Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Yummy and EASY Sloppy Joes

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Call me weird, but I’ve about decided that Sloppy Joes are one of my favorite things to eat. I know – it’s just this spoonful of messy meat on a bun. But I love it.

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They are just so simple to make and easy to eat, and they have such good flavor. I love making them for lunch. The meat mixture freezes well. It reheats easily. Ah, Sloppy Joes…what’s not to love?

TIP: Make 2-6 pounds of this Sloppy Joes recipe ahead of time and freeze in meal-sized portions. Thaw and reheat as needed.

TIP #2: Take this Sloppy Joe meat on the road with you! Re-heat in a crock pot in your hotel room for an easy, wholesome meal. This saves money on eating out when you travel!

Sloppy JoesYum

Yummy and EASY Sloppy Joes
 
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Serves: 6 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 lbs ground meat (beef, turkey, venison or lamb)
  • 2 T. minced onion
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 1 teaspoon mustard
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 Tablespoon worchestershire sauce
  • sea salt to taste
Instructions
  1. Brown meat and onion together.
  2. Add remaining ingredients, stirring well.
  3. Allow mixture to simmer in the skillet for a few minutes.

(I’m experimenting with making my own ketchup, but in the meantime I love this brand.)

Easy Sloppy Joe Meat

We love Sloppy Joes served on these homemade buns. Shucks, I like them without a bun. A Sloppy Joe in a bowl with tortilla chips is delicious!

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Ways to use Sloppy Joe Meat

Don’t just limit Sloppy Joes to a bun! Try using this Sloppy Joe recipe in these ways too:

The Easiest Sloppy Joes

Join Simple Meals!

If you love simple recipes like these Sloppy Joes, you will love Simple Meals even more!

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Zucchini Recipes: Cheeseburger Zucchini Boats

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You’ve gotta try this fun zucchini recipe! Little boats that you can eat…how cool is that? What a perfect way to get your kids to eat zucchini!

Cheeseburger Zucchini BoatsYum

3 small zucchini
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, chopped tiny
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. chili powder
sea salt
1/2 cup cheddar cheese (I use raw white cheddar)

Cut off the ends of the zucchini and boil them for about 10 minutes. In the meantime brown hamburger meat, onion, garlic powder and chili powder. Salt to taste.

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Slice cooked zucchini lengthwise.

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Use a fork and spoon to scrape out the “zucchini guts”  (sorry, I live with boys) and add it to cooked hamburger meat.

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Scoop equal amounts of hamburger mixture into each “boat”. Top with shredded cheese.

Cheeseburger Zucchini Boats
Put in oven broiler for a couple of minutes until cheese is melted then serve right away.

Now you can eat them while singing, “Great green globs of slicky, slimy zucchini guts…”

Or…you can skip the sing-along and just eat them.

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High Five Recipes: Italian Roast Wraps

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I continue to be amazed at the great dishes you can make using only five ingredients. Or three. And so many of the recipes only take five minutes to prepare. Italian Roast Wraps are so flavorful and juicy! Now – if you were looking forward to seeing a recipe that only takes five minutes to prepare….you may be disappointed with this one. THIS one only takes two minutes. Sorry about that. :)

High Five Recipes 2

 

Italian Roast Wraps

Italian Roast WrapsYum

High Five Recipes: Italian Roast Wraps
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 - 3 pound frozen roast (beef or deer)
  • 2 Tablespoons Italian dressing mix
  • Whole wheat tortillas
  • Sour cream or kreme fresh
  • Chopped fresh tomatoes
Instructions
  1. Place FROZEN roast in a crock pot.
  2. Sprinkle ½ pouch Italian dressing mix onto roast.
  3. Cook on low for 5 hours.
  4. Shred meat or slice thinly.
  5. Spoon meat onto a warm tortilla and top with tomatoes and sour cream.
  6. Wrap and eat!

Recipes I recommend you using for this dish:

Italian dressing mix 
Whole wheat tortillas

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Served with a fresh fruit salad, these Italian Roast Wraps are a great lunch or dinner!

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Be sure to check out all of the High Five Recipes I’ve posted so far. Here are a few to tease you:

Enjoy these High Five Recipes!

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Homemade Corn Dogs and Corn Dog Muffins

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A few weeks ago, Josette asked if anyone had a healthier, homemade corn dog recipe. Yippee! A recipe challenge. I love me a recipe challenge.

And – all my healthy eating talk aside – I love me a good hot dog. Oh, how I wish I didn’t. The icky ones that are made from 14 different kinds of animal leftovers? I don’t love me that kind of hot dog. A big juicy beef hot dog? I could eat three. (Not that I do of course…)

I’ve found some hot dogs from Azure Standard made by Shelton that are pretty good. They are made with chicken, don’t have any preservatives, etc. If you have access to those, give them a try. We like them just fine.

