Homemade Manwich

Homemade Manwich

     I can finally feel spring in the air. This past week has been a glorious week. The sun, for the most part, has been shining and working on melting that snow. The temperatures have pushed the 50's a couple of times this week too. I can finally see grass out in the backyard and the ducks have been gathering on the pond again.

     Since the weather has been so nice this week I have been starting on my regular routine of walking the dogs around the block again. Now I just need to keep this routine going next week. See I've been on spring break this past week and Monday is back to school for me. I'll have to start getting up to the alarm clock and throwing my sweats on to get the dogs out the door and on their walk before I have to hit the shower. It's a great way to start the day, especially now that the temps are getting warmer.

     In anticipation of the warmer weather I have been in the mood for more summer type food. I decided that I wanted to spice up my sloppy joe recipe a bit, so I went in search of a recipe. I found one that reminds me of Manwich. You know, that canned mix that you just add to cooked ground beef? Well I think this recipe is even better.

     I had to change the recipe slightly, but I think it still tastes really good. Now my kids still like my original recipe for sloppy joes, but they thought these were really good too.

Homemade Manwich
1 lb of ground beef
1/2 medium onion, diced
1- 14.5 oz diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 C ketchup
1/2 C Sweet Baby Rays barbeque sauce
3 T Worcestershire sauce
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t chili powder
1/4 t paprika
hamburger buns

In a skillet brown the hamburger and onions until the beef is cooked through. Drain the meat mixture. Add the drained tomatoes, ketchup, barbeque sauce, Worcestershire sauce and spices. Stir well and cover and cook on low heat for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Uncover and cook on low for about 5 minutes or until the mixture thickens up. Serve on hamburger buns.

Adapted from Big Mama's Home Kitchen

Chicken Caesar Wraps

Chicken Ceasar Wrap

     I decided today I was going to use the lettuce that I've been growing in my garden. Now I had to decide what to make with it. So this took a little looking around in the fridge to see what I had on hand to go with it.

     After looking through the freezer and finding frozen chicken strips I had an idea. Make chicken wraps! It just so happen to that it was lunch time and I was looking for something somewhat healthy to eat.

     I wanted to use the lettuce from my garden, so I got a little basket out and went to the garden to pick some fresh lettuce leaves. It has been a while since I've grown lettuce in my garden and I forgot what it takes to get it clean for eating. Wish I wouldn't have tossed that salad spinner long ago. Well needless to say I got it all clean and ready to eat without much of an issue.

     While I was cleaning the lettuce I placed the chicken on a baking sheet and got that in the oven. I then dried the lettuce with paper towels and then ripped it into bite size pieces. To that I added real bacon bits, parmesan cheese and mayo. I mixed this well and when the chicken was done baking I let it cool a bit before adding to the mix.

     Once I had this all mixed together I put it on a flour tortilla and Walla! We had lunch ready to go. Everyone liked it and the lettuce was yummy too!

Chicken Caesar Wraps
2 C diced cooked chicken
3 C torn lettuce
1/2 C bacon bits
1/4 C Parmesan cheese
1/2 C mayo
flour tortillas

Cook chicken and let cool slightly. Mix lettuce, bacon, cheese and mayo. Add cooled chicken and mix well. Put this mixture on a flour tortilla and enjoy.

    

Grilled Veggie Sandwiches

Grilled Veggie Sandwiches

I'm baaaack!
I know I've been absent for awhile, but August is such a busy month for me with school starting up this month. If I'm not getting myself ready to teach this month I'm making sure my own kids have everything they need for college.

I have been back to work now for two weeks and it is amazing how tired I am. I just don't have any energy left at the end of the day to do any cooking or baking (sorry family).

Besides going back to work my kitchen has been in disarray. I finally got new counter tops and whenever you do some updating in the home it gets messy before it gets pretty. I had to take all my stuff out of the cabinets below the counters, so I didn't have to clean every item again. Then once the counters got put in I had to put stuff back. Of course I rearranged things and amazingly I like the new arrangement better.

Now all of this had to wait until I got back from my work retreat of camping out in the woods (this is a whole story in itself).

Anyways today I have this really yummy grilled veggie sandwich. I was kind of copying the sandwich from Snuffy's restaurant. Snuffy's is one of our favorite hamburger joints in St. Paul, MN. The last time we went there my daughter had a grilled veggie sandwich there and it looked amazing and she said it was really yummy. So I thought lets give it a try. 

Well the sandwiches turned out terrific and everyone loved them. They were quick and I would imagine half way nutritious. I think you could use whatever kind of veggies you have on hand to make this delicious sandwich too.

Grilled Veggie Sandwich
1 onion
1 green pepper
fresh mushrooms sliced
olive oil
swiss cheese or cheese of your choice
bread of your choice
butter

Slice onion, green pepper, and mushrooms. Heat some olive oil in a saute' pan. Saute' onion and peppers until onions are clear. Add mushrooms and saute' until done.
Preheat griddle or fry pan. Butter two slices of bread, placing one buttered side down put a spoonful of veggies on top, place a piece of cheese on top, place bread on top with buttered top up.
Grill first side until golden brown and flip over. Grill other side until golden brown and cheese is melted.