Man's Night

Home-spun Sloppy Joe’s

Ingredients

• Ground Beef
• Ketchup
• Barbecue sauce
• Bisquick
• Milk
• Water
• Lemon Pepper
• Parmeson Cheese
• Red pepper flakes
• Famous Dave’s Rib Rub*
• Cheddar cheese(optional)
• Buns

If you’re craving rich homestyle version of sloppy joe’s, than this is the meal for you. I discovered this meal when my two friends, Nate and Brian, asked me to make them dinner. If you read my profile, you’ll know that cooking is one of my favorite things to do, so cooking them food every week doesn’t really bother me. It actually allows me to express my creative food genius skills and helps me to become a better cook. Anyways, enough about me, Begin cooking the beef in a medium to large skillet(depending on serving size), with a small dose of butter to grease the pan. Wait until it begins to brown, all the while adding in the seasonings to your preference, but be careful with the red pepper flakes. Now would be a good time to put the buns in the toaster. Stir in the ketchup and barbecue sauce until fully saturated, then add in the bisquick at a slow rate while stirring, add in milk, cheeses, and water until the texture reaches a think, creamy consistency. After the buns pop up, stuff them generously, and enjoy!

Farmer's Market Dinner

Savory Warm Salad

Ingredients

• Kale and Spinach leaves
• Peppers of your preference (mine being orange)
• Sweet onion
• Goat cheese
• Walnuts or Pecans
• Squash
• Mushrooms
• Seasonings/dressing ( red wine vinaigrette and pepper)

Directions

    The Farmer’s Market is coming to the end of its season so I thought I could create a healthy salad from the ingredients that I bought. If you have never been to a farmer’s market, I recommend it; not only is your food fresh, you get to actually talk to the people who made it. It really connects us to our food, it’s a blast, and there's so many samples. This meal is definitely an easy one, but it sure was tasty. All you have to do is chop up all of the ingredients and throw them on the stove in a large-sized pan. Peppers, squash and onions should be put on the stove first, since they take the longest, followed by mushrooms, then the greens, with the rest drizzled on top afterwards. This meal was one of the first ones that I cooked solely for myself; I might have to slowly get the boys used to vegetables that aren’t fried or hidden in a chicken. I hope all you veggie eaters out there enjoy, and to those who aren’t, give it a try, I didn’t try a lot of vegetables till I got to college, and they’re quite delicious.
http://www.boulderfarmers.org/home.html 

Pesto Dal Cuore

Ingredients

• Chicken breast fillets
• Creamy pesto mix packet
• Avocado
• Mozzarella slices
• Wild mushroom ravioli
• Marinated artichoke hearts

For tonight's dinner I thought I could make something Italian, for it is my favorite type of food to cook, and probably eat. Start by pre-heating the oven to 350. Once that’s out of the way start the pesto sauce in a small to medium sized pot. While it is cooking, lay the chicken breasts in a medium to large sized baking pan. As soon as the pesto reaches a creamy light consistency, drizzle about a quarter to a half of it over the chicken. Place the chicken in the oven and begin to boil water on the stove in a medium pot. Meanwhile, mash up the avocado in a small bowl and put the sauce back on the stove. Cook the ravioli according to package directions, but mix in the seasonings with the pesto. Add milk to the sauce until it reaches your preferred thickness. Once the sauce and raviolis are done take the chicken out of the oven. Change the settings to broil- Hi. Spoon a generous layer of the avocado on top of each chicken breast, topped with  slices of mozzarella cheese so it surrounded completely. Finish by arranging the ravioli and artichoke hearts around the chicken and pouring the sauce over it all. Place in the oven checking frequently until the cheese begins to fry. For a more crunchy texture, leave in a bit longer. Hopefully when you take this masterpiece out of the oven, you’re as stoked as I was to devour it. Be safe, you might go into food comma if you attempt to eat all of it, and enjoy!