Papa's Slop Joes

As a bachelor, I used to get the cheap version of sloppy joe sauce in a can and added to my own ground beef. The can usually says to add one pound of beef. I would use two. This allowed me to avoid the soupy consistency that one pound gave.Then several years ago, my son-of-an-accountant came out and realized that it would be more affordable to make it from scratch, as well as taste even better!! (OK, the real reason that I started making sloppy joes from scratch was a conscious effort to drastically cut the amount of sodium in our diet. I am proud to say that even though I use soy sauce in nearly every recipe, our sodium intake is extremely low.)

I looked up sloppy joes recipes online. (It took me, oddly enough, quite a while to find a recipe that didn't start with a can of sloppy joe mix.) I found one from Alton Brown and then I modified it. Now my original, but modified, recipe called for Worcestershire sauce, but one day I was out. (Turned out I couldn't find it behind the eggs. Oops) So I used General Tzo's. It LOOKED like W-Sauce. So I thought, "Why not?" But that is how good food combinations occur: Trial and success!

Here is what I've settled on:

1 splash olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 pounds of lean ground 33beef
1 teaspoon of majoram
1 dash of pepper
1 generous splash of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of choice spice (Papa prefers crushed mint or ground Saigon cinnamon)  Mint is used here.
24 ounces of tomato sauce
1/2 to 3/4 cup of water, as needed
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of mustard
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of General Tzo's sauce
1 dozen regular sized hamburger buns, toasted
1 dozen slices of cheese (optional)

Bring a large wok to heat with olive oil. Once hot, not yet smoking, fry up garlic and onion until onions are golden brown. Add ground beef, pepper and majoram.

Once beef is browned, drain, and put beef into dutch oven, add tomato sauce, water and the rest of the spices to dutch oven. Bring to boil over medium heat. Cover and cook for 20 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes. Serve.

Bon Appetit!!

Beef Stroganoff - Remastered

After learning to cook spaghetti as a kid, Beef Stroganoff was the next meal for me to learn. In the early days, I would use a couple of family size cans of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup, add it to ground beef and some choice spices (Italian Seasoning in everything was always my choice as a kid) and then serve it over wide egg noodles. (Dad would use the leftovers over toast, so I did too.) I kept this recipe well into my marriage years.

It wasn't until we decided to cut out as much as the processed foods that I revisited this recipe. But of course, after consulting with Carol, I've not made this dinner since we lived in Las Cruces, New Mexico before we had children. 

The reason we cut back on the processed foods is mainly to avoid the sodium levels, and to a lesser extent, the preservatives and other neat things that making freshly made foods tend to lack.  The last time I made Stroganoff from scratch, it wasn't something that I wanted to share with you all. It was bland, horridly so. It did inspire the beginning of this blog, but just didn't make the cut. So I made it again a couple of nights ago. It's that recipe I will be sharing. The only problem is that I didn't take a photo. So I've cheated. The picture is not from a couple of nights ago, but a couple of months ago. The recipe is from a couple of nights ago. It was a hit, and the leftover gravy tasted great over whole wheat toast!

Here's what you'll need:

2 pounds of ground beef - you can use thin stripped round steak

20 ounces of beef consomme (beef broth or stock if you must) - this is the sole source of salt

1 pound sliced mushrooms

1 large onion

2 cloves garlic crushed

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 cup all purpose flour

3 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons ranch dressing powder/seasoning

2 teaspoons cilantro

2 teaspoons marjoram

2 tablespoons General Tso's sauce

6 twists of black pepper mill

1 bag of extra wide egg noodle.

In a large wok, heat olive oil. Once hot, add just the garlic and onion. Fry until golden brown. Add mushrooms. Once the mushrooms have all darkened, remove wok from heat and set aside.

Fry up meat in large dutch oven using 1 teaspoon each of marjoram and cilantro with 3 twists of the the pepper mill. (Remember, I cook for a family of 7. For a normal size family, half the portions and use appropriate size pans and kitchen tools.) Once browned, add 10 ounces of the consomme and the General Tso's sauce. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.

While waiting for the 15 minutes to pass, in a small mixing bowl, add the flour to the consomme while whisking it to avoid clumping. (Do NOT heat!) For those pesky clumps that will not break apart, use a strainer when the time comes to add the mix to the dutch oven. Once meat has cooked for 15 minutes, add consomme/flour mix, keeping the heat no higher than medium. Stir while bringing it to lite boil. Add the mushrooms and onion mix. Once the mix is to boil, add cream and ranch seasoning, as well as remaining cilantro, marjoram, and pepper. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low or simmer and then cover for 10 minutes. Serve over your preferred pasta. We do prefer the extra wide egg noodles ourselves. 

Bon Appetit!