BBQ Chicken Sloppy Joes

My parents flew across the country last week for a short visit (in my Dad’s case) and a nice, long vacation (in my Mom’s case). We’ve been running thither and yon finding fun touristy things to do. We have been having a ball! Then yesterday we had to take my dad to the airport, boo. (Someone’s got to go make some money to support our shopping habits!!! *wink*) So today we’re taking a day off to recuperate and do some necessary housework and I thought I’d post a yummy recipe!

This is an older recipe from Rachael Ray (don’t hate) that we just loved and I’ve been making for years now. That sounds so weird, that I’ve been making something for years. But this recipe is a keeper! You can make it as mild or spicy as you like and it keeps really well in the fridge, so it’s nice to make a really big batch and have it on hand if you know you’re going to be running thither and yon and won’t feel like slaving away in the kitchen when you finally make your way home.

 

BBQ Chicken Sloppy Joes

3 cups chicken stock

4 pieces of boneless skinless chicken breast

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon hot sauce (I just use a couple of teaspoons when I make it for my kids. I set a portion aside (for them) and then add more hot sauce to taste (for us).)

2 tablespoons grill seasoning blend

3 tablespoons dark brown sugar

4 tablespoons tomato paste

6 soft sammy buns, such as soft burger rolls, split (run these under the broiler if you don’t have anything better to do. I didn’t take the time to do it this last time! But it is yummy!)

 

Bring chicken stock to a simmer in a large pot and slide in the chicken breasts.

Gently poach the chicken for about 10 minutes, turning once about after 5 minutes.

While chicken poaches, heat a medium skillet over medium low heat.

Warm the oil,  then add the garlic and onion and gently saute until translucent. Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit.

Combine the Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, grill seasoning, and tomato paste in a medium bowl and set aside.

When the chicken is cooked through (to an internal temperature of 170 degrees) remove to a cutting board. Reserve the cooking liquid. (I pour it into a big 4 cup measuring cup and dump the rest.) 

Add the onion and garlic mixture and about 1 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid to the sauce bowl & combine.

Shred the chicken with two forks. (I hate this part, but it’s totally worth it)

Put the chicken back into the cooking pot, pour the sauce over the top and combine well.

Turn the heat up to medium and simmer together 5 to 10 minutes, using extra cooking liquid to make your chicken as saucy as you like.

Heap some of the chicken onto half a bun and top with the other half. Enjoy!!!

P.S. This recipe serves 4 people. I definitely recommend doubling it! The leftovers are AWESOME!!!!

P.P.S. The last time I made it I used half chicken breast and half chicken thighs (they were on sale for practically nothing!) and it turned out really, really good. You would never have known there was dark meat in it. Jay is not a fan of dark meat and he loved it!

P.P.P.S. I don’t have a crock pot right now (because my last machine had a mind of it’s own when it came to cooking temperatures and did not believe me when I told it that ‘Low and Slow is the Way to Go’. Stupid crock pot.), but I would imagine that this would be a great recipe to try in one. It wouldn’t take much altering and I bet it would really benefit from cooking all day. I’ve been wanting to get another crock pot, I need to get on that!

Tea Time

I’ve been working on a lot of projects lately and have been listening to my favorite book series on CD to make the time go by easier. My favorite author is Elizabeth Peters. I’ve been re-reading re-listening to her Amelia Peabody series. It takes place in Egypt (mostly) around the turn of the century. The series follows a British lady archaeologist and her family and their exploits excavating in Egypt and foiling criminal plots. There are 19 books in the series! I love books that belong to a series! I hate committing to a book and loving the characters only to find out it’s a stand alone book. Most of my books are still in boxes but I would guess that I have about a dozen different series. Maybe more.

But this one is my favorite. I’ve been reading and re-reading it since I was in high school. In fact, I love it so much that I named my daughter after the main character. People usually assume she’s named after Amelia Earhart because I am a pilot. Nope! She’s named after Amelia Peabody Emerson.

