Sausage and Peppers

Ingredients:

6 Italian sausage or chicken sausage

2 green peppers

1 red peppers

1 large red onion

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cans Italian diced tomatoes

2 T. Italian seasoning

bread

noodles

mozzarella cheese

Recipe: 

1. Split between two bags, seal, mix, lay flat, freeze.

2. To cook: add drizzle of olive oil, cook on low 6 hours, serve over hot noodles or fresh French bread with mozzarella cheese.

Rating: 3 of 5

This one was fine, but not great. I felt like it was lacking in taste....as funny as that sounds. We had it on bread, but I think next time we'll serve it on Italian herb and cheese bread or something. I just thought it was a very bland dish. But, it has a ton of potential with some tweaking. 

Source: Ring Around the Rosies, Sausage and Peppers

French Dip Sandwiches

Ingredients:

1 2.5-3 lb beef roast (frozen is okay too!)

2 T. olive oil

salt and pepper

2 1-oz. pkg dry onion soup mix

2 c. water

2 cans beef broth *

6-8 large buns (Try this Quick French Bread recipe!)

Swiss, provolone, or mozzarella cheese, shredded or sliced

* I just used 2 1/2 large beef bouillon cubes and added 2 c. water (in addition to the 2 c. called for)

Recipe:

1. Heat oil in a large pot oven medium-high heat and rub roast with salt and pepper.

2. When very hot, carefully place roast in pan and sear on all sides. You're not cooking the meat, you're just browning it quickly on all sides to add flavor and seal in the juices.

3. Place in crockpot and sprinkle with onion soup mixes. Pour water and beef broth over roast.

4. Cook 8-10 hours on low or cook 4-5 hours on high and another 3-4 hours on low. The longer it cooks, the more tender it will be.

5. When meat is ready, shred with a fork. Place meat in crusty rolls. Top with cheese and broil open-faced in the oven or toaster oven for a few minutes, until bread is golden and cheese is melty. *

6. Ladle juices into small cups for dipping and enjoy!

* Rather than put everything under the broiler, I simply buttered the sliced open bread and put them on a griddle until they were golden, like a grilled cheese sandwich, and then placed the meat and cheese between the two pieces of hot bread. It melted the cheese and kept the whole sandwich from getting a little too much heat.

Freezer directions: 

1. Prepare roast through the first 2 steps above. After meat has cooled, place in a plastic freezer-safe container, cover with onion soup mix and bouillon, and freeze.

2. When ready to cook, pop it straight into the crockpot (frozen), add 2 cups of water, and set to high until warm or, even better, simmering. Turn to low; cook for a total of 8-10 hours.

* I used a frozen roast and basically skipped all of the instructions I could! Haha! I just dumped the roast in the pot, and sprinkled and covered according to step 3.

Rating: 4.5 of 5

Loved this! The meat was so extremely tender and juicy and delicious! Can't wait to make these again! I think the original recipe calls for 6-8 loaves, but we demolished the meat in just 4 sandwiches! Easy and delicious. I'm tellin' ya!

Source: Our Best Bites, French Dip Sandwiches

Quick French Bread

Ingredients:

1/4 c. warm water

2 1/2 t. dry active yeast

1 t. sugar

1 T sugar

1 t. salt

1 c. + 2 T. warm water

3 1/2- 4 c. all-purpose flour

1 egg white and 1 T water*

* in an effort to save my lone egg for something else, I brushed my bread with a little bit of milk(which makes the top of the loaf turn a darker brown). I'd imagine that you could also use warm water and baking soda which would leave the loaf closer to it's natural baking color.

Recipe:

1. Combine 1/4 c. water, yeast and 1 t. sugar in a bowl. Allow to stand until bubbly.

2. Add in 1 T. sugar, salt and remaining water.

3. Gradually add in flour, mix well and knead for 5 minutes. Let rise for 15-20 minutes in a warm place. Preheat oven to 300 while dough rises.

4. Place several cups of water into a saucepan and bring to a boil while you form the loaf. If you want to make 2 smaller loaves, divide dough in half. 

