Fun Food Friday- Sloppy Joes

Growing up Sloppy Joes were not my favorite thing to eat.  I think my mom made them with ketchup, mustard and some water or something like that and I just wasn't a fan.  But then she started making them with tomato soup and brown sugar and I became a fan. :)  I love making Sloppy Joes because I just make a big batch and then I freeze them in zip-lock bags and I have a quick meal.  Sometimes Steve's parents will come to our Sunday night service and we like to then invite them over afterwards and that's easy to do when I have these in my freezer because they take about 5 minutes to thaw and then there you go, a yummy meal.  I have come to discover that different areas of the country call these different things.  In Michigan they call them Barbeque which I think is so funny because there's nothing barbeque about them. :)  And then even sillier, in Iowa they call them Taverns.  The only thing I can think of is they must have served them in Taverns?  Who knows.  But regardless of what you call them (although Steve will tell you that I say the correct thing to call them is Sloppy Joes :)), these are a very yummy way to make them.  And this is one of the few ways Micah will eat ground beef, so double bonus! :)

 

Ingredients: Ground Beef, Onion, White Vinegar, Worcestershire Sauce, Tomato Soup, Chili Powder 

Fry up the ground beef

Along with a diced onion

Until nice and brown and the onions are clear.  Drain the meat.

Then add tomato soup...

Chili powder...

Worcestershire sauce...

Vinegar...

and brown Sugar...

Stir together until all combined.  Bring to a simmer for about 10 minutes

I put it in two 9x13 pans to cool in the refrigerator

When it was all cooled I put 1/3 in a container for the next day and then the rest in 2 Ziploc bags for the freezer

Place the bags on a cookie sheet in the freezer so they freeze nice a flat making it easy to store and thaw when you need them

Micah enjoying his Sloppy Joes! :)



The twins even got to try some and were fans

Sloppy Joes (I tripled this recipe above, if you made just this amount it would serve about 3-4 people)
1 pound ground beef
1/2 onion, diced
1 can tomato soup
1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
1 TBS White Vinegar
1/4 cup  Brown Sugar

Brown the ground beef in a skillet with the onion, drain.  Add tomato soup, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar and sugar.  Stir together until combined.  Simmer for about 10 minutes.  To freeze, allow to cool before placing in gallon freezer bags.  Lay the bags flat on a cookie sheet while freezing.

Week 48 and Cali Vaca Part 1

 

Jonathan was not so sure at first :)

I don't know what is up with David's smile :)

(David left, Jonathan right)

 

It's hard to believe that the twins are 11 months old now (as of yesterday)!  They are now in the last month of their first year!  I feel like time has flown and yet it's hard to imagine what life was like before them.  They are more and more able to just play with each other and it is just so cute!

We took a vacation to my parents in California and it has been so much fun!  The boys did really well on all our flights.  They didn't sleep as much as we would have thought (or liked) but even with very little naps they did great!  It was so funny because walking through the airport people were like "Oh, they are so cute!" and then I'd say to them "will you still think they are cute if you end up next to us on the plane?"  And do you know what everyone's answer was?  No. :)  But thankfully we ended up with very nice people next to us who didn't seem to mind them.

Here they are waiting to board our flight in Grand Rapids

Steve and I went with my dad and brother to a Dodgers game.  One of my favorite places to go!  The Dodgers did win but we did something that my dad used to never let us do, we left before the game was over, so we didn't see the walk-off.  They won it in the 11th and we had stayed till the end of the 10th, but at that point you just have no idea how much longer it's going to take.  My brother was not very happy with us :). 



My sister, brother-in-law and nephew Caleb came down for part of the time we were there.  We went with them to a park one night.  The twins loved going down the slide

And what they loved even more than that was climbing up the slide!  I think we have some climbers on our hands!  Yikes!

Caleb wasn't too sure about it but Tracie was having fun

The twins fit better in the swing if they were both in it at the same time :)

My dad, brother-in-law and Steve took the motor boat out to the ocean one day so my mom, sister and I decided to have an adventure and pile all the kids (that's 4 car seats) into the Yukon we're borrowing and go out for lunch and to a splash pad at a shopping center.  We went to a Panera Bread and sat outside with worked great for all our kids.  We had a great time.