Anywho, Amelia (Peabody) loves cucumber sandwiches. They seem to have them with tea every other chapter! And I think I’ve mentioned before that I am an extremely suggestible person. I’ve been through 3 books on CD in the last month and finally couldn’t take it anymore! I had to have cucumber sandwiches! My friend, Claudia, makes hers with goat cheese, which is absolutely fantastic. Knowing my kids probably wouldn’t eat straight goat cheese, I mixed mine with cream cheese. Yummy! Reese and Amelia are going to be having a few friends over for a tea party next week and I think these will be on the menu! (Along with good ole’ PB&J, just in case!)

By the way, Amelia (Peabody) probably wouldn’t approve of my cucumber sandwiches. I did a little wikipedia-ing and learned that traditionally they are made with the thinnest cuts of bread, spread with the thinnest layer of butter and layered with the thinnest slices of cucumber. Not mine ;) Mine are a little more, um, rustic.

 

Cucumber Sandwiches

6 slices of white bread

4 ounces of goat cheese, at room temperature

4 ounces of cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cucumber, peeled, halved and sliced

salt and pepper

 

In a mixer, beat the goat cheese and cream cheese until well blended.

Spread mixture onto each slice of bread.

Layer 3 slices of bread with cucumbers.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper. (I like lots of pepper)

Top with the remaining 3 slices of bread.

With a serrated knife, remove the crusts and try to make the sandwich into a square.

Cut the square into 4 triangles. Then cut each triangle in half.

Brew some tea and enjoy!

Grilled Chicken Sandwich with goat cheese

I'm so glad I decided to make this a second time. Seriously, it is so perfect with the goat cheese instead of the mozzarella. Here is the original recipe. Just swap out the mozzarella for a 4 oz log of crumbled goat cheese. Heaven!

This just cracks me up!

Check out the inches! Geez! Wonder what the heck they are?

Reese's Mystery Plants

From Amelia: When I drink my milk all gone I'm going to be bigger. *slurp* See! I'm all bigger now! I'm gonna go get Reesie.

Sigh. That's my girl :)

Pumpernickle sandwich

I love to make this sauerkraut when I can talk my brother and his lovely wife into bringing us decent bratwursts. (All I can get in this town are generic 'brats' that are really just hot dogs in dress up.) After Jay challenged me to a week of sandwiches I decided to try slapping it on some bread. Ta-da! Oh my Gravy, this was delicious! Even though it was missing sort of a key ingredient. Namely the actual SAUERKRAUT! It was a hit anyway, but I was sad with each bite, knowing that I was missing that tart tangy flavor. Next time, next time.

Bratwurst and Sauerkraut on Pumpernickle

1 pound bratwursts
1 loaf of pumpernickle
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 red onion, sliced
1/2 head of red cabbage, shredded
1 apple*, cored and sliced.
16 oz. jar of sauerkraut, drained
3-4 tablespoons prepared whole grain mustard

Preheat the your grill/grill pan to medium.
Grill your bratwursts, about 4 minutes each side.
Remove from grill, let rest a few minutes, and slice lengthwise.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat the olive oil.
Sweat the onion and the cabbage.
When they get tender, add the apple and sauerkraut.
Add the mustard and toss to coat.
Salt and pepper (lots of pepper!) to taste.
Remove from heat.

Cut the pumpernickle in half lengthwise. (I like to sort of hollow out the bottom half of the bread to cradle the filling better, do you?)
Drizzle with olive oil and grill the pumpernickle until toasty.
Lay a healthy layer of sauerkraut to bottom half of loaf.
Top with bratwursts.
Cap off with the top of the loaf.
Enjoy!

*I prefer a green apple here, but you can use whatever is handy. I've used several varieties with no problem.

If anyone has any suggestions for a cheese to go on this sandwich, I'd be very interested to hear them. My family doesn't believe in sandwiches without cheese (sorta how they don't believe in pizza without sauce), but nothing really sounded right to me. They liked it anyway, but I could see the mistrust in their eyes.

P.S. I know I said I'd post the brownie recipe, but the awesome cherry-chocolate frozen yogurt I paired it with is just too awesome and deserves it's own post ;) Check back tomorrow!

