Simply Mindful Sloppy Jose

I used to make this a lot when the kids were little. The recipe has morphed a little since then, becoming more mindful of calories and sweetness and gaining a bit more heat. This is so simple to make, there is no reason to buy that High Fructose Corn Syrup added can of sloppy mix.

Simply Mindful Sloppy Jose'

nutrition facts

Mindful shopping list:

1 pound very lean hamburger (preferably organic hormone free grass fed beef)
1 t olive oil
1/4 cup onion
1/2 cup portobello mushroom
1 1/2 T chili powder (your favorite blend)
1 t paprika
1 t garlic powder
1/4 t fresh cracked black pepper (to taste)

6 ounces of tomato paste
a little water

1/2 teaspoon Tabasco Sauce
juice of one lemon
1 T packed brown sugar
1 t spicy brown mustard

Prepare and measuring before cooking:

finely chop the onion and mushroom.

Open the can or puncture the lid on the tube of tomato paste and set it near the stove.

Measure the chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, and black pepper into a small bowl.

Juice the lemon and place in another small bowl with the brown sugar and mustard.

The actual cookery:

Put the oil in a medium sized pot and heat over a burner set to medium. Dump in the hamburger, onion, and mushroom. Saute until the hamburger is well browned and the mushroom and onion soften a bit. Drain very well.

Keep the pot over medium heat. Dump in the chili powder mixture and stir well. Top that with the tomato paste and stir well. Add just enough water to make a very thick sauce. Add Tabasco Sauce to taste. Cover and let simmer 15 minutes. Stir every now and then.

Remove the cover from the dish, add the mustard mixture, and stir well. Continue to simmer 5-10 minutes. Allow any excess water to evaporate. Stir as needed. Taste and adjust seasonings to suit you.

Serve on a bun with cheese or onion slices or potato chips (my son's favorite topping).

Enjoy this as mindfully as you made it and never buy one of those cans of sloppy joe mix again.

Standing Rib Roast

My favorite Christmas cookery tradition is standing rib roast served with horseradish cream (insert swoon here).

One nice thing about this tasty tradition is that the roasts are often on sale at this time of year. Another nice thing is getting to eat the most fantastic roast beef sandwiches in the world ever the next day. The best thing is that prime rib roasts are dratted easy to make!

Make sure you get excellent high quality meat and let your butcher guide you - get prime, not choice or any other such thing no matter how alluring the price difference. If you make this only once a year, do it right. It's not very mindful otherwise. Check out a variety of store and see who has a decent price, you may be surprised.

Standing Ribs of Great Majesty and Tastiness

If you are a calorie counter, you can check on the nutrition facts here.

What you need:

one 3 rib Prime Rib Roast - Each rib will do well for 2 regular appetites, and 3 per rib for light eaters. So, a three rib roast is good for anywhere from 6-9 people. Another way to determine how much to buy is to allow 12-15 oz per person - remember there's bone there too so you really are not giving people 15 oz of meat.

Get the roast from the butcher counter at your favorite store and ask for help in your choice. Ask for the small end of the roast as it is more tender. See pic above to see what a good roast looks like. The fat is necessary so don't trim it. Bone in is essential for flavor, so don't go boneless to save carving work...besides, picking up the rib and nibbling is the best thing ever.

Bring the roast to room temp by letting it sit out of the fridge for a couple hours. This is necessary because of the fast cookery time. Your roast is dratted cold in the middle. You want it to cook? Set it out. If you have cats, put it in the microwave or the unheated oven...just saying.

at least 3-4 t of freshly minced garlic
a good sprinkle of coarse ground sea salt*
about a t or so of fresh ground black pepper

What to do:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

With the tip of the paring knife, make small slits, oh, about an inch long and 1/2 inch to an inch deep, all over the roast. Stuff the little pockets full of garlic.

Sprinkle on the salt and pepper and rub it in good all over. If it looks insufficient, sprinkle on some more. Insert an oven safe meat thermometer in the thickest meatiest part to near center if possible - and it is best to position it so you can see it without opening the oven. Remember, every time you open the oven, you lower the temperature in the oven and increase the time it will take to cook your roast.