5. Flour a surface and roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Roll up the dough and turn ends under and place seam side down onto a greased cookie sheet. *

6. Cut 3 diagonal cute into the loaf about 1/4 inch deep. Combine water and egg white and brush onto loaf.

7. Pour boiled water into an oven-safe dish and place on the lower rack of the preheated oven. 

8. TURN OFF THE OVEN! Place sheet with bread on the rack above the water. Let rise until double and then take out the pan of water, about 10-15 minutes.

9. Turn oven on to 425 degrees and bake 10 minutes.

10. Turn heat down to 375 and bake for 8 minutes or until golden brown.

*I actually thought the rolling out process produced rather puny loaves, even when I didn't divide it and tried to make a single (I divided my dough into 4 parts in order to use for some delicious French Dip Sandwiches!). I recommend forming the dough into a ball and then rolling it out into a fatty snake (think play dough snakes as a kid) and making the French bread shape that way. Much easier, quicker, and no seam or folding under!

Rating: 4 of 5

This is a pretty easy recipe, but it's definitely a very involved one. It's not like other bread recipes where you can go off and leave the dough alone for an hour or two. So, if you're going to make this one, make sure your mentally there. It could be super easy to get distracted and ruin the bread. I definitely think I'll stick to brushing the bread with milk. So much easier. As far as taste goes, I thought this recipe was a pretty close match to store bough French bread. The outside is slightly crispy while the inside is nice and fluffy. I'll definitely be making this over buying every time! In fact, I kind of want to make another batch today and just eat garlic bread because I can!

Source: Thirty Handmade Days, Quick French Bread

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken

Ingredients:

3 lb. bag of frozen chicken breasts

1 bottle Frank's Wings Buffalo Sauce *

1 packet Ranch Dip mix **

2 T. butter
**my own additions**
hamburger buns
lettuce
tomato, sliced
Ranch dressing
mozzarella, sliced
cilantro

*I made my own buffalo sauce using THIS recipe

** I made my own Ranch dressing mix using THIS recipe

Recipe:

1. Put frozen chicken, wing sauce, and ranch dip mix into crock pot.

2. Cook on low heat at least 6-7 hours.

3. Using two forks, shred chicken and return to crock pot.

4. Add butter.

5. Cook on low for an additional hour.

6. Serve in bread as a sandwich or on rice. Enjoy!

Rating: 4 of 5
K, this was good. My buffalo sauce had a pretty good kick to it, so in an attempt to take it down a notch I added 1-2 c. of shredded cheese. Not that the cheese did anything but add calories. We ate it as a buffalo chicken burger. Complete with lettuce (which you don't need), tomato slices, Ranch dressing, slices of mozzarella, and sprigs of cilantro. The cilantro is definitely the best on this chicken.

Source: My Kitchen Apron, Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken

Homemade Sandwich Bread

(pre-cooked loaves. Imagine a shade or two darker.)

Ingredients:

2 c. lukewarm water

2 T. sugar

1 T. dry active yeast

2 T. butter, softened

5 1/2 c. all-purpose flour + more for kneading the dough *

1 T. kosher salt

* I made this again and used bread flour instead. It made the bread at least 5x better! Fluffier, tastier, holds together even better. Bread flour is the way to go. Also, the 5 1/2 c. makes the perfect texture. I didn't need to add any more flour when kneading. It was perfect!

Recipe: (Yields 2 standard or 1 lb. loaves)

1. Put the water and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Whisk vigorously to dissolve the sugar.

2. When sugar is dissolved toss in the yeast. Whisk again to dissolve. Walk away for the bowl for 5-10 minutes to give the yeast time to work. After 5-10 minutes, there should be a thick, creamy layer on the surface of the water.

3. Add the flour and salt into the bowl with the yeast.

4. Cut the soft butter up into a few pieces and add to the bowl. Mix well to combine the ingredients. (If using a stand mixer, use your dough hook.)

