Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Kitchen Catch Ups

Hello blog world!

I have been cooking relatively simple things lately and working on other house projects, so I haven't made anything cool lately. Unless you want some pictures of Sloppy Joes or brats on a grill, I've got nothing. We had corn on the cob, baked beans, and (gasp!) box pasta salads as side dishes.

Here are a few quick tips for the foods mentioned above.
1. The canned Sloppy Joe sauce says that it has a whole serving of veggies for every sandwich. I'm not sure I buy that, so I always add diced onions, mushrooms and green peppers. I like a little crunch, so I add them to the browned ground beef after it's cooked but before I add the sauce. If you like them with less crunch, then add them right away.
2. Both the baked beans and the pasta salad give you lots of options for "add-ins". With the baked beans, we added some hot sauce (like Franks) and onions. With the pasta salad, I added some chopped tomatoes. You could also add some grated carrots or cucumbers, but I had neither in the house.
3. Corn on the cob is amazing no matter what. If you eat it with mayonnaise and chili powder as my friend learned to do in Mexico or with a little butter and salt or with nothing at all. It's pretty hard to screw up this amazingly summer-fresh veggie.
4. With the brats, make sure your grill is nice and hot and that there's a beer or other beverage of choice in your hand. Then just go enjoy the great outdoors and the sizzle of brats on the grill.

We ate relatively easy things this week because we've been so busy in other parts of our lives that we haven't spent much time in the kitchen. However, I'm hosting a Thirty-One party soon, so I'll have some fun party snacks to share soon. Plus, it's Football Season, which is like a weekly holiday in Wisconsin or for any NFL or College ball fan. This means that there will be some fun finger foods coming up!

If you have a recipe to share, please post it in the comments!

No comments:

Post a Comment