The Big Dipper

My kiddles will eat just about anything if there is dipping action involved. Cheese, fruit, veggies, meat, if there is something to dip it in they will eat it. Lia ran out of peanut butter for her apples the other day so she dipped them in the Ranch from her carrot sticks. Gross. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess. Still, ew.

Anywho, these sandwiches are quick and easy and only need the stove/oven for about 10 minutes. So they're great if, you know, your air conditioner breaks down or something.

Easy French Dip Sandwiches


2 tablespoons butter
1 shallot, chopped
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2-3 cups beef stock
1 1/2 pounds deli sliced roast beef
6-8 slices of provolone
4 sandwich rolls, split or one loaf Italian bread, halved lengthwise

Preheat broiler.
In a large, shallow skillet over moderate heat, melt butter.
Add shallots to butter and saute 2 minutes.
Add flour to butter and shallot and cook a minute longer.
Whisk in consomme in a slow stream.
Bring sauce to a bubble and allow to simmer over low heat until ready to serve sandwiches.
Toast rolls/bread under broiler.
Pile meat loosely across your cutting board or a large work surface.
To assemble, using a pair of kitchen tongs, dip meat into loose au jus and pile into rolls/bread.
Top with cheese.
Slide bread back under broiler until cheese is melty.
Set ramekins or cups with extra dipping sauce along side the sandwiches.

From Reese: I like your cooker-man clock, Mommy! (Chef clock) You're a good cooker too.

From Lia: And then the horseys chased the kids, and then, and then, and then, and then the horseys gave them rides, and then, and then, and then, we all fell down and laughed. *hysterical laughter follows*

Hey, look! It's still alive!

A Week of Sandwiches! Day One. . .

I saw this red pepper relish made for a sandwich on Secrets of a Restaurant Chef the other day. I truly am not fond of ham so I decided to pair it with something else. I parked some chicken in my favorite marinade for a few hours and that evening we had the most spectacular sandwich ever! I let Jay decide between mozzarella or goat cheese and he picked the mozzarella. I couldn't really even taste the cheese and I thought that the tangy smokiness of a goat cheese would have really complimented the sandwich, so I decided to make it all over again very, very soon.

Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Red Pepper Relish

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (you're really only going to need 2-3 breasts for this, but it's just as easy to marinate and grill up a big batch, then you have leftovers for salads, etc.)
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
1 loaf of ciabatta bread
6-8 slices of mozzarella

For the marinade:
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 lemon, sliced
3-4 cloves of garlic, smashed
3-4 sprigs of your favorite fresh herb, I used oregano but usually I use rosemary
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 cup of your favorite vinegar, I used a red wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups of olive oil
salt and pepper

For the relish:
3 red bell peppers
3 cloves of garlic, grated
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

AT LEAST 4 HOURS BEFORE DINNERTIME:

Preheat your grill to medium.
Grill the peppers until BLACK.
Meanwhile, put all the ingredients for the marinade into a large ziplock bag. (I squeeze the lemon slices when I add them in.)
Close the bag and mash everything together.
Open it back up and toss in your chicken.
When the peppers are done, place them in a bowl and cover with saran wrap.
Wait 10 minutes and then peel the skins right off!
Coarsely chop the peppers and mix with the rest of the relish ingredients.
Let sit in the fridge for at least an hour so the flavors meld.

When you're ready to eat:

Preheat the grill to medium.
Toss the tomatoes with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.
Place on a small sheet pan and put that either on the grill while the chicken is cooking or in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.
Place the chicken on the grill and cook until done. (about 5 minutes per side)
Let rest for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, cut the ciabatta loaf in half and drizzle with olive oil.
Broil/grill for a few minutes to toast the bread. Set the top half of the bread aside.
Top the bottom half of bread with a healthy layer of red pepper relish.
Slice the chicken and layer it on top of the relish.
Top with roasted tomatoes.
Cover with the cheese and slide it back under the broiler until the cheese is melty.
Remove, add the top piece of bread, and cut into large wedges.
Enjoy!

So between the difference in cheese opinions and the fact that our a/c decided to poop out on us during our first few days of 90+ degree weather, we decided to do a week of sandwiches for dinner. More coming soon . . .