Sloppy Joes sans Canwich

Sometimes I make something and am horribly disappointed in it, yet Mr. Monkey will insist that it's not as bad as I think it is.  This recipe started out as something else all together.  I made the original, and thought the whole thing tasted too sweet and was disgusting.  Mr. Monkey said it was fine if you didn't eat the cornbread part.  Indeed, the Jiffy cornbread was too cake-like, and the recipe wanted way too much of it.  The meat part wasn't bad though, and thus we decided to try it again as a sloppy joe sandwich.

It was awesome... though I did put a bit too much spice in.  I'll put the recipe up as I made it, but be aware that it will be spicy, and you might want to make adjustments.  I would recommend cutting out the cayenne and/or jalapeno peppers.

The "sans Canwich" part of the name is a play on the name of a certain canned sloppy joe mix.  You don't need that stuff to make a great sandwich!

Sloppy Joes sans Canwich

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 22 oz ground turkey (or 1 lb of your favorite ground meat)
• 3 cloves garlic - minced
• 2 green onions - sliced
• 1 medium red or orange bell pepper - chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper - chopped 
• 1 cayenne pepper - chopped 
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 1/2 ground cumin
• 3/4 tbsp sriracha (Rooster) sauce
• 1/2 tbsp chipotle Tabasco sauce 
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp liquid smoke (optional)

Directions:

1. Add olive oil to a large pan and warm over medium heat.  Add ground turkey and brown.
2. When turkey is brown and broken up into smaller pieces, add the garlic, peppers, green onion, salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, hot sauces, and liquid smoke.
3. Simmer until peppers are tender.
4. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and tomato sauce until combined.  Lower the heat and allow to simmer until it's hot all the way through and is thickened.
5. Serve over your favorite bread or buns!

Serves 4

Meatballs and Squash Spaghetti Sauce

I must confess, I'm not always the best at getting a food photograph together.  Take the meatballs from this post.  It would look so much better on a plate, carefully arranged, better lighting, etc.  Unfortunately when it was done I was quickly trying to serve it because we were pretty hungry.  So we have a picture of the leftovers instead.  Mind you, I'm really looking forward to these leftovers!

The main part of the recipe will be the meatballs themselves.  The sauce you use is flexible, but I figured I would post it anyway.  Yes, I also realize that isn't technically spaghetti pasta; I used what we had.  It worked.

As a side note on the meatballs, I may try cooking them in the oven next time.  It would remove the element of having the meat fats to use for sauteing the squash, but it would make it easier to prepare everything at once without the meatballs getting cold.

Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb ground turkey
• 1/2 lb hot pork sausage (I used a hot breakfast sausage, but hot Italian would work too)
• 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp garlic herb blend (either Mrs. Dash or Kitchen Secrets)
• 2 tsp ground pepper
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl either with clean hands or by fork until very well combined.  Scrape sides and bottom to ensure the breadcrumbs are fully incorporated into the meat mixture.  Make sure that the two meats are well mixed so you don't have large clumps of a certain meat type in a single meat ball. 
2. Warm about 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large pan using medium low heat.
3. Form the meat into balls either by hand or using a 4" ice cream scoop.  Using the scoop should mean you have around 8 meatballs total.
4. Cook the meatballs in the pan until all the pink is gone.  You may want to turn the heat up to medium, but I would advise against going much higher as you want to cook them all the way through without burning the outside.
5. Move meatballs from the pan to a plate. Do not drain all of the fat out of the pan as we're going to make...

Squash Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of sliced squash - I recommend using different types of squash to add an interesting flavor.  I used One Ball squash and Mediterranean squash  
• 2 8oz cans of unsalted all natural tomato sauce
• 1 6oz can of tomato paste
• Sea salt to taste
• 2 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp Kitchen Secrets Greek Seasoning (optional)
• 1 tbsp Garlic Herb Blend (Mrs. Dash or Kitchen Secrets)
• 3 tsp crushed red pepper
• 2 tsp Sriracha "Rooster" sauce
• 1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives
• The meat fat from previously

Directions:

1. Saute the sliced squash over medium heat in the fat from the meatballs.  Add the olives when the squash starts to become tender.
2. Add the tomato sauce and tomato paste, and stir well to ensure the consistency is even throughout the sauce.
3. Add the seasonings and sriracha sace. Mix well and simmer until sauce is bubbly and hot.
4. Serve over pasta of your choice with the meatballs.

Serves 4 (two meatballs per plate).

Turkey (or Chicken) & Quinoa Meatloaf

I adapted this recipe from something I found on allrecipes.com. The original wasn't bad, but some of the measurements were off, and I really didn't want to make up a brown sugar rub for it.
If you're not sure about what quinoa is, then check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa and http://www.quinoa.net/.
1/4 Cup of Quinoa
1 Cup of Water (can be reduced to 3/4 potentially)
1 tsp of Olive Oil
1 stalk Green Onion, chopped
1 Large clove of garlic, chopped
1 lb of ground turkey or ground chicken
1 tbsp ketchup or tomato paste
1 tbsp (or more) Tabasco sauce
2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce (not 100% necessary)
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp of salt
Pepper and other seasonings to taste - personally I use crushed red pepper, ground black pepper, and alternate between a few different herb & spice blends to change things up.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a cooking pan (8x8 will work) with cooking spray and put to the side.
• Bring quinoa and water to boil in a pot over high heat. Reduce heat to medium low to low, cover, and simmer until quinoa is tender and water has been absorbed. This may be around 15 to 20 minutes. Once done, remove from heat to cool, fluff quinoa with fork.
• Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the green onion and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until garlic is lightly browned and onion soft.
• Stir all the ingredients together in a large bowl until well combined. The mixture will be very moist.
• Shape mixture into a loaf in the prepared pan, and add either a zigzag of ketchup or BBQ sauce on top.
• Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes. Let meatloaf cool for about 5 to 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Serves 4.