And – hot dog on a stick with yummy cornbread fried all around it? Hello. I am my kids’ favorite mom on days I make these.

Homemade Healthier Corn DogsYum

Homemade Corn Dogs and Corn Dog Muffins
 
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Serves: 10
Ingredients
  • 10 hot dogs
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • ⅔ cup cornmeal
  • 2 T. honey
  • 1½ t. baking powder
  • ½ t. dry mustard
  • 1 egg
  • ¾ cup milk
  • 2 T. oil
  • Oil for frying (I use Palm Shortening)
  • 10 lollipop sticks
Instructions
  1. Whisk together all ingredients (okay, except for the hot dogs of course...and the oil for frying...and the lollipop sticks).
  2. Place one hot dog on each stick. (I find lollipop sticks in the cake decorating section at Walmart.)
  3. For frying the corn dogs...you can immerse them in hot oil if you have a Fry Daddy or something similar. I don't have one, plus I'd rather not use that much oil. Here's what I do:
  4. Heat a small amount of oil in your electric skillet.
  5. Holding onto the stick "roll" the hot dog around in the cornmeal batter to coat.
  6. Place the corn dog down onto the hot oil.
  7. Allow the corn dog to cook quite well on one side before attempting to turn it so that the batter won't pull off.
  8. Turn as necessary to cook on all sides.

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My corndogs don’t turn out very lovely. They’re sort of triangular in shape. Ah, but they taste delicious!

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NOW.

Wait until you hear THIS idea. When Jennifer heard that I was going to conduct a corn dog experiment…she gave me this idea!!! Thanks Jennifer!

These Corn Dog Muffins are a perfect way to avoid the mess of frying your corn dogs and finding lollipop sticks, etc. I LOVE this!

Easy Corndog Muffins

Corn Dog Muffins

This recipe for cornbread, doubled
8 hot dogs
24 muffin papers to line muffin pans.

Mix up the cornbread. Cut hot dogs into thirds. Scoop cornbread batter into the paper lined muffin cups. Place 1/3 hot dog into each muffin.

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Bake at 400 ° until golden brown. Serve right away.

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Look! You can’t even tell there’s a hot dog in those muffins! You could surprise your kids with these! They’ll think they are only having a cornbread muffin for lunch. Then tada! There’s a hot dog inside!

The best thing about these Corn Dog Muffins is that they freeze well!!! Just thaw and reheat in the oven for a few minutes before serving!

How’s that for an easy lunch idea that you can make ahead of time?!

(Click on our Make Ahead Meals link for more fun ideas of kid friendly, healthy recipes that you can make ahead of time.)

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High Five Recipe: Popcorn Chicken

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Popcorn Chicken – One of our most popular High Five Recipes!

High Five Recipes 2

Here’s what I always wondered as a little girl:

Why DID the chicken cross the road?  And how did he manage not to get hit en route? And if he just wanted to get to the other side, WHAT exactly was on the other side that he was so excited to get to? And why wasn’t he just at home where he was supposed to be? Where was his owner?  

Silly little chicken.

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Yes, I will be happy to continue to give you these little morsels of deep thoughts to ponder while you do your dishes.

Here’s the promised recipe for Popcorn Chicken. I don’t suppose the chicken ever suspected he’d be turned into delicious edible items such as this…

Popcorn ChickenYum

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High Five Recipe: Popcorn Chicken
 
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Ingredients
  • 3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • ¾ cup whole wheat flour
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • butter
Instructions
  1. In a medium sized bowl, stir together flour, salt and garlic powder.
  2. Using kitchen shears, cut chicken breasts into tiny bite sized pieces.
  3. Toss chicken in flour mixture to coat well.
  4. Smear a thick layer of butter on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  5. Pour coated chicken into dish, spreading so that they are in a single layer.
  6. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Stir chicken and bake another 10 minutes.

5 Simple Ingredients - Popcorn Chicken

This recipe really is as simple as it sounds. Make the chicken pieces as big or small as you like. Want more High Five Recipes like this one? You’ll find all of our real food, 5 ingredient recipes here!

You might be interested to know that when Matt and I visited west Africa in ’95, there were all kinds of animals crossing roads at all times of the day…and some of them were chickens. Indeed, it did look as if all they wanted to do was get to the other side. How ’bout that?

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High Five Recipes: Italian Stew with Green Beans

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High Five Recipes 2

Italian StewYum

1 pound chopped stew meat
6-8 medium potatoes, scrubbed and cut into bite sized chunks
2 cups frozen green beans
2 T. dry Italian dressing mix

Stir together all ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on low for 3-5 hours.

