Not so sloppy joes

I should start with a bit of an update. There's been a lot less crying around the Cupcakes household than I thought there would be.

Reason being...we didn't end up moving. Our house didn't sell and ultimately we're pretty happy about that. The other place was a steal and a great location, but it would have been more expensive and WAY less convenient.

We officially closed the book on this grand adventure on Friday and I've been celebrating by pulling all my crap out and making the house look I live in it again! Books stacked everywhere- check. Piles of mail- check. Dirty dishes in sink- check. Socks on the floor- check.

Ah- sweet relief. Keep this joint "company ready" 24/7 really blew.

And I just bought a new vacuum- a Hoover Sprint Quick Vac. Why I didn't buy this when I needed to keep the house super clean I don't know. Probably the same reason I let all the flowers we bought to "pretty" up the place die. My heart wasn't in it.

Now that I'm done tidying like June Cleaver, I have more time to blog. Hooray!

Enter- not so sloppy joes.

They're not so sloppy because I served them open faced. Feel free to get your hands dirty by putting those pieces o' toast together. Those beans will ooze all over you.

Exhibit A- sloppy.

Not So Sloppy Joes- vegetarian style

1 tbsp olive oil
2 green bell peppers, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
28 oz. can of baked beans
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 squirts ketchup- roughly 2 tbsp
salt and pepper to taste
2 slices of bread per person, toasted
Cheddar cheese, for topping

Heat up the olive oil over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Add the bell pepper and onion and saute until just starting to brown- 5-8 minutes. Add 1/2 tsp of salt to get those juice flowing. Add the garlic and stir well. Don't let the garlic burn. I'm serious, don't!

Add the chili powder and cumin to the pepper and onion mixture. Stir to combine. Dump in the baked beans and stir to combine and get all the good brown bits off the bottom. Add the mustard- stir extra well. You don't want to get a big bite of that- it will clear your sinuses. Squirt in the ketchup. Bring to a bubble and let cook about 2 minutes. Then reduce heat to low. Salt and pepper to taste. I probably added about 1/2-3/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper.

Toast your bread. Arrange on a plate. Scoop on the sloppy joe and top with cheddar.


This whole meal came together in about 20 minutes- not too shabby for cafeteria food. As to whether these really taste like their Manwich counterparts, it's hard to say, although I think they're a close cousin. The husband never ate sloppy joes as a child and thus has only had my vegetarian renditions.

You be the judge!

Salty sweet

It's been a wild week in the Cupcake household. We prepped for the "storm of the century" by:

• buying 4 gallons of water
• taking down the porch swing
• baking two loaves of the best bread ever
• doing laundry at 8 am today, in case the power went out
  

God help me if I'm ever in a real emergency. Perhaps I can barter some bread for a chainsaw and some Spaghetti-o's.

In addition to stocking our survival kit, we also decided to buy a house. And sell ours, duh.


We currently live in a beautiful bungalow. I love this house. Really. Like, crying actual tears when I picture moving day kind o' love. This house is the first place I'd lived in longer than a year since I was 13. This house is more than just a few walls- we've grown up here.

The husband has poured countless hours, blood, sweat, swear words, and gallons of paint into this house. We went bought it , it was sea foam green- he spent the entire summer perched on a ladder, listening to the Red Sox, painting it a much more palatable shade of blue. He took a sad, rental kitchen and turned it into a gourmet's paradise.

Plus, I'm a house person. I get crazy attached to living spaces. The day I found out my childhood home was bulldozed to make room for a McMansion, I sobbed hysterically. I was gonna buy that house (in 20 years)!

The new house is great and will be ours as soon, hopefully. It's small, too, but on a huge piece of property with a deck, dog run, basketball court (say what?!), and hot tub. We'll make lots of great memories in that house and maybe even a baby or two.


So, it's only fitting, that after a weekend of rain and wind and cleaning and packing and dusting and sorting (OMG we have a lot of crap), that I have a taste of something salty sweet on Sunday night. Something that packages my emotions so neatly into a 1 inch square of chocolate.


Salazon Chocolate Co. Organic Dark Chocolate with Natural Sea Salt and Newman's Own Organics Mocha Milk Chocolate.

Probably going to need to stock up on a few more bars- there's a whole lot of crying and country music headed my way over the next few months.

I'm such a sap.