Kielbasa Skillet Dinner, Jalapeno Popper Dip, and Sloppy Joes

I'm a little behind on posting lately, so I'm going to throw three things at you today! The first recipe is a new favorite of mine and is called Cheesy Kielbasa Skillet Dinner. If you like kielbasa, then you will love this quick, easy and economical meal. I have made it twice in two weeks and have plans to make it again. I adapted this recipe from RecipeZaar, making a couple of changes along the way.

The recipe calls for four main ingredients, that's it. The first ingredient is one pound of kielbasa, sliced. The second ingredient is potatoes (recipe calls for 5, I use two large russets). The third and fourth ingredients are one minced onion and a cup of green pepper. My husband doesn't really care for green pepper, so I sub in some diced jalapeno peppers which really spices things up a bit.
The next step is to saute all four ingredients in a large skillet. I use olive oil, but you could use any kind of oil here. Here is where I made another change. It is really hard to saute all four ingredients at the same time and develop any kind of color. If you decide to saute everything at once, then you will basically be steaming the food instead of sauteing. End result is okay, but not the best it could be. I had better results sauteing the food in batches and then adding it all back into the pan.
After you get the desired color on your potatoes and kielbasa, add in 1-1/2 cups water (could probably use chicken stock), sprinkle in some seasonings (I used Italian seasoning to taste) and simmer with the lid on for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through. Once the potatoes are cooked through, sprinkle on about 1-1/2 cups cheddar cheese (recipe calls for American) and place the lid back on to melt the cheese.
It may sound kind of strange and not look that great, but it is extremely comforting, delicious and crave inducing! I didn't have high expectations for this one, but it really blew me out of the water. It is one of my favorite meals (for the time being, of course). You can make this whole meal for around $5-6 dollars, which I also love.

The second recipe I am sharing today is Jalapeno Popper Dip, which has been extremely popular with the Superbowl this past weekend. (Congrats to the Saints! I'm so happy they won.) This dip is so good that it disappeared within one day! It is a creamy delicious dip made with cream cheese, mayo, diced green chiles, diced jalapeno peppers, parmesan cheese, shredded Mexican cheese and some panko breadcrumbs. You can find the recipe here at Noble Pig's site. Be prepared to wear elastic pants if you make this dip, because you will want to eat all of it on your own!
Creamy, spicy, sinfully delicious. Serve with tortilla chips, crackers, bread, veggies....it's all good!

And finally, the Sloppy Joe.

Chances are, if you grew up in the 80's and were invited to a birthday party, or any other social gathering, a Sloppy Joe was on the menu! Does anyone else remember the days of eating Sloppy Joes served out of a crockpot? It was a retro favorite and I can definitely see why now. Sloppy Joes are easy, economical and serve a crowd.

With a special fondness for the Sloppy Joe, I made them last night for the Superbowl. The recipe I chose had received some awesome ratings, a 5 star rating with 500 reviewers, so I went with it. Let me just say that it was not my favorite. I wanted to share this information with you in case you ever thought about trying it. You can find the recipe HERE.

The basis of the Sloppy Joe recipe was 1 pound of ground beef, 8 oz. tomato sauce, ketchup, bbq sauce, brown sugar, mustard powder, Worcestershire sauce, and vinegar. Something was just not right about that mixture. I tried adding some more mustard powder, I also tried some more red pepper flakes, a little more sugar. It just never came around to being very good. I wouldn't recommend it at all and it definitely wasn't the Sloppy Joe from my childhood.

Oh well, two out of three ain't bad!

Happy Cooking:D