Hawaiian Joes - the Dinner to DIE For

We have been eating a lot of tomato/seasoning/pasta or rice concoctions recently. All a little different, all a lot the same. Tonight, we decided to mix things up and have sloppy joes.

Now, back in the day, we bought some ground turkey, ground pork, ground beef, and ground chicken when it was on sale. We decided to use turkey and chicken to make our sloppy joes. We didn't have enough beef and we've been using the meats we have a lot of, so chicken/turkey combination it was. (Why the combo? Why not?)

We made the sloppy joes the way we usually do (except I forgot the mustard) - brown the meat, salt and pepper it, watch it cook. Then we spiced things up a bit and added some garlic and some Worcestershire sauce. Why not, right? After the garlic made our house smell divine, we added ketchup and brown sugar and let it all meld together into what we assumed would be sloppy joe heaven.

And then we tasted it. And it did NOT taste like sloppy joes. (Guess we missed the rule about using beef for sloppy joes. Oops.) I was not very excited, but Patrick tasted it a couple times and then he had this great idea - add some pineapple! Truth be told, he wanted the pineapple on the side because he hates pineapple with his meats (or something like that??), but that's what we are always doing, so I begged him to let me add it straight to the meat. I am SO glad he agreed.

We made the most delicious accidental meal I have eaten in a VERY LONG time. And the most delicious pineappley meal I've eaten in a long time.

It was so good that I am sharing the recipe with you now, as in, I JUST finished eating and the dishes are not even done yet.

Allow for some guestimations and whatnot because when I cook I pretty much just throw things in, and Patrick is getting good at that too. :)

Oh, and I apologize for not having a picture - I thought of that as the last bite was in my mouth. That's right, it was so good we don't even have leftovers.

Hawaiian Joes

1 lb ground birdy (we used chicken and turkey)

salt and pepper, to taste

1 1/2 T Worcestershire sauce (this is my guess, maybe it was closer to 1 T)

1 tsp minced garlic

1/3 - 1/2 C ketchup (to taste)

1/3ish C brown sugar (to taste)

1/2 - 3/4 can of pineapple chunks (again, to taste)

1. Brown the meat in a large frying pan. Salt and pepper it to taste while browning.

2. Add in garlic and Worcestershire, stir, and continue to brown meat.

3. Once meat is fully cooked (we don't want to risk any food-borne illnesses, here, folks), add ketchup and brown sugar. Honestly, I just dumped until it was the consistency of sloppy joes.

4. Simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, allowing the flavors to blend and soak into the meat, about 5 minutes.

5. Stir in pineapple chunks.

6. Simmer on low (or medium-low), stirring occasionally.

7. Here is the fun and VERY IMPORTANT part. Let some of it burn, er, caramelize. The brown sugar and the pineapple juices will caramelize and create this DELICIOUS burn that makes you think you grilled your dinner... or ate at Tucano's. It is important that you do not stir it too frequently, or you won't get that divine crisp on your meat/pineapple.

8. Eat it until you can't eat anymore, or until it's gone. We served ours on whole wheat pieces of bread. We are simpletons when it comes to what's under our sloppy's.

And the whole wheat added to our fairly healthy meal: ground birdy, better for ya than fatty beef; whole wheat bread, yum; diced fresh strawberries; green salad, leafy greens are so good for ya and this was the real-deal lettuce, not iceberg.

Dinner was a HUGE success and we felt good eating it. I hope you make this and enjoy it as much as we did! We will DEFINITELY be adding this to our menu more often. And then I'll take a picture of it. :) Yum!!!

Now go make some tummies happy!

Yummy Italian Chicken Crockpot Dump

Sounds delicious, no? Haha, keep reading.

Remember that crockpot chicken salsa stuff I like to make? (the one where I get to put frozen chicken in the crockpot and cover it with salsa and corn and black beans and cream cheese? yummm), well this is like that... but Italian-ish. :)

I forgot to take a picture, but it was SOOOO good everyone had seconds! (We had 4 missionaries over too!) So it makes a lot. :)

- Just take your crockpot.