Place the roast on a rack in a shallow pan fatty side to the top - the ribs will act as the roasting rack if you don't have one. Roast for 25 minutes on a lower rack in the oven.

Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and roast til the meat thermometer registers 130-135 for med rare or a little higher if you want it more medium and it's best not to go beyond 145. The roast temp will rise while it sits so don't roast it to the point of doneness or you will have an over cooked roast. If you let it go to 145 it will be medium indeed. It should take about 1 3/4 - 2 hours for the meat to be done once you have lowered the temp. About 2 - 2 1/4 hours for a 4 rib roast. Remember, a larger roast will take longer to cook. Temperature is the important thing, not time.

Remove the roast from the oven and allow to sit quietly and rest with the sound of Gaelic Christmas music in the background before slicing and serving. Rest at least 10 minutes but 20 is better, assuming you didn't let the internal temp get too high in the first place.

The picture to the left is not a pic of my roast, but it's pretty. I'll post a pic of my roast later, I forgot to take a pic when it was done last year.

If you are a gravy maker, this roast makes the most awesome gravy in the world, guaranteed. Drain off most but not all of the fat (leave a couple tablespoons and the good browned bits in the pan. Set the pan over a burner set to medium. Then add either some flour or cornstarch and stir it up a bit. Add some beef stock and stir making sure to scrape up and loosen the browned bits. Allow to simmer and stir a bit til it thickens. It will only take a few minutes. If you have some of that great instant granular roux that Tony Chachere makes, and the gravy needs thickening, use that.

To really send this roast over the top and make your guests swoon in mindful appreciation, make my Horseradish Cream.

*now, there is a vigilante group of cooks that swear that salting the roast before baking will ruin it by making it less tender and juicy. I've not seen any reduction in the tenderness or juiciness of my roasts because of salt. But if you want to make sure, then by all means do not use the salt! Me, I'm salting the thing.

Renee's Hors d'oeuvres

I have been making these since the early 1980's when my friend Renee gave me the recipe. They are not a health food. They are made with many things that I would otherwise never eat. They are also incredibly tasty and a marvelous hot treat for a party. Make sure there is a party as it makes 50 of the things. If you try to eat them all by yourself, I am not responsible for the extra pounds you gain.

If you are interested in calories and such, click here.

The ingredients are all required. Do not make a cheese substitution or they will be a fail. Just pretend you are buying the Velveeta for a friend with dubious taste. Roll your eyes a bit and say things like "I'm glad this is not for MY family, but my friend has broken legs and cannot get to the store, you know." It helps to wear a jacket with a large hood and maybe a scarf to hide your face. You could also make your purchase late in the evening or right when the store doors are thrown open in the morning and the employees are too tired to care about your health. Enjoy.

Renee's Hors d'oeuvres

Ingredients:

1 pound of the Hot Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sausage
1 pound of very lean hamburger - Yea! you can have one item be not too bad for you!
2 T minced onion (ok, a little more is good but make sure that they mincing is teensy tiny)
2 T tiny minced parsley or use dried flakes
1/2 t ea - oregano and basil
1 t garlic powder (needs to be the powder and not the actual garlic or you won't get the flavor spread evenly throughout.
1 pound cubed Velveeta
50 slices of that great little cocktail rye bread

How:

Brown the meats with the onion and drain when cooked. Keep the pan on the burner and stir in the seasonings, then add the chunks of Velveeta and stir til it's all melty.

Divide evenly on the rye bread and place on cookie sheets which you then place in the freezer. Once frozen, transfer all to ziplock bags til the party.

Once the guests arrive, remove them from the freezer and pop into the oven on cookie sheets and broil for about 6-8 minutes.

Be mindful as can be with these, they are worth it.