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High Five Recipes: Lunchtime Salmon Patties

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High Five Recipes 2

As I’ve been developing this idea for High Five Recipes…I am AMAZED at how many yummy dishes you can make with five ingredients or less. Cooking healthy food really, really is simple. I have a big (and ever growing) list of recipes to share with you ranging from main dishes to side dishes to desserts and snacks…all that only require FIVE or less high quality ingredients!!

I mentioned here that we’re trying to add more fish to our diets. A friend of mine told me about how she makes Salmon Patties and what an EASY lunch they are. Ooh, she was right.

These Salmon Patties are SO easy and super delicious. I used Rubinstein’s Wild Alaskan Pink Salmon. (This is a very inexpensive dish to make!)

Not only are these a perfect lunch idea…it’s a great “rescue me” dinner too if you’re on the run in the evening since you don’t have to plan ahead to thaw meat for this dish!

Lunchtime Salmon PattiesYum

14 oz can salmon
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 t. lemon juice
oil for cooking (I use palm shortening or coconut oil)

In a bowl, mix together salmon, egg, bread crumbs and lemon juice. (You can mix the bones from the salmon in if you’d like…they cook right in and are good for you. However, I get a little wigged out about them and take out the biggest ones.)

Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet. Spoon tablespoon sized balls of the salmon mixture into the oil, flatten and cook for about five minutes, turning once. The salmon patties should be golden brown.

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If you’re not a big fan of fish…I encourage you to give this simple recipe a try. I think you’ll probably be surprised!! And…this is one of those recipes that not only takes five ingredients…it only takes about five minutes to prepare. Yay!

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Warm Up With Snowflakes

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I think this idea is too much fun not to share!! My kids LOVE getting in on cooking lunch when we make these Melting Snowflakes! And of course…no two look exactly alike!

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Yum

It’s the first time eating a snowflake has ever warmed me up! Here’s how to make ’em:

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Start by folding a tortilla into fourths.

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Use kitchen shears to cut notches out around the tortilla.

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Open up the tortilla that has now become a snowflake.

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Place a whole tortilla into a skillet…sprinkle with cheese.

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Top with the snowflake shaped tortilla. Cook over low heat until cheese is melted. (You may need to put a lid on the skillet to keep the heat in and melt the cheese.)

(p.s. I usually use my homemade whole wheat tortillas and white cheddar cheese to make these…but I already had these pictures taken so decided to use them.)  :)

Isn’t that such a fun, yummy way to eat lunch?! 

Oh, and bake the “cut out” scraps from the tortillas for a few minutes at 350 degrees for chips to dip in salsa. 

I also think it would be fun to fold a tortilla in half and cut it into a heart for Valentine’s Day…don’t you think so!?
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Turkey Leftovers…Turkey-n-Biscuits

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Here’s the Turkey-n-Biscuit recipe I promised you! If this doesn’t sound good…there are 19 other turkey ideas here. And if none of those sound good…you seriously need to put the rest of your turkey in the freezer and go make yourself a hamburger. With onion rings.

But, if you can handle another meal of turkey, I think you’ll really like this dish: 

Turkey -n- BiscuitsYum

2 cups cooked turkey
3 cups turkey broth
4 medium potatoes, diced
3 carrots, diced
2 cups frozen peas
2 T. arrowroot powder
1/3 cup water
sea salt 

Stir together the arrowroot powder and water in a glass or a jar until arrowroot powder is dissolved. In a large pot, bring the broth to a boil. Stir arrowroot powder and water mixture into the broth. Continue to stir until broth thickens. Add turkey, potatoes, carrots and peas. Salt liberally. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down and cook vegetables until they are tender. Pour into a casserole dish. Top with whole wheat sourdough biscuits rolled very thin. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 –30 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown.

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So have you all been eating bunches of turkey lately, or are you on to other meats? Why is pork called the “other white meat”? Sorry, that was random.

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Taco Potatoes

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Yum

Taco Potatoes

 

6 baking potatoes
1 lb. Ground hamburger meat
½ pkg. Taco seasoning
½ cup heavy cream
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup salsa
Preferred toppings such as lettuce, tomatoes, olives, sour cream, etc.

Scrub potatoes. Stab each of them with a knife (so they won’t explode!), place in a casserole dish, cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 ½ hours.

Brown hamburger meat, drain and add seasoning (you can add the whole package of seasoning if you want, I just think it’s a little strong like that!). Stir in cream, salsa and cheese. Stir on low heat until cheese is melted.

Cut potato open on plate. Pour meat sauce over potato and load it up with toppings you prefer.

This recipe, along with lots of other yummy beef recipes can be found in HeavenlyHomemakers ebook “What to Do With the Cow in Your Kitchen”.

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