elrhiarhodan

Being a diabetic means that a lot of my favorite comfort foods are off limits - things like noodles and cottage cheese (think, deconstructed noodle pudding), tea and lemon and honey, orange juice, a fresh bagel slathered in butter - are pretty much off limits (well, the tea with lemon and honey is acceptable during illness).

But there are times when you just crave the flavors of childhood, and it's a season where I find I need that more than ever. So, the other day, I was chatting with theatregirl7299 about dinner, and she'd said that "chili and a salad sounds good" and I'd replied, "yes, except for the chili."

I'm not a fan of chili, with or without beans. Chili as a spice tastes bad to me - a legacy of head and neck radiation from 20 years ago that makes certain things taste metallic. It's also not great for my GERD, which is otherwise controlled.

But that got me thinking, Sloppy Joes, a favorite Sunday night dinner in my household in the 1970s. Never the Manwich stuff (I think my mother tried it once and we all universally hated it) but the stuff that came in a package (Knorr's, McCormick???) and a can of tomato paste and of course, ground beef.

I had to think, making Sloppy Joes from scratch couldn't be THAT hard, and the Internet was made for recipes (and cat GIFs), so I hunted around and found a few, and none of them fit the bill because they all required some form of sugar, whether brown sugar, molasses, or even honey (!), plus some kind of prepared condiment (ketchup, bbq sauce).

Now, there are plenty of things that are sweet that don't add a lot of carbs, like balsamic vinegar and tomato paste (which was part of my mom's "recipe"), so I thought, why not? Worst that could happen is that it wouldn't taste like my memories.

BUT IT DID!!!!!!!!! OMG, it was soooo freaking awesome, I could have eaten the whole pan and scraped it for bits. It was not fancy or glamorous or anything special, but it was good.

So, without further adieu, I give you, Elr's Sloppy Joes:

1 lb lean ground beef (95%)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup Worchestershire Sauce
1/2 cup Balsamic vinegar
1 small can tomato paste
1 cup chicken or beef stock (more may be required)
1/2 teaspoon ground garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground celery seed

In a heavy pan (either a heavy skillet or a dutch oven), brown meat (you can also use pork and/or veal, I don't think either ground turkey or chicken have enough flavor).

About halfway through the browning, add chopped garlic and onions. Let fully brown until the meat is crumbly.

In a separate bowl, combine Balsamic vinegar, tomato paste and Worchestershire sauce and when the meat is fully browned (with a nice crust), add to meat, stirring until the sauce is fully incorporated.

Add dry spices, keep stirring.

At this point, the mixture will be getting dry, but keep stirring and don't let it burn, until all of the wet ingredients (except for the chicken stock) are incorporated.

Add chicken stock, one cup at a time and cover, reducing heat.

Check every few minutes to ensure that it's not burning or that all of the liquid hasn't evaporated. Add another cup of stock if it seems too dry.

Let simmer for 10 minutes. The mixture shouldn't be as loose as chili, but not tight, either. Serve with our without toasted hamburger buns or cornbread.

Note, there's no added salt because the Worchestershire sauce is on the salty side, and if you aren't using a low/no added sodium stock, it might make the dish too salty. But of course, if at the end, the dish is blank, salt if desired.

ENJOY!!!!!!!!

Slept late today...until well after 11 am.  Don't do that too often, but today's the start of a long weekend, and I figured I'm entitled (my usual wakeup is 5:30 am).

So, needed to do some grocery shopping...going to V's for a late day 4th of July party (she blames me for it, I just suggested we get together...not my fault 11 people are going to be there, plus doggies).  Anyway, I promised to make my (in)famous toasted corn salad (recipe below), which is a lot easier once I learned how NOT to ruin the pan.  So, I needed the fixings...and Fairway was hella crowded.  Got everything (and will go make it once I finish here), and came home.  It's +90 and getting the perishables into the fridge is an imperative (expensive cheese is...expensive).

Then, I spent the early afternoon working on the artwork and CSS for a wonderful new comm - whitecollar100  (you ARE JOINING - AREN'T YOU).  It was fun playing with the new promo pics (though I wish they ones for all the cast - maybe during the mid season break, when Tiffani gets back).

But, it was too nice to stay in, and I NEEDED WET MATT BOMER PICTURES THAT I CAN TOUCH.  I've been stalking the bookstores for the EW, and I GOTS IT.  

I also got my Starbucks Gold Card, apparently there is very good reason to keep using the same Starbucks card for years on end, now I get free refills on delicious things like black ice tea with lemonade (oh Arnold Palmer, ILYSVVVVM).  And to make things better, the card came with a coupon for a free drink, which they refilled for free.  How awesome is that.  Okay...so I OD'd on BITwL and had no appetite for dinner (though I picked up a pizza for D, he didn't want to go out and I didn't want to cook).  But the wierdest thing was when I was leaving the place of coffee and BITwL and Sinatra and free WiFi, there was this girl...

She must have been 6'5" even without the heels.  Her ass came to my boobs...and I'm 5'8" (and a half) in my shoes.  She was also wearing short shorts.  I think she was German.  I'm het, but hey - I couldn't take my eyes off of her.  As I'm leaving, she gets into a waiting limo...with about a half-dozen friends.

Wow.

This is not supermodel country or supermodel season.

Anyway...that's been my saturday, so far.  I've got DeathFic on my mind...Jizzy knows all about it.

Oh, and I updated the look of my journal...got kind of tired of those birds and clouds at Cannon Beach.  The new header picture is from a trip I took in the Cascades in October, 2008, on Sun Mountain.
( Toasted Corn Salad )