Roasted Beef Stock

Roasted Beef Stock

Ingredients:

5 pounds or so of Beef Soup Bones – meaty bones with marrow, adding a few veal bones gives a wonderful thick consistency

Your favorite veggie scraps (if you save the scraps in your freezer, you can make stock once your bag is full)

Or you can cut up: 2 carrots, 1 onions, 2 celery stalks with leaves, 6 garlic cloves smashed with skin on, sliced leeks, or mushrooms, etc. Use your favorites. Don’t use beets or cruciferous veggies in beef stock though. I never have, but have seen several chefs note that it throws off the taste of the stock. And as there seems to be a consensus I thought I’d best comment right along with them.

Water

2 T Cider Vinegar

2-3 Bay Leaves

Optional – black peppercorns

Directions:

Rinse and pat the bones dry.

Roast them at 400 ° F for about an hour until they are well-browned. If you used big chunks of veggies instead of scraps, roast them with the bones.

Drain the fat from the pan and deglaze with a little water. Add the deglazing water to the stock pot with the bones, and your veggies or scraps.

Add water to cover and bring to a simmer. It’s best not to boil beef stock. Add the vinegar and bay leaf and simmer for 4 – 12 hours. It’s up to you. Longer is great for beef stock, but it will be delicious after four hours.

Skim the scum that rises to the top every now and then – about every 30 minutes - and if you need to add water if it is evaporating too quickly, do so. If you are suspicious because there is no salt, taste it right before straining and add a little if you absolutely have to.

Strain the stock through a fine mesh colander lined with cheesecloth. Set the pot or bowl in the fridge to cool so the fat rises to the top and is easy to remove and discard.

Ladle the delicious stock into the container of your choice – I like freezer containers. If you like to put things up in jars, that will work well for stock.

It will thin as it is reheated. Try caramelizing some onions and mushrooms. Then heat them in a cup of stock for a nourishing meal.

Spectacular Almost Swedish Meatballs!

My Grandmother came over from Sweden when she was a young teenager. Life was amazingly difficult for them here, but it sure beat living in a barn and using a cave as a refrigerator in Sweden. Because of her I got to taste a great many Swedish foods such as the glorious potato sausage and the most wonderful Limpa Bread. I never tried making the sausage, but I do make a variation on her meatballs...a very off the mark variation because I never did want to cook when young and failed to secure the proper recipe. :(

This is comfort food, not diet food - unless you want to make it a side dish as then it is just fine no matter that you are trying to reduce a bit. We don't have it often and when we do, it's the star on the plate. If you like to know calories and nutrition, click here. I hope you enjoy this Americanized version of a tasty dish.

Spectacular Almost (but not quite) Swedish Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 cup soft whole wheat bread crumbs - do not use the dried crumbs of stuff that comes in cans, tear into some fresh whole wheat bread and make tiny pieces (you can always pretend the bread is someone you are not fond of)
2/3 cup milk - you can use low fat or whole or 2% or whatever you prefer
1 pound ground beef - I prefer grass fed organic beef because nothing beats it for flavor
1 egg

Beef Bourguignon

Julia Child's version is the most famous of all the Beef Bourguignons. There are also about 500 million variations on her classic recipe offered by an equal number of chefs. Why so many? If you asked that, you have never had a good Beef Bourguignon and I think it's way past time for you to stew up a nice pot this weekend. I was asked for the calories in this dish, so here's a link to the nutrition facts for one fairly good sized bowl.

Beef Bourguignon

Ingredients with some options based upon what I prefer, but indicating that you may prefer something else, or noting that our preferences simply may not be available in your area so you may need some entirely different ingredient:

2 1/2 pounds of lean stewing meat, trimmed and cut into cubes of about 1 inch - here you can use the classic beef chuck, a flatiron steak, a round steak, a good sirloin (my fave), or any other cut of beef that you love and think has the most flavor

to taste fresh cracked black pepper (most recipes call for salt, but I am used to meals without salt and don't use it or if I do I use only a very tiny bit - add salt here if you use it)
2 T all purpose flour

1/2 pound of the best lean bacon you can find cut into nice sized chunks - preferably Applewood Smoked Bacon. Trim this of some of the worst of the fatty parts, but leave some fat. If you prefer, you can use that pre-cooked bacon, but you'll need to add more olive oil (see below) and it won't be as tasty.