5. Knead the dough for 3-5 minutes. The dough is ready when it's formed a smooth ball that feels elastic-y when you touch it, very little of the dough sticks to the dough hook when you pull it out of the bowl, and there will be very little dough actually sticking to the sides of the bowl.

6. Round the dough up into a ball. Put it in a large, lightly greased bowl. Coat a piece of plastic wrap with a little oil. Loosely cover the bowl with it, oil side down.

7. Let it sit in a warm place for about an hour, or until it's doubled in size. If you check it after 15 minutes, you should notice that it's started to grow.

8. After about an hour, your dough should be doubled in size. Punch the dough down. Knead it a couple of times and form it into a neat ball. It should be smooth and tacky, but not sticky.

9. Sprinkle a little flour on a board. Set the dough ball on the flour. Divide the dough in half. Each half becomes one loaf.

10. Knead each half, separately, a few times. Lightly grease two one-pound loaf pans. Set each formed loaf in the pans. *

11. Set the pans in a warm place, uncovered. Let the loaves rise like this for about an hour, or until they've doubled in size.

12. About 15 minutes before your house is up, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

13. When they're done, the tops should be a nice light brown. Let them cool for 5 minutes in the pans. Then, with potholders, tip the loaves out of the pans and let them finished cooling on a rack.

14. Let the loaves cool to room temperature before slicing.

*When I form my loaves I like to flatten it out into an oval-ish shape and then roll it up. It makes a nice smooth top and transfers to the pan neatly. (Trick from Emily - who is the master of homemade bread.)

Rating: 4 of 5

To be honest, I like this recipe than my bread machine recipe for white bread. Oh no! That poor machine is going to get dumped by a laborious recipe! Crispy on the outside, incredibly moist and chewy on the inside. My kind of bread. One thing that I really like about this recipe versus my bread machine recipe is that it maintains it's shape when sliced and smeared. My other recipe practically crumbles if anything touches it. I can almost taste the salt, which I liked. I'll definitely be making this one again....in the morning probably. We REALLY like cinnamon-sugar toast in this house.

Source: The Hungry Mouse, Homemade Sandwich Bread

The Best Sloppy Joes

Ingredients:

2 T. vegetable oil

2 onions, roughly chopped

2 1/2 lbs. ground beef

2 T. tomato paste

2/3 c. smoky BBQ sauce (or whatever BBQ sauce is in your fridge)

1/2 c. ketchup

1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce

1/4 c. soy sauce

freshly ground black pepper

8-12 potato rolls

Recipe:

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until they start to turn translucent, about 4 minutes.

2. Add the beef and cook, stirring and breaking up the meat, until it is finely crumbled, the liquid boils off and the meat begins to brown, about 10 minutes.

3. Drain the grease off the meat and onions.

4. Stir in the tomato paste, and keep stirring until the meat is coated.

5. Add the BBQ sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, soy sauce, and pepper, and bring to a boil.

6. Cook until the sauce is slightly thickened, 4-5 minutes.

7. Serve the sloppy Joes hot with warm rolls.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

This was a pretty good recipe. I halved it and the servings came out to the perfect size for LaDon and I. I used Spicy and Sweet BBQ sauce so there was a little bit of a kick there that normal BBQ sauce doesn't have. It definitely doesn't taste like sloppy Joe juice from a can. It's delicious, although not the taste that I'm used to in a sloppy Joe. Easy, easy recipe. One thing I need to do is find something to do with the extra tomato paste. I would make this one again for sure. I'm wondering if I can figure out a way to do this in a crockpot so that we can eat it in the summer with corn on the cob and watermelon without heating up our A/C-deprived apartment.

Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe, The Best Sloppy Joes

Cuban Midnight Sandwich

Ingredients:

1/2 c. mayonnaise *

2 1/2 T. Italian dressing *

4 hoagie rolls, split lengthwise and toasted **

1/4 c. prepared mustard

1/2 lb. thinly sliced cooked deli turkey

1/2 lb. thinly sliced cooked deli ham

1/2 lb. thinly sliced Swiss cheese ***

1 c. dill pickle slices

1/4 c. olive oil

* Since I was only making 2 sandwiches, I obviously cut the mayo and Italian way down. Same thing with the mustard

** I just made my own sandwich bread instead of buying it.

***Swiss is great and all, but Provolone is the way to go. Love that stuff.

Recipe:

1. In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise and Italian dressing. Spread mixture on bottom half of toasted hoagie rolls.. Spread each roll with mustard.

