Despite what you might think, I’m no super mom and sometimes all I can muster up after a long day of work is something easy like sloppy joes. This quintessential American dish was one of the first I ever cooked at the young age of 10 when my mom gave me a Klutz brand cookbook for kids. All it called for as I remember it was ketchup, mustard, onion and garlic powder and maybe salt and pepper.

My grown-up version has the same base as my kid version, but I decided to spice it up a little. All of these measurements are estimated, as I usually toss everything in without measuring.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 5 mini bell peppers or 1 regular bell pepper, chopped
• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. soy sauce
• 1/4 cup red wine
• hamburger buns

In a large saute pan, heat up the olive oil. Add the onion, peppers and mushrooms and cook till onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the ground beef and cook till beef is brown. Drain. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika to taste. Add the ketchup, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and red wine and stir occasionally until there is a saucy mess in the pan. Slop onto toasted buns.

Our new Costco staples these days are the mini bell peppers and baby portobello mushrooms. They are incredibly versatile and we use them for breakfast and dinner all the time.

Tonight I made something from scratch having not used a single recipe or reference. I just followed my nose and what I came up with was a flavorful chicken stew that was fantastic over a bed of saffron jasmine rice. Many of the ingredients can be left out or substituted, but I just went with what we had in the cupboards.

Here’s how to make it since I’m sure I’ll forget and will need to reference this recipe again. I apologize for the poor quality photo. Unfortunately it’s always dark when I make dinner so I get no natural light for my photos.

Ingredients:

Chicken parts; I used two thighs and a large breast cut in two

flour

2 strips of bacon, roughly chopped

olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

6 mini red, orange and yellow bell peppers, chopped

6 baby portobello mushrooms, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup red wine

1 tsp. porcini powder

2 tsp. dried thyme

salt and pepper

smoked paprika

1 Tbs. tomato paste

1 large ripe tomato or 1 regular can diced tomatoes, drained

1 cup dried jasmine rice

pinch of saffron

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place some flour in a paper bag and toss the chicken around till the pieces are well coated.  Heat a dutch oven over medium high heat and add the bacon. When bacon is browned, remove from pot and set aside. Add a couple of teaspoons of olive oil and then add the chicken pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and smoked paprika and flip when chicken is golden brown. Brown the other side of the chicken and remove and set aside. Add a couple of more teaspoons of olive oil and add the onion, peppers, garlic, and mushrooms. Cook till onions become translucent, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and paprika. Be sure to scrape up all the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the stock, tomato paste and wine; stir and scrape. add the thyme, porcini powder and tomatoes. Place the chicken and bacon back in the pot. Bury the chicken in the other ingredients, cover pot and place in the oven for one hour.

When there’s 15 minutes left on the chicken, cook your rice according to packaging. Sprinkle in the saffron when you add the rice to the boiling water.

The chicken should be tender and falling apart. Serve over the rice. Yum! I think kalamata olives would be a good addition to this dish, but I didn’t have them today.

My dad makes the best roast potatoes — ever. Hands down. They are crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. They are salty and smokey and buttery. And there is a simple secret to making them.

I apologize for the photo. These were so good I forgot to snap a photo until there were only a few left.

Ingredients:

6-8 medium yukon gold potatoes

2 tbs. butter (or if you have duck or goose fat, use a combo)

salt and pepper to taste

smoked paprika to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise so the halves are shallow (if that makes sense). Place potatoes on a plate and microwave for 4 minutes. Turn potatoes over and microwave another 4 minutes. Place potatoes into a baking dish and coat with butter and duck/goose fat (if you have it). Add salt, pepper and paprika to taste. I go heavy on the paprika. It’s absolutely amazing. Roast in the oven cut side down for 10 minutes. Flip the potatoes and bake another 10 minutes. Flip one more time and bake 5-10 minutes, or until the skins of the potatoes are all browned.

Uhhhhhhhmazing!

I’ve been doing a lot of cooking lately. Call me domestic, no wait, call me Natasha the Nifty Housewife. I found a bunch of low-carb cookbooks at the library and I’ve been tweaking the recipes to better suit what’s in my fridge. This recipe called for jarred artichokes. That is a fancy item you’d never see in my cupboard, so I improvised the whole thing. It turned out pretty tasty.

Oh, and move over Kelly and Kasandra. My new best friend is smoked paprika. I have literally used it every day for the past two months. It goes on EVERYTHING and makes it amazing.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, or chicken parts that you prefer

1 Tbs. butter

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 cup baby portobello mushrooms, sliced

1/2 onion, sliced

6 mini bell peppers, or one yellow bell pepper, sliced

1/2 cup white wine or chicken stock

2 Tbs rice vinegar or lemon juice

salt and pepper

1 Tbs. smoked paprika

1 zucchini, chopped

3/4 cup cream

In a heavy saucepan, heat the butter and oil and brown the chicken. Flip the chicken and add the onion and mushrooms. Season with salt, pepper and paprika. When chicken is brown, add the wine and vinegar and bring to a simmer. Turn down the heat, cover and cook for 25 minutes or until chicken is done. Add the zucchini and recover. Cook for a few more minutes till zucchini is tender. Stir in the cream and reheat, but don’t let it boil or simmer. Serve with green beans and brown rice.

Note: You could also add jarred artichokes if you’re feeling fancy.

I’m not too familiar with cooking cabbage. It wasn’t a food we ate much growing up. I love the look of red cabbage in the grocery store — gleaming and perfectly purple. I bought one yesterday and figured out what to do with it. I made yummy little cabbage rolls.

This is a great recipe because you can toss pretty much anything in it and it’ll be good. Trust me on this one. I had a little bit of tomato paste here and half of a lemon there, some celery, golden raisins, some leftover thyme from another dish. I threw it all in. I didn’t really measure anything, but I made some sort of meat stuffing and an hour and a half later I was licking my plate clean.

Here’s an approximation of what I made and how to make it.

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage, red or green

1 pound of ground beef and/or pork

1 egg

1-ish onion, chopped

1 celery rib, chopped

1/4 cup golden raisins

1-ish can tomato paste

juice of half a lemon

2 Tbs. Worcerstershire Sauce

1 tsp. dijon mustard

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

2 Tbs. smoked paprika

2 Tbs. fresh thyme, chopped

3 Tbs. fresh parsley, chopped

salt and pepper

Marinara sauce

Chicken stock

6 mini bell peppers, sliced

feta cheese

Directions:

I had absolutely no idea how to peel the leaves off of a cabbage. They are on there so tightly. If you have a better method than this, please leave a comment. Bring a huge pot of salted water to a boil. Peel the outer leaves off the cabbage and discard. Cut the base off and shove a carving fork into the bottom. When water is boiling, insert the cabbage and turn it around with the fork for a couple of minutes. Place on a dish towel and try to carefully pry off the leaves. You may have to do this a few times. You want six to eight good leaves.

Place the peeled leaves back into the boiling water and parboil for a few minutes, till they are pliable. Drain and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking dish with bits of excess cabbage leaves and pour in some chicken stock till they are just covered.

Combine everything but the peppers, feta, marinara and stock.

Spoon the filling into the parboiled cabbage leaves and roll them up, securing with a toothpick if necessary. Place seam-side down in the baking dish. Top with marinara and bell peppers. Cover and bake for one hour. Serve with feta cheese over brown rice or egg noodles.