1 T pure olive oil - do not use extra virgin because you will be browning the meat in it and extra virgin will burn and smoke on you

1 large onion, chopped, now how big an onion is totally up to you. All depends on just how much you like onion. You may like sweet onions or yellow or white, use the one you like.

a no carrot variation!

4 nice big organic carrots cut into chunks, non-organic is ok, but your stew will only be as good as your ingredients.

1 celery stalk cut into chunks - don't forget to add some of the pretty and wonderfully flavorful leaves!

3 garlic cloves, sliced thin

1 bottle of a good Burgundy wine - do not get cheap wine, get good drinkable wine but not the high end wine that costs the Earth. Never ever cook with wine that you wouldn't drink.

beef stock - optional amount determined by need, you don't want the stew to be too liquidy so only add it when specified and ONLY if it needs it because you added a huge amount of veggies or beef.

2-3 tomatoes - depends on the size, squish these by hand or chop. You could use a can of tomatoes, but I think I'd drain it first.

2 Bay Leaves - if you bay leaves are old, please buy fresh ones.

1 t thyme - or more if fresh

2 T fresh parsley, chopped - fresh please.

2 T butter - salted or unsalted as you prefer.

8 oz frozen pearl onions - more if you love them

10 oz button or cremini mushrooms, quartered...or any mushroom you like. Portabellos work very well indeed, but the more dainty thin structured mushroom may not unless you only add it at the very end and don't caramelize it.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F

Mix the salt and pepper with the flour and then toss with the chunks of beef.

 Heat the oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat, add the bacon and cook til crisp, remove from the pan to a bowl or plate. You want to have a couple tablespoons of fat in the pot. If there's more, drain a bit out.

Return the pot to medium high heat and brown the beef. Do not crowd the meet in the pan because what will happen is that the meat will steam and not brown. It's the brown that makes the stew extra delicious so brown your meat in batches, removing the pieces as they brown to a bowl.

Add the veggies to the pot, lower the heat to medium, and saute until they are softened - about 10 minutes or so. Stir so they don't burn. Add the garlic and saute another minute or two. Deglaze the pan with a small splash of beef stock.

Put the beef and bacon back in the pot with the entire bottle of wine and the chopped tomatoes - you may need to add some beef stock here. The liquid needs to only just barely cover the beef. Remember, the beef will exude some juices and add it to the pot. Add the bay leaves thyme and parsley. Bring to a simmer. Cover and place in the preheated oven for about 1 1/2 hours. The meat should be tender and the liquid reduced a bit.

Saute the mushrooms over medium low heat until well caramelized and drop dead gorgeously brown (about 20-30 minutes) and add them with the pearl onions to the stew, return to the oven for another 1/2 hour.

Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Loafing Around

So, yesterday I got a craving for one of those comfort foods that I grew up with. My Mom made meatloaf (wow! look at all those M's!) in the usual way of the Midwest and it was yummy. I never did remember to ask for her recipe. Now, I tried a few times over the years to make a meatloaf and usually just did that thing with the little packets of onion soup mix and ended up with overly salty onion flavored meat in loaf form. That was likely why I rarely craved meatloaf. Now that I am cooking again, I figured that I'd check out some basic recipes and then go from there with making it my way.

There are about 8 trillion 9 billion four thousand and twenty three meatloaf recipes on the interwebz. I settled on this one from Paula Dean to use as my starting point.

This beautiful Italian Style Meatloaf was the result.

The ingredients as altered by me from the Great PD recipe:

2 pounds excellent organic grass fed super lean ground beef from contented cows
1/2 t fresh cracked black pepper
4 goodly shakes of Tabasco sauce
4 cloves of garlic nicely minced
1 generous t oregano
2 t dried parsley (or some fresh finely chopped)
1/2 cup fresh ground Parmesan
1/2 of a red bell pepper, finely minced
2 Country Hen eggs, beaten a bit
1 can (15 oz) of diced tomatoes with onion - dump in a bowl and use a grabbing motion with your fingers to smush up the tomatoes a bit more
1 cup of oatmeal, regular - do not use steel cut, just regular Quaker Oats.

