Turkey Sloppy Joe's

*update* I made these again, so this time I took a picture!

Well - I'm sure everyone has given up on even checking this site anymore. I don't blame you! Its been 3 months since my last post, and even then... that wasn't a whole lot! So... Hopefully THIS time, I will be better about posting some new recipes. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me when I made this dinner - so I couldn't take any pictures. I should start keeping my old camera at Brandon's house so that way I always have my camera ready! Oh well.

So anyway - Sloppy Joe's.... blast from the past! I haven't had a sloppy joe since my mom used to make them for us when we were kids! I believe it also involved canned sloppy joe mix... or maybe packaged dry mix to add to ground beef. Easy quick meal that left everyone happy. So recently, after helping a friend clean out her kitchen before she moved out of town (who wouldn't want to raid someone else's pantry and take home a bunch of free food!), I was unloading one of the bags of food I got and noticed a can of Manwich thrown in. What! This stuff still exists?? How did it get in my bag?? I guess in the desire to get rid of everything in her kitchen.... somehow things I DIDN'T want still ended up in my bags. So... it made me all of a sudden start craving this stuff... more for nostalgia reasons. I couldn't really remember what it tasted like - I just remembered it being this tasty ground beef concoction between a hamburger bun. Well.. I certainly wasn't going to use this canned mixture... I'm sure the sodium is out of control and they managed to fit corn syrup into it somewhere..

As luck would have it... I was watching Food Network (I know!) and Tyler Florence was making his Ultimate Sloppy Joe's.... OH man... it was on. So with everything Tyler Florence makes on TV - you have to watch... and then when you read over his recipes later, realize he eyeballs EVERYTHING on his show... and the measurements on the website tend to be quite off. So - I decided to interpret some of what I saw on TV as well as change a few things based on ingredients I wanted to add or didn't have or whatever. So - here goes...

Turkey Sloppy Joe's
serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
  
• 1 medium sweet onion (I always get Vidalias when they are in season), chopped
  
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1c+ ketchup (I used organic TJ's brand - so no corn syrup!)
• 1T+ yellow mustard
  
• 2T tomato paste
• 1T brown sugar
• 1/4t cayenne
• 1T balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• salt & pepper
• hamburger buns (I like the french water rolls from Publix!)
  

Directions:

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add about 3 T of olive oil to the pan. Chop the onion in smallish pieces.. you know, not too small but not chunky either. Add onion to the skillet and allow it to caramelize... about 10-15 minutes. Turn up the heat or down the heat to adjust so not to burn onions... but also not to sweat them. Once they are almost done, add the diced red pepper. Again - these need to be cut about the same size... remember, it will be in the mixture so think about what size pieces you'd like to bite into in your sandwich.
   
2. Add ground turkey to the skillet with the onions and peppers. Keep the heat around medium/med-high. Season with salt and pepper. Make sure the meat is all the way cooked through! This isn't like beef where it can be a little pink and still be ok. Once turkey is cooked through - add the ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, tomato paste, and cayenne. Give it a good stir and then add a splash of balsamic vinegar. You can use red wine vinegar if you prefer. At this point... if you feel you want it to be a little saucier, add more ketchup. Taste! Taste now and if you think it needs more sweetness, add more sugar... more mustard, add more mustard.... More salt or pepper? Add more. Just remember you can always add more of these things, but you can't take away... so thats why I say to start with these amounts and move up from there.
3. So once the mixture has all come together and is heated through, you can remove it from the heat. Split open your hamburger buns and pop them under the broiler for a few minutes... give them a nice little crust. I find this helps a little with the moisture... so your bun doesn't get too soggy! Pile on some sloppy joe mix and enjoy!
   

So - there you have it. A simple... fast.... delicious meal thats also very affordable! I had no idea how good these were.... and now I think I'll be making these a lot more often. You can swap out ground beef or ground chicken as well... but I like using ground turkey as you tend to forget that its not ground beef.

I also followed Tyler's idea of making some slaw and homemade bread & butter pickles to serve with it. Recipes of those to follow soon.

Enjoy!
Lauren

Mushroom Veggie Burger

Ok.. I promise to post a photo, soon. Anyway - Brandon and I decided to try something new this weekend... I guess the sun peaking out and giving us some 70+ degree weather for the first weekend of March sparked a desire to cook something you'd want to eat at a bbq. Being the vegetarian that he is, we couldn't just cook burgers! So he did some researching and found a youtube video for a mushroom burger that looked simple and delicious. Simple being the key word here. Seems most veggie burger recipes call for 15+ ingredients and by the time you purchase everything you need, you may as well have gone out for dinner... not to mention the time involved with chopping all the veggies (something much easier if you have a large food processor with the shredding blade attached). SO... on to the recipe. I promise, its really simple... you just have to be a little patient with it. We also improvised, so I'll do my best to recreate the recipe for you guys.

Mushroom Veggie Burger
serves 4-5

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2lb mushrooms, sliced & chopped (we used a combo of crimini and button)
• 1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3T olive oil
• 2/3c rolled oats (though we left these out b/c we didn't have any on hand)
• 1/2c shredded or grated parmesan (calls for shredded, but we only had grated)
• 3/4c bread crumbs (plain)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2t dried oregano
• 2t worcestershire sauce (not called for, but we added for flavor)
• salt & pepper

Directions:

1. We chopped some of our mushrooms up in a food processor, and then chopped the others in bigger chunks, to give some texture. So you will add all your mushrooms to a large sautee pan with about 2T of olive oil in it. You'll also add the onions and garlic at this time. Add about 1t of salt and 1/2t of pepper and cook over medium heat. The salt is important as it will draw out the moisture from the mushrooms. You'll need to continue to cook this over medium to medium/high heat for at least 15 minutes. It may take more or less time depending on your stove, but you want all the moisture to cook out and the mushrooms become dry.. no water in the pan! While these are cooking, add in your other seasonings such as the dried oregano and worcestershire.
   
2. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and put in a large bowl. Add the breadcrumbs, oats, and parmesan to the mushrooms and stire to combine. The mixture will look kinda like sand and mud. Yeah - looks delicious! mmmm! Once the mixture has cooled a little, add the beaten egg and stir to combine. At this point, it is important to let the mixture rest for 15 minutes to allow the breadcrumbs to absorb the liquids and helps the mixture come together.
   
3. Heat 1-2T olive oil over medium head in large sautee pan. Form patties from the mushroom mixture, you should get 4.. but you may get 5 or 6 depending on how big you want them to be. We made 4 patties from this. This is a very sticky process! So once you've formed all your patties, add them to the hot oil and cook for about 2-3 minutes per side. You'll want the patties to have a good crispy crust formed on the bottom before flipping it over, so that way it will stay intact.
   
4. Once they're done cooking, set them on a paper towel lined plate to drain and top with cheese at this point if you'd like.
   
5. Get your favorite bun, toast it.. and top it with the fixins (we made a chipotle mayo, using some canned chipotle peppers and some mayo.. added a nice hint of smoky heat to the burgers)
6. Make sure to serve with your favorite bbq side items... potato salad, baked beans, corn on the cob, etc.
   

So there ya have it. Its really simple - and you'd be amazed at how much it will remind you of biting into a big juicy cheeseburger.. because this is actually juicy! I'm excited because it made 4 burgers, so tonight I'm gonna eat my 2nd one! I hope you guys take the time to make these sometime, they're soo worth it. And if you want to watch the youtube video you can find it here:


Mushroom Veggie Burger from Foodwishes on Vimeo.

Posted by LAUREN! woo

Ahi Tuna Burgers!

Its funny .... of the three sisters, I was the one who was convinced I would be terrible at trying to keep up with this blog.. throwing in my two cents and what not.. and here I am, almost a month after we set it up and I'm the first one to post! Shame on you sisters, for making me be the first!

Anyway... on to my recipe. I came up with this recipe after hearing Brandon rave about the Ahi Tuna Burgers at Bricktops, which I have never had, and my new addition to the kitchen, my Breville Panini Grill! So after getting Brandon's description of the Burger, I decided to try and match it. So here goes:

Ahi Tuna Burgers
serves 2

Ingredients:
2 6-8oz sashimi grade tuna steaks
1T ginger, freshly grated
coarse sea salt, to taste
ponzu sauce
2 kaiser rolls
1/4c mayo
1T wasabi powder

1. Chop the tuna steaks into large chunks and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.

2. In the meantime, you can make up your wasabi mayo. Simply mix the wasabi powder in with the mayo and set aside. This is one of those ingredients that you'll want to taste and add more or less, depending on how hot/strong you want it. Set Aside.

3. Remove the tuna chunks from your freezer and place half of it into a food processor. Pulse 3-4 times to grind the tuna. Repeat with remaining tuna chunks. Be careful! Do not over-pulse or you will turn this into a huge mess!

4. Mix the fresh grated ginger in with the tuna, again... this is an ingredient you can add more or less of, depending on how strong you want the ginger to be. I say less is more in this case. Season with coarse sea salt to taste. Form into 2 burger patties and place on a plate and refridgerate for 30 minutes.

5. Heat your panini grill to 375 degrees (or if you don't have one, heat a skillet to med. high heat). In the case of the panini grill, no oil is necessary, but with a skillet you may need to spray it to keep the burger from sticking. Place the burgers on the grill and close the lid. Cook for about 2 minutes. You want to middle to be rare and the outsides to be seared.

6. Slice open your Kaiser rolls and spread a little of the wasabi mayo on them (you can toast the buns ahead of time if desired, this may help keep the buns from getting soggy from the buger).

7. Place the tuna burgers on the rolls and brush a little ponzu sauce on them to taste.

8. Time to enjoy! Serve with your favorite asian side dish (May i recommend the following recipe?)

Sauteed Broccoli and Bok Choy w/soy sauce
serves 4

Ingredients:
1lb Broccoli
1lb Bok Choy
2T vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1T freshly grated ginger
1-2 T soy sauce

1. Separate white stalks from the bok choy and cut into 1 inch pieces. Coarsely chop the green leaves.

2. Cut broccoli florets away from stalk and coarsely chop.

3. In large skillet, boil 1/2c water. Add bok choy and broccoli. Cover and simmer for roughly 5-7 minutes over low heat, until broccoli is bright green. Uncover and cook on high until water evaporates, 3-5 minutes.

4. Add oil, bok choy leaves, and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes to soften garlic.

5. Press ginger in a sieve over the skillet to release juices and add the soy sauce. Toss to combine. Serve warm.

So I know we're not an asian food loving family, but I really enjoyed this meal. Its simple, takes no time to make.. and its delicious. If anyone has suggestions on a good topping for the bugers, maybe some romaine lettuce... or an asian slaw of carrots, cabbage, and scallions... please share! As for now, we keep it simple, keep it healthy, keep it short, and always.. keep it semi-homemade. Now let me tell you about my tablescapes!
ha ha ha.. just kidding.

seriously though, enjoy!

submitted by Lauren