just be careful not to scorch the cheese.

Have your oyster crackers near by. They are so yummy inthis soup.

I usually double this recipe because we love our leftovers.

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