2. On each roll, arrange layers of turkey, ham, and cheese. Top each with dill pickle slices. Add tops and brush tops and bottoms with olive oil.

3. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Place sandwiches in skillet. Cook sandwiches for 2 minutes, pressing down with a foil-covered plate or spatula. Flip and cook for 2 more minutes or until cheese is melted.

4. Remove from heat, place on plates, and cut in half diagonally.

Rating: 3.75 of 5

I loved the taste of the olive oil on the bread. The cheese didn't melt at all in the 4 minutes of cooking in the skillet, so next time I think I'll use our Panini maker. LaDon really liked the sandwiches which is great! I've never been a huge sandwich lover though, so for me to say it was pretty good is probably something. Right? Maybe not.

Source: AllRecipes Dinner Tonight, pg. 18

Jamie's Breakfast Bagel Sandwiches

Ingredients: (for 1 bagel) for more than one bagel just double everything

1 Asiago-cheese bagel, or any kind of cheese bagel

1 1/2 eggs, scrambled *

2-4 slices of bacon, cooked **

a handful of cheddar cheese

a dollop of sour cream (optional, but we love it)

* Make the scrambled eggs the way you like them. For us, it's a little bit of milk and cheese, seasoned salt, and a half pinch of pepper. Occasionally I'll throw in some garlic salt.

** Bacon can be replaced with sausage or ham. Sausage is our other favorite.

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350-ish.

2.Scramble the eggs. Cook the bacon. When done, begin the layering.

3. Cut the bagel in half. Starting with the bottom half layer up: scrambled eggs, cheese, bacon, top half of bagel.

4. Wrap bagel sandwich in foil and place in oven long enough for bagel to be warm and cheese to melt. Probably about 5-10 minutes.

5. Take bagel out and open up. Place dollop of sour cream on top of bacon. Replace the bagel top and enjoy!

Rating: 4.5 of 5

We love this breakfast food for dinner. And because it's so NOT healthy, we only have it every few months. I'm not really sure what makes it so good other than we just really like everything that goes into it. Seriously, who doesn't like cheese and bacon?

Source: my head, but inspired by BYU's breakfast bagel found in the Wilk.

Chicken Grape Salad Sandwiches

Ingredients:

3/4 c. mayonnaise

1/2 t. ginger

1/2 t. salt

3 c. cubed chicken or 2 12.5-oz cans of chicken

1 1/2 c. grapes, cut in half *

1 c. celery, chopped

1/3 c. onions, chopped

1/2 c. walnuts, optional (I've never used the walnuts before)

* I like to use 2-2 1/2 c. grapes.

Recipe:

1. Combine first three ingredients.

2. Add grapes, celery, and chicken.

3. Cover and chill. Serve on rolls or croissants.

Rating: 4.75 of 5

This is one of our favorites! And, when making it with the cubed chicken, it is seriously so easy and quick. Not only that, but it's perfect for a hot summer day! When canned chicken is involved that means I don't add to the heat by turning on the stove! Love it!

Source: I don't know, but I'm guessing my Grandma Norton or Lenhart.

Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts *

1 1/2 bottles of barbecue sauce **

bread rolls ***

mozzarella cheese, shredded

* I used frozen chicken.

** I used honey barbecue. It's my favorite.

*** I made homemade rolls found here.

Recipe:

1. Place chicken in crockpot. Pour sauce on top.

2. Place on high for 3-4 hours, or low for 6-8. *

3. Shred chicken, if desired.

4. Place in rolls and top with cheese.

* Because I had put my chicken in frozen I placed it on high for 3ish hours, shredded the chicken, then placed it on low for another 2-3 hours.