- Put some frozen chicken in. (I had 3 breasts and didn't want to use a lot of our meat, so it's all I put in)

- 2 cans cream of chicken soup

- 1 can cream of mushroom soup

- 2 cans diced tomatoes (maybe of the seasoned sort - like with basil, oregano, and garlic)

(go ahead, just dump them all in)

- Italian seasonings (stuff like crushed basil leaves, oregano, marjoram, thyme, etc... whatever is in that blend called "Italian Seasoning")

- Black pepper

- Maybe some other seasonings... like coriander... or cumin... or garlic salt.. you know, whatever you feel like dumping in.

- Maybe a cup of water, if you feel like it.

- A block of cream cheese (put it in in the beginning or save it for later.... either way. - I ended up doing half and half, actually. I wasn't sure how much cream cheese I wanted, but I ended up using the whole 8 oz)

- Turn that puppy on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6+ hours. Just cook it until that chicken is cooked through.

- Then shred the chicken with a couple forks and mix it all together. Let it sit another 30 min to an hour (or longer) so the chicken will absorb all the flavor.

- Serve it over rice.

YUM!!!!

SO easy, SO simple, and seriously, dump it in and let it sit. Cook your rice in a rice cooker and it's even less work! Man, I love food that cooks itself. :)

Chicken Salsa Crockpot Goodness

I got this recipe from one of my friends, Brittany. I absolutely love it! And it is SOOOO incredibly easy that there are no excuses NOT to have it! (okay, if you don't have a crockpot, that's a good reason.... go borrow one :p)

-- 4-5 FROZEN boneless, skinless chicken breasts (isn't that great? FROZEN - you can use any part of the chicken you want, but boneless, skinless would be best)

-- 16 oz. jar of salsa (we prefer medium but you can use what you want)

-- 1 can drained black beans (here's a trick for you - drain what you can, then put some water in the can, shake a bit, drain, repeat until the water is pretty much clear... that'll be good enough - and you don't have to get a strainer or sieve out!)

-- 1 can drained corn

-- 1 8 oz. package of cream cheese

Put the frozen chicken breasts in the crock pot. Pour entire jar of salsa on top, then add the drained cans of black beans and corn. Cook in the crock pot on high for 4 hours (or on low for 8). 30 minutes before it's finished cooking, fork apart the chicken and put the cream cheese on top of the mixture. Let it soften, then mix everything together and ENJOY!

Helpful hint (for me, at least): take the chicken breast out to fork it apart. It's so much easier for me this way! I want it shredded pretty finely, so that's one more reason to take it out. Make sure you replace the lid while you're doing this. An unbelievable amount of heat is released when you take that lid off and slows the cooking process... at this point, you're just working to melt the cheese into the mixture, but you want all the heat you can get, right?) Put your chicken back in, put the cream cheese in there, let it sit for half an hour and then YUM!!!

We eat this with chips (like a salsa dip), on tortillas, or on rice. It's SO yummy! And it makes a lot so you can freeze it or have lots of leftovers/lunches! It's just as good when you reheat it in the microwave, too.

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

I think random recipes sounds better. :)

This is a recipe I got from my mom and adapted by adding shredded chicken to it.  It is actually made like a casserole - in layers - instead of rolled up in the tortillas.  However, you could wrap them up and make them that way if you'd like.  I like the casserole version because it's super fast and easy!

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

About 2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or chopped

1 pint sour cream

1 medium chopped onion 

1 Lg. can and 1 Sm. can of chopped/diced green chiles

2 can Cream of Chicken soup (not diluted)

Mix and season these ingredients to taste with salt, pepper, garlic salt, season-all, etc.  

2 lbs. grated cheddar cheese (I like medium or sharp, you can use whatever you'd like)

Pkg. flour tortillas (I like to buy a large package and use the remaining tortillas for other yummy treats, but it doesn't take very many for the casserole.)

Put into casserole dish in layers:

tortilla

mixture

cheese

repeat

Last night, we also added chopped tomatoes to one side of it and they added a nice flavor.  Feel free to add things and mix it up to make it how you like!

Cook to 16o˚ in the microwave (with a probe) or

At 400˚ in the oven for about 50 minutes, or until done.

And enjoy!  It's delicious!

Definitions:

chop: to cut into small pieces

shred: to tear into small pieces, especially small strips

"season to taste": add seasons to acquire a particular taste or flavor, especially one that you enjoy