The twins watching Micah run through the splash pad

My mom and I with all my boys

 

Micah loved running through the splash pad.  He wasn't too sure about it at first so I had to run through it with him, but then he loved it

He also talked Grandma into taking him on the little train that goes through the shopping center.  He's in the red car waving :)

Micah was a huge fan of his cousin Caleb.  It was so cute to see him interact with him.   I also thought it was pretty fun to have Caleb cuddle on my lap since none of my boys are really into that these days.

My brother, sister-in-law and nephew Sanders also came for two days while we were there.  It was the first time in 3 1/2 years that all of my family was together (and that was pre-grandkids).  So it was a very special time to spend together.  And then one afternoon a couple of my aunts and cousins came down to see us all which was so great!  Thank you so much to all of you for coming!  It was so nice to get to see you all have you meet my little guys!

This was so sweet.  My cousin's daughter Elyse was reading to Micah, such a sweetheart! 

More cousin love

 

All 5 cousins playing on the floor.  We had to be careful of Caleb, David liked to crawl on him :)

The twins got very good at going up and down the 2 steps into the living room

Thankfully Grandma has blocks too so Micah and Steve can have fun building things

Steve and I were able to go away for a night with just the two of us.  We stayed in Carlsbad which is a city by the ocean north of San Diego.  We had an absolutely wonderful time.

We spent an afternoon and then the next morning sitting at the beach and Steve got to do something he absolutely loves, boogey board.  He hadn't done it in a while but it's like riding a bike and soon he was riding with the waves. 

At night we went to Oceanside to eat at Ruby's on the pier.  We both love that restaurant and getting to eat on the pier while looking out at the ocean.  On our walk to the end of the pier this pelican was just sitting on the rail, totally not caring about all the people by him.

On our walk back after dinner the sun had just set and the moon was out and it was just such a beautiful sight

I'm so glad that after almost 5 years of marriage I still absolutely love hanging out with this guy! 

 

The next day after some more beach time we went to lunch at Steve's favorite Mexican restaurant from his seminary days, Lolita's Taco Shop.  It was so incredibly yummy!  I had gone there with him once when we were dating, but I forgot how fantastic it was!  We love our Mexican Food!!! :)  Then we headed up to North Los Angeles to go to a taping of Last Man Standing, an ABC comedy staring Tim Allen.  It was so much fun!  It took about 3 1/2 hours to do the filming, but between the filming they had this comedian entertaining the audience who was absolutely hilarious.  Steve and my cheeks hurt from laughing so much.  They don't let you take any cameras in there so I don't have any photos from it, but I did get an autographed photo of Tim Allen for being such a great laugher :). Yikes :)  We're looking forward to when it airs to see it all together and see if we can hear ourselves laughing. :)

(More pictures to come next week!)

Fun Food Friday- Bacon Wrapped Smokies

I'm pretty sure the first time I had these I ate about a dozen of them :)  My mother-in-law makes them for our Christmas dinner and it's seriously my favorite part of the meal. :)  And they are so very easy to make.  So if you have to bring an appetizer somewhere or you just want a really yummy treat, try these out.  I promise, you will not be disappointed.  And as long as you get gluten free Smokies and bacon they are gluten free.  I made these a couple of hours ahead of time and the sugar kind of melted into the bacon, so I recommend just wrapping them ahead of time, but don't put the sugar on until you are ready to bake them.

Ingredients: Little Smokies, Bacon, Brown Sugar

(that's right, only 3 ingredients!!!)

Cut the bacon into thirds

Wrap a piece of bacon around each Smokie

Put some brown sugar in a small bowl and coat each bacon wrapped smokie with brown sugar

Put on a baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until bacon is crisp and smokies are heated through

Stick a toothpick in them, put on a plate, and watch them disappear :)

 

Bacon Wrapped Smokies

1 pkg Little Smokies

1 pkg Bacon

1 cup Brown Sugar

 

Cut the bacon into thirds.  Wrap each Smokie with a piece of bacon.  Put brown sugar in a small bowl and coat smokies with sugar.  Place on a baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 40-50 minutes.