Sooo Scrumptious Sloppy Joes

Ingredients

• 2 T coconut oil (or EVOO)
• 1 red pepper, or orange/green/yellow, diced small
• 1 large onion, diced small
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 scant teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 pound grass-fed beef or turkey
• ¾ cup Paleo/Whole30/sugar free Ketchup
• ¼ cup coconut aminos, Braggs or 2 T BBQ sauce (optional)
• 3 T parsley, minced (optional)
• 2 T tomato paste

Instructions

1. Place the coconut oil in a large skillet.
2. Dice up the red pepper and onion and sauté in the coconut oil over medium heat. Cook for about 5 minutes, until they start to soften and onions start to become translucent.
3. Sprinkle with salt and garlic powder and stir in.
4. Add the beef and break it up with a spatula. Cook until browned.
5. Add ketchup, coconut aminos, and tomato paste and stir to combine.
6. Let cook on low for at least 10 minutes. The longer it cooks the more the flavors will develop. I like to simmer it for 30-40 minutes.
7. Serve over zucchini noodles, a sweet potato, whole grain buns or just eat it out of a bowl!

Forrey "Freezer" Spaghetti Sauce

3 lbs Tomatoes, cut into quarters (Roma tomatoes are great in this sauce because they have the least amount of seeds but other tomatoes work fine too. You could have a combination of different kinds if you would like)

8 Whole Cloves Garlic, large

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Pepper

1/2 Cup Olive Oil

 1 green pepper cut into 1 inch square chunks (optional)

1 lb Ground Meat (optional)

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. 

2. Place the quartered tomatoes, cloves, and green pepper (if using) on a large cookie sheet. 

Drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle the salt and pepper on top and then mix it all up to get everything coated (I just use my hands). 

3. Roast in oven for 2-3 hours. 

4. At 2 hours stir it around a bit. Continue to cook until you see a good amount of caramelizing on the tomatoes. **I think I roast mine for about 2 hours and 45 min**  

5. Remove from oven and puree. You can use a food processor (may have to do it in batches depending on the size of your processor), a blender, or an immersion blender. Serve over pasta or freeze in containers for future use. 

Megan Forrey McMahan, Avon IN

So Easy Turkey Over Hashbrowns (GF)

I'm not a huge hash brown fan, but this is good!

bag of frozen hash browns
1 lb of Ground Turkey
1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
1 cup ketchup
1/2 onion
1/2 green pepper
minced garlic to taste
preferred seasoning

shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
mustard (optional)

1. brown ground turkey, add onion, peppers and garlic-cook till tender. Add the tomato sauce and ketchup and seasoning. Add more ketchup if it looks a little dry. Keep on low simmering heat till the hashbrowns are done.

2. Prepare hashbrowns as directed.

3. Dish up the hashbrowns, top with turkey sauce and shredded cheese. I put a little bit of yellow mustard on top-super good comfort food!

Zucchini Lasagna (GF)

1 lb. ground beef or turkey
1 medium onion chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
1 store bought smallish box of button mushrooms -sliced
1 jar of Newman's Own "Sakarooni" sauce (I highly recommend...) or 1 8-ounce jar tomato sauce, 1 6-ounce can tomato paste and 1 14-ounce can stewed diced tomatoes
5-8 Zucchini (aim for the higher number if the Zucchini run small)
2 large eggs
2 cups cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley
1 cup shredded mozzerella
1 cup shredded chedder
salt, pepper, seasoning salt

Preheat oven to 375.
Thinly slice all the zucchini lengthwise, we're not looking for medallions. I'm talking as thin as you can get. This is where a mandolin would be useful. Just be careful of your fingers in any case. Put all the sliced zucchini in a large pot and fill till the zucchini are floating. Put on medium heat and bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. (I know you're treating the zucchini like noodles - that's the idea!) Take them off the heat when their done and strain.
Oil the bottom of the 9x13 pan and spread a little sauce in the bottom as well. In a LARGE saute pan add some oil and saute the meat, onion, mushrooms, and garlic until the meat is cooked through. Drain of excess fat and then return everything to the pan. Add the Sockarooni (it's such a fun name!) sauce or the tomato mixture. Simmer it all for about 10 minutes. It smells so good at this point...
While the meat is simmering in the delicious goodness of the sauce, whisk together the eggs, cottage cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan, parsley, salt, pepper, and seasoning salt. Have the grated chedder and mozzarella ready.
Now for the fun part.
In your 9x13 pan, layer the zucchini like you would lasagna noodles, overlap them just a bit and cover the whole bottom of the pan. Then, spread half of the cottage cheese mixture. THEN, sprinkle half the chedder and mozzarella cheese over that! THEN, spread half of the meat mixture on top of that!! Phew. First half is done. Layer the zucchini again, like you did before, followed by the cottage cheese mixture, then the cheese, then the meat. And to top it all off: Sprinkle some Parmesan on top.
Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until sauce is bubbly. Let it stand 10-15 minutes (if you can wait) and then CHOW DOWN!

Sloppy Joes (GF)

Simmer 30min.

1lb ground beef (can also use ground turkey)
1/3c onion, minced
1/3c celery, chopped
1/2 a green pepper, chopped
1/3c ketchup
1 (103/4oz) can of tomato soup *use 1/3 of it
2tsp vinegar
2tsp Worchesterchire sauce
2tsp brown sugar

Hamburger buns OR I just serve it over rice instead and it's great.

1-Brown meat, drain fat. Add onion, celery and green pepper and cook till tender. Stir in ketchup and the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for 30min and serve.

Baked Spaghetti w/(GF) noodles

Oven 350. Bake 30min.
12 oz spaghetti, cooked & drained

1c onion, chopped
1c green peppers, diced
1T butter

2tsp dried oregano
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 pkg. Italian sausage (can also use 4 breasts of chicken, cubed)
2c shredded cheese

1 can cream of mush soup
1/4c water

1-Cook sausage till browned. Add onion and green pepper with butter. Saute till tender.

2-Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 5-10min.

3-Meanwhile cook spaghetti al dente.

4-In 9x13 pan lay spaghetti down, sprinkle with half cheese, then top with meat mix, put rest of cheese on top.

5-In a small bowl mix mushrrom soup and water together till smooth. Pour over the top of all layers. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.

6-Bake uncovered.
Latacha De Oliveira, Indy

Turkey Empanadas *

Oven 400. Bake 20-25min.

1lb ground turkey
1clove garlic, minced
1c onion, chopped
1/2c green peppers
2c tomatoes (can use I can diced tomatoes)
1T dried parsley (use fresh if I have it)
1tsp cilantro (I like more cilantro! Plus I use fresh if I have it!)
1tsp ground cumin
1/2tsp dried oregano
1/2tsp pepper

1 package of pie crusts (comes with two)

1- saute turkey, onion and green pepper till turkey is no longer pink.

2- stir in tomatoes, and the rest of the ingredients. Cook over medium till liquid is reduced.

3- Spray cookie sheet. Roll out pie crust. put half of mix into it. Fold over and pinch the sides together. Do the same with the other crust. YOU WILL have leftover turkey mix. If you stuff the pie crust too full it will tear! Pierce top to vent steam and bake!