Sloppy Joes

Sunday night I felt restless. We had just returned from an open house at our wedding reception space, said goodbye to my mother, bickered a bit. I decided I would take the Barkers for a long W-A-L-K in the woods to tire us all out. I took my normal path down to the river. I love the sound of rushing water, the feeling of moisture in the air, the placidity of the river. As I walked down the stair-like steps of rocks near the river bed, enjoying David Gray n my ipod I slipped. I felt my ankle twist and pop. I landed on my back and gasped for breath. I watched Lorenzo wander off, and called him back. I realized if we didn't walk back as a pack, I'd be laying there for a while. I stood up, brushed the dirt off, put in my ear buds, and got back on the path. Jem's music played, the lyrics saying "God give me strength to keep on walking." I laughed. How tv sitcom dramatic.

When I got home, Nick had me do "ice bucket therapy." He fixed a bucket of ice full of cold water with ice in it to stick my foot in. Have you ever done that? Ice baths are intensely uncomfortable. As I squirmed around on the couch, I decided I should distract myself. Nick had been craving Sloppy Joe's. Meals in boxes did not exist in my house, so I had never seen a Sloppy Joe prepared in my life. I Googled a recipe for Sloppy Joes from scratch. I was quite impressed with them. I served mine on a Kinicknick's hamburger bun.

Nick only left one serving of Sloppy Joe in the fridge, so I know he loved them. I ate the leftovers today over GF shell shaped pasta. I think they were even better this way. And my ankle? I have a hairline fracture and a really fashionable boot to wear for the next 2-6 weeks.

Enjoy some sloppy good food!

Sloppy Joes Front Scratch

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup minced carrots (can sub chopped bell pepper)
• 1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium onion)
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Salt
• 1 1/4 lb ground beef
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 2 cups tomato sauce (or 1 15-ounce can whole tomatoes, puréed)
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• Pinch ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 2 turns of freshly ground black pepper
• 4 hamburger buns

Cook it up

1 Heat olive oil in a large pan on medium high heat. Cook the carrots for about 5 minutes, making sure to keep them moving so they don't burn. Put in the onion and celery with the carrots. Move the food around in the pan with your spatula occasionally until onions are translucent, about 5 more minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for 30 more seconds. Remove from heat. Transfer the veggies from the pan to a bowl and set aside.

2 Salt the bottom of the same pan. Turn the heat up to high to brown the beef. You may consider cooking the beef in 2 batches. Use a slotted spoon to help the beef brown on all sides. When the beef has browned, remove the extra fat juices.

3 Put the beef and veggies together in the pan over medium low heat. Add the ketchup, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar and brown sugar to the pan. Stir to mix well. Add ground cloves, thyme, and cayenne pepper. Let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes, then serve on GF buns.

Wrap it up!

Each member of the Shepherd SCI-A (Spinal Cord Injury Unit) crew seemed to have their own individual plan for health and fitness in 2009. Many ladies joined the Weight Watchers group. One is doing South Beach. Lots of the RNs are working out on days off, with or without a workout buddy. Me? I'm in an eternal state of trying to eat healthy and work out.

One of my coworkers has added wraps into her daily lunches. At first they were wrapped in flout tortillas, but in the interest of eating "low carb," she's been just making lettuce wraps. Here is my delicious GF version. While it involves a few repeat ingredients from sandwich posts, its a healthy choice and a good way to change up the average sandwich.

When using corn tortillas, you must warm them up on a very slightly greased pan before trying to fold/wrap them, or they will break. Make sure when you pull the lettuce leaves off of the head of lettuce, you realease the base of the lettuce leaf to avoid too much tearing.

Salami Wrap
Layer toegher:
* 1 corn tortilla
* 1 teaspoon GF mayo
* lettuce
* 4-5 thin slices of salami

Chicken Wrap
Layer together:
* 1 corn tortilla
* 1 teaspoon GF hummus, tahini, or mayo
* lettuce
* GF chicken or turkey deli meat to cover totilla (not too thick!)
* thin strip of tomato

Hummus Egg-Salad Sandwich

We have plants to meet friends at one of the picnic areas of Stone Mountain, hike up the mountain side, grill out, and watch the laser show. I’m freshly home from yoga, running around and tidying up my loft before friends meet here when it dawns on me that I should eat lunch. I open my refrigerator and realize I only bought food to grill out. I pull out the mostly-eaten jar of hummus, the carton of eggs, basil, lettuce, and my beloved mayonnaise. Things remaining in my refrigerator: PB&J, soda, OJ, grapefruit juice, dill, and parsley. I boil 3 eggs- 2 for now and one for later for egg salad and run off to clean the bathroom. I feel inventive.

Hummus Egg-Salad Sandwich
Serves 1, with a few extra bites.

2 hard boiled eggs
1 tablespoon hummus (I used Athenos garlic hummus)
1 teaspoon mayonnaise
1 lettuce leaf
Basil leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 pieces of GF bread (depending on your preference for open-faced or closed sandwiches)

Peel the shell off the egg. Fillet your egg into salad-sized pieces. Add hummus and mayonnaise, salt, and pepper. Mix it up. Place lettuce and basil leaves on base of sandwich bread. Add egg salad. Enjoy!

Where I've Been

Once I got home from vacation, I was in a bit of a hurried fog. I have been rushing to finish a class, work has been extremely busy, and do a long list of things I swore I'd do after the New Year. And then all of a sudden it dawned on me that it's mid-March. To be honest, I haven't really been cooking anything noteworthy. There are a few things I've done:

1. Made the best GF brownies in the whole wide world of chocolate cravings from a mix made by Namaste. I am a big fan of their mixes, but this brownie mix was truly to die for- moist, chocolaty, and delicious.


2. Re-discovered the magic and convenience of sandwiches made from Boar's Head deli meats. Today my amazing sandwich creation involved:
- 2 pieces of flax seed bread, one with a "shmear" of a new delicious Kosher mayo I discovered and the other with a layer of garlic hummus.
- a layer of smoked turkey
- a thick slice of a ripe red tomato
- a side of plain potato chips

3. Last week, while it was in the 70's, I reconnected with hamburgers over the charcoal grill.

4. Re-introduced small amounts of cow-dairy cheese into my life, with success. It will be nacho night, with a side of Lactaid. We'll see how this one goes. ;)

Sunday Sandwiches

It's playoffs, people, playoffs.

We could do hamburgers and beer, like most Sundays. The boys did burgers yesterday, so the choice is (thankfully) healthier- sandwiches. Only, it's not just a few pieces of meat stuck between some GF bread. Oh no. This is THE sandwich of sandwiches.

Sunday Sandwich

* Glutino Flax Seed Bread
* Boar's Head Oven Gold Turkey
* Boar's Head Hard Salami
* Whole Food's 365 Canola Mayonnaise
* Drunken Goat Cheese
* 1 Haas Avocado
* 1 Tomato

Prepare sandwich with above ingredients. Add a side of Lay's or apple slices, and your sandwich plate will look like the above illustration.

Go Green Chicken Sammies

Rachel Ray isn't my favorite television programs to watch, but the girl really can cook! I decided to give in and try one of her recipes. I've been playing with this recipe- the marinade is great for the chicken, baked afterward. The sauce I found to be too overpowering and spicy. Toning the sauce down would make a great salsa or sandwich topper. Find the recipe here:
http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=1853&r=1853,344,1774,1069,1538,340,1076,994,1482,1430,1125