Sloppy Jose! Olé!

No, that’s not a typo.  These are Sloppy Joes with a Mexican twist.  They’re simple and only take a few ingredients, but they taste fabulous.  On a night when I’ve been busy all day and want to just throw something together in half an hour, this is one of my go to meals. 

We’ll Keep this short and sweet and get right to it.  This recipe makes enough for about three sandwiches.  My husband and I usually each eat one for dinner, and then one of us will use the leftovers for lunch the next day.  You can easily adjust the amounts up or down depending on how many you are feeding. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

½ pound ground turkey breast
½ medium onion, diced
½ red bell pepper, diced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 cup good salsa
1 cup cheese, grated
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

You’ll notice that there is no bell pepper in my process.  My grocery store didn’t have one worth buying that day, so I just went without.  It really is better with it, though, so if you can get one, put it in. 

Add the oil to your pan over medium heat.  When it’s hot, throw in the onion and bell pepper and sprinkle them with a pinch of salt.

Stir them around for about a minute and add your turkey. 

Start chopping it into pieces and sprinkle it with chili powder. 

Continue chopping and stirring until it looks something like this.

Add the salsa.  As usual, I like to use homemade.  If you use store bought, remember, the salsa is where all the flavor comes from.  Splurge and go for something good. 

Stir it all together.  Starting to look pretty tasty, huh? 

Cover it and let it simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so.  Don’t skip the simmering.  See what happens during that time?

Stir it again and turn off the heat.  Throw in the cheese. 

I used a half cup of a pre-grated mix and a half cup of extra sharp cheddar.  It’s best to use a mix of some kind.

Stir it all together.  Did I mention I really like cheese? 

Cover it and let’s start on the buns.  I like to use the ciabatta buns that my grocery store makes.  You want something slightly crusty so that it will stand up to the filling, but soft enough to easily bite.  All those air pockets in ciabatta are helpful, as well. 

Scoop the filling onto the bun. 

Drooling yet? 

I like to serve them with just potato chips, but you could always add a pickle spear, potato salad, or whatever other side item you like. 

Try my Sloppy Joses and let me know what you think.  You’ll never want to go back to canwich again.          

Cramming my face off

It's exam time. I barely have time to brush my teeth, never mind cook.

There are flashcards on the back of the toilet, sticky notes on the walls, and my couch is covered in physics problems. If you think I'm making dinner this week, you are sorely mistaken.

I'm doing my best to eat more than coffee, tortilla chips, and beef jerky, but I've got 2 more exams to go, and I've had to wash forks to eat my last two meals. 

Exams mean I don't have time to wash dishes either. Coffee cups don't need to be washed, only rinsed.

One of the few clean things left in the cupboards is the food processor. Yeah, I know, pain in the ass to wash, but there's really no other way to make pesto.

Pesto

What you need:

• Basil leaves
• Olive oil
• Garlic
• Pine nuts
• Romano or parmsan cheese (real cheese! not Kraft!!)

No, I didn't measure. I didn't have time to measure. There are finals looming! (um, yes, I know I promised to write shit down. I didn't mean I'd do it during exam week).

What you gotta do:

Tear the basil leaves up a bit, ripping the stems off. You'll have about a cup (measurement; happy? better be).

Put the leaves and the garlic and a bit of olive oil in the food processor.

Mine has a regular sized bowl and a mini-bowl. Mini is all you need. If you're doing this in a regular sized one, you might want to double the recipe. Double a recipe with no measurements. Ha. I kill me.

Put the lid on and run it.

If it's sticking to the sides, stop the machine. Or if it's like mine take the lid off. Poor safety engineers; they go through their days having to assume that everyone on the planet is a total fucking moron. Well, it's kinda true. Any time you think to yourself "no one's dumb enough to try that" you just guaranteed that some jackass will try it.

So, pesto. Scrape down the sides and pour in another blob (technical term, very foodie, an actual measurement) of oil. Replace the lid and let it whir a bit more.

Add some pine nuts. Some, more than none, but not too much.

Whir until the pine nuts are no longer discernable.

Now, the grated cheese. Can I say "to taste" here instead of telling you how much? Is did "to taste" a valid measurement?

And another whir.

Look! You made pesto.

Don't you feel fancy.

And what do we do with fancy pesto?

Well, I'm sure you could do something like some kind of grilled steak over linguini with a pesto and cream sauce, or mix it with chevre and fill butterflied chicken breasts with it, or mix it into cream cheese and bake it to make a creamy, cheesey pesto dip.

Me, I made pizza. (Dude, I'm in freaking university and I have a final exam tomorrow, what did you expect me to do?)

Slices of half stale baguette, smeared with pesto, topped with onion, tomato slices and chevre.

      

Baked at 350 until I decided I needed to take them out of the oven and get back to studying.

Would you tell me if I had pesto in my teeth??