"Corny" Sloppy Joe Pizzas (easy!)

Story:

My parents came to Kentucky for a visit last month. They were both here for a few days, and then my dad left and my mom stayed for another week! She and I ran a lot of little errands. One day while perusing through the little dollar section at Target, we saw a little "Halloween Fun" cookbook put out by Pillsbury. It's just a little booklet full of little Halloween treats. In it was this simple recipe for "sloppy joe pizzas". I won't go into the cute way that you do up this thing to decorate it like a jack-o-lantern. Suffice it to say, the kids loved my post-Halloween sans-cutesy version of these little pizzas. (Great easy dinner when hubby is working late.)

Ingredients:

1 can large refrigerated buttermilk homestyle biscuits (8 count)

1 lb ground beef

1 can sloppy joe sauce (15.5 oz)

1 can whole kernel sweet corn, drained (11 oz)

(garnish: American cheese, pieces of green peppers)

Directions:

Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and press each biscuit to form a little pizza round (about 4 inches). Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes (or according to pkg directions).

In a skillet, cook beef over medium heat until thoroughly cooked; drain.

Stir in sloppy joe sauce and corn. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook about 5 minutes until heated through.

Spoon beef mixture evenly on to biscuit rounds. If desired, place cheese on top and put back in oven for a couple of minutes.

Disclaimer:

This is seriously nothing fancy... it just fills the tummies when mom's energy-level is low.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Story:

Soon after Ben and I got married and after I graduated from BYU, we moved into married student housing at the University of Utah. There Ben was working on his Bachelor's degree until we both started graduate school in the fall of 2000. In our married student ward, the Relief Society would sometimes pass around simple recipes to share with all of us young newlyweds. That's where this recipe came from.

Now you real chefs out there could surely figure out how to make this old American traditional soup without a recipe, but being the non-experimental recipe-following wannebe cook that I am, I grabbed a copy of this one. I keep it and refer to it often... or at least every fall... when chicken noodle soup sounds especially tasty.

Ingredients:

(I'm listing measurements here, because it's what's listed on the recipe... but, of course, you can be very flexible! I go easy on the chicken, and heavier on the veggies and noodles.)

1 1/2 C cooked and cubed chicken

1 C sliced carrots

1/2 C chopped celery

1/2 C chopped onion

2 t dried parsley

3/4 t dried dill weed

4 (14 1/2 oz) uncooked egg noodles*

Directions:

In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients except the noodles and stir.

Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes or until veggies are tender.

Add the egg noodles and cook 15 more minutes, or until noodles are done.

Notes:

*I really like to use the homestyle egg noodles... I think the bag has red and white checks on it and it sits upright with a twistie-tie on top. (I just threw the bag away, but I'll post a picture next time I buy some.) They really make this soup dee-lish!

Also, this soup is really good with my Easy Breadsticks. Remember you can make the breadsticks with half white and half wheat flour which really helps fill up the tummies.

Lastly, I made a HUGE batch of this tonight to take dinner into a friend. And I tried making it a new way that I loved:

I put a bunch of frozen chicken breasts in my counter-top roaster oven with a big box of chicken broth. Let it boil and cook for a couple of hours. Then I just shredded the chicken right in the roaster oven. Then I added all the veggies and let that sit for a while. About an hour before serving (because the homestyle egg noodles take longer to cook), I dropped in handfuls (and handfuls!) of noodles. It was great because it was all in one pot and I didn't have to keep my eye on it on the stove.

Anyway, Judy just gave me this roaster oven (she got a new fancier one!) and I think I'm really going to like it this winter!