For the topping, I mixed 1 cup of ketchup (tried out that new Simply Heinz so I could avoid more of that fake food stuff I don't like to consume), 1 T brown sugar, and 2 T of brown mustard.

I love the directions for things like meatballs and meatloaf - put all the loaf ingredients in a bowl and use your fingers to squish it all together real well. Give it a sniff. Even un-cooked it should smell great. If there's not enough garlic or oregano add more. If it looks too dry, you could add a t or so of milk or buttermilk.

Shape into a loaf and put it in a large loaf pan. Mix up the topping and spread it over the loaf, then bake it at 375 for about 1 1/2 hours - you can check to see if it's done with a small slit in the center. If you used a regular pan and the loaf was too thick, it may need more time to cook. If your pan is too small, you may have to drain some juices before it's done, do it carefully so you don't let the topping slide off!

Hold the loaf in the pan with a well positioned spatula and drain off the juices into a container (gravy time!). Allow to sit in the pan for five minutes, then use two spatulas and lift onto a serving platter and set another five minutes. During the sitting time, make some gravy with the juices. Because I use extremely lean beef, I don't have excess fat and just have to heat up the juice with a little water added and put in some of that great Tony Chachere's Instant Roux in it - and voila! Gravy!

This must be served with mashed red potatoes, no arguments please.. There is a little more leeway on the second veggie, but this time we went with that midwest standard - corn.

Enjoy this comforting and very mindful hands-on food soon.

Rocket Burgers

These burgers are the most delicious things I have ever had. It is impossible to mindlessly nosh. The textures, aromas, and colors rock this burger.

To make four fabulous burgers:

1 pound* of ultra lean organic grass fed ground beef or bison meat as you prefer
2 T or so of your favorite steak sauce
1-2 T or so of your favorite southwest seasoning - I love using Prudhomme's Meat Magic. Technically that may be Cajun, but I found that it's perfect used here.
1-3 jalapenos** - depends upon the size, how hot they happen to be, and if you like jalapenos, slice and remove the seeds and membranes if you want to cut the heat.

Toppings:

Your favorite BBQ sauce to brush on the burgers while they cook
4 thick slices super sharp cheddar cheese
8 (or more) thick cut super lean Applewood Smoked Bacon
4 slices of the best tomato possible
slices of onion

* when my son is having dinner with us the burgers must be bigger, so I get two pounds of beef and make six very large thick burgers. Just adjust the seasonings accordingly.

**If someone in our family is not a jalapeno eater, you have my condolences. You don't have to put the jalapenos inside the burgers though. You can de-seed, slice, and put them on the table with the tomatoes, onions, and bacon.

What to do:

Mix the burger, sauce, seasoning, and jalapenos up in a bowl using your hands to thoroughly incorporate everything. Inhale deeply. You should not mostly smell meat. It should make you say "Dang! That smells great!" If it doesn't, add more steak sauce and seasoning. Shape these into four burger patties and set in the fridge on a plate covered with plastic wrap until you are ready to grill them. Set aside four nice slices of super sharp cheddar cheese and have them ready to melt on the burgers.

While the grill is heating up, cook 8 pieces of the best thick cut bacon you can find - preferably an Applewood Smoked Bacon. Set aside covered when done and hold til dinner along with four thick slices of extra sharp cheddar cheese.

Also, slice some tomatoes and onions either to add to the burger or eat on the side. If you like avocado, some slices of that are great too - just remember to squish a fresh lime over them to keep them from browning.

When the grill is ready, brush the burgers with your favorite barbecue sauce and grill. Brush with more sauce as they grill finish by melting the cheese on the top with the grill lid closed. When done bring to the table and serve with more barbecue sauce, steak sauce, tomatoes, onions, and jalapenos.

These are perfect when served with my garlic oven fries - better still when served with both the regular and sweet potato oven fries! A few extra slices of tomato is a great idea as well.