Rating: 4 of 5

The chicken was so tender! We really, really liked this recipe. So simple. So good. So cheap. Because the bread was homemade and fresh out of the oven, it added a melt-in-your-mouth goodness to the taste.

Heart Attack BLT

Ingredients:

bread *

tomato slices

lettuce leaves

bacon

mayonnaise

*I used homemade Italian Cheese bread. I really liked the extra flavor.

Recipe:

1. Toast bread.

2. Cook bacon.

3. Spread mayo on bread then layer with lettuce, tomatoes, and bacon.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

We liked this version of the BLT. There was a lot of bacon (which is why I called it the Heart Attack BLT). I like being able to actually taste bacon when I have a BLT. Definitely not on the healthy list, but so good. I think next time I won't toast the bread as much....I just wasn't sure how long it needed to be toasted since the slices were so thick!

Source: my brain....who doesn't know how to make a BLT?

Philly Sandwhiches

Ingredients:

Spread:

1 c. mayonaise *

2 cloves garlic, minced

Filling:

1 T. olive oil

1 lb. beef round steak, cut into thin strips **

2 green bell peppers, cut into strips ***

2 onions, sliced into rings ****

4 hoagie rolls, split lengthwise

mozzarella cheese *****

1 t. dried oregano

* I only used about 1/4 c.

** I actually bought a 1 lb. Philly meat package from Wal-Mart. It comes with 4 slabs of meat, but as you cook it, the meat falls apart and eliminates the task of thinly slicing the meat.

*** I used about 1/2 of a large green pepper and 1/2 of a red pepper.

**** I definitely didn't use 2 onions. I only used about 1/2 of an onion.

***** I ditched the mozzarella and went with provolone slices.

Recipe:

1. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise and minced garlic. Cover, and refrigerate.

2. Preheat oven to 500 degress.

3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute beef until lightly browned. (I drained the oil and juices before the next step.)

4. Stir in peppers and onion, and season with salt and pepper. Saute until vegetables are tender, and remove from heat.

5. Spread each bun generously with garlic mayonnaise. Divide beef mixture into the buns. Top with cheese and sprinkly with oregano.

6. Place sandwiches on a baking pan. Heat sandwiches in oven until cheese is melted or slightly browned.

Rating: 4.75 of 5

For a homemade Philly....I don't know if it gets any better. So, so, so good. While it was a more expensive meal (by our standards), each sandwich was about $2.00 which is cheaper than you're going to get it elsewhere. I really liked the garlic spread and thought it added just the right taste to the sandwich.

Source: from AllRecipes.com.

Mama's Best Broiled Tomato Sandwich

Ingredients:

2 T. olive oil

2 T. balsamic vinegar *

4 ripe tomatoes, sliced

3 T. mayonnaise

1/2 t. dried parsley

1/4 t. dried oregano **

1/4 t. ground black pepper

3 T. grated Parmesan cheese

4 slices bread, lightly toasted

* I substituted the balsamic vinegar with red wine vinegar + 1 T. sugar

** I didn't have oregano alone, so I just used Italian seasoning

Recipe:

1. Preheat the broiler.

2. In a shallow bowl, whisk together olive oil and vinegar. Marinate tomatoes in the mixture for at least 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, parsley, oregano, pepper, and half the Parmesan cheese. Spread mixture on each slice of toasted bread. Divide marinated tomatoes evenly between 2 slices and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. *

* I actually topped with with grated mozzarella as well.

4. Place on a baking sheet and broil for 5 minutes or until cheese turns golden brown. Serve immediately, open faced or closed.

Rating: 4 of 5

Despite not having all of the exact ingredients I think this turned out pretty well. It's light, it's easy, it's quick. The sandwich has a good balance between sweet and tangy. I don't like mayo at all, but I couldn't taste it. Next time I think I will add more cheese, both Parmesan and mozzarella, before broiling. We ate the sandwiches closed. This sandwich would definitely be good with a soup.

Source: All Recipes: Dinner Tonight, pg. 230