Why are they called Rocket Burgers? The burger was part of an advertising campaign put out by the Texas grocer HEB when Roger Clemens was an Houston Astro and they had him make this for the commercial as an ad for their beef. For a while there, we called them Turncoat Burgers because of his defection to that New York team that will remain nameless. But, we have forgiven him a little now since he suffered so much in the steroid scandal and now call them Rocket Burgers once again.

If you are going to have a burger, have one done the right way, don't fuss the calories (just have them less often) - don't forget to slowly and mindfully enjoy every last wonderful bite.

Italian Beef

Inside this pot is a well browned extremely lean 4 pound top round roast on its way to becoming one of my family's favorite comfort meals - Italian Beef. It's a dreary rainy day and just perfect for simmering this wonderfully aromatic roast. Will serve it on hoagie rolls toasted with melty provolone cheese. Sometimes I'll saute a bunch of onions and sweet red peppers in olive oil for an extra topping, but today I think we'll just do the meal in all its simple glory.

Italian Beef
nutrition facts

Ingredients:

1 4 pound very lean roast such as top round
2 tablespoons of Canola or Grapeseed oil for browning the roast.
1 C Kitchen Basics beef stock (go ahead and have another cup handy in case you leave the lid off too much and all the stock evaporates)
3 bay leaves - make sure they are nice and fresh like those in the pic to the right
cracked black pepper to taste
4.5 oz jar chopped garlic, if you are a fresh garlic purist, smash or chop and add 6-8 garlic cloves of decent size as a minimum. Fresh garlic is stronger in flavor so you don't need quite as much. I like the mild flavor that jarred garlic adds.
1 t oregano
fresh cracked black pepper to taste
several shakes of Lea and Perrins Worchestershire Sauce

Directions:

Trim the fat off the roast and then wiped dry with a paper towel. Heat the oil in a very large pot over medium high heat. Brown the roast well on every side in the hot oil until every bit of the roast is browned. Don't turn too often as contact with the hot oil is what will make the roast make the delicious brown bits. Check after a minute or two but do not turn until each side looks like the pic below.

If you did not trim your roast, you may have a lot of oil in the pot. If so, remove the roast to a plate with sides and pour off the excess fat. Return the roast to the pan with all juices.

Lower the temperature to medium low and add the stock, bay leaves, oregano, fresh cracked black pepper, garlic (yes use an entire 4.5 oz jar), and several shakes of Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the temp to low, cover the pot and simmer two hours.

After two hours, start reducing the size of the roast by slicing it into smaller chunks every half hour.

I usually just use a small knife and fork - pick up a chunk and place it on top of another to protect the pan and slice away.

Chunks of simmering roast

After the pieces have been reduced and the meat is fall apart tender, you are ready for the great Forking Event. This is where you take two sturdy forks and pull apart the strands of meat until it looks like what you get with a pulled pork sandwich.

One thing you will notice is that as you pull the beef, the sauce gets thicker. This is a fine thing indeed.

pulled beef

At this point, remove the bay leaves, taste, and adjust the seasonings. Some of you may like more Worcestershire, maybe add more black pepper, or some dried parsley or a pinch of oregano (but not too much).

You might notice I did not add salt, some of you will require it and should add it now - but really, the Worcestershire sauce has a little sodium so why bother? Your blood pressure and your doctor will thank you. If there is too much liquid, simmer it uncovered until the sauce reduces a bit. If the liquid reduced too much, you can always add more stock.

Keep it warm on the stove til dinner or refrigerate for heating later.

served with sauteed summer squash

Slice and open hoagie buns, top with smokey provolone cheese and toast open face in the toaster oven til the buns and cheese are as toasty brown as you like.

Fill with the beef, a drizzle of stock, maybe add a bit of sauteed onions and peppers sauteed or not, or even some of that great new thick Worcestershire sauce. Mmmmmmmmm.

According to my son, when I told him I was going to post the recipe on the blog - "there's not going to be a better one out there."

Enjoy it very mindfully indeed.