Sloppy Joe Sandwiches for a Crowd: A Great Ground Beef Recipe

A simple, quick, and fairly inexpensive way to feed a large crowd is to give them sloppy joe sandwiches. If you don't want to go to the trouble of measuring out all the ingredients below, you can use 14 oz. to 16 oz. bottles of your favorite store bought barbeque sauce. If freezing this for later use, freeze in 2 cup freezer containers. Two cups of sloppy joe meat will make between 6 and 8 sandwiches, depending on how much you put in each. To use straight from the freezer, place 2 to 4 tablespoons of water in the bottom of a medium saucepan. Add the frozen meat, and slowly bring to a low simmer and cook for 15 minutes or until hot and back to the original consistency (water you added has evaporated). This is a great crowd pleaser, whether your crowd is a family of four, or a family get-together of 40 or so.

Barbecued Hamburger Sloppy Joes

1 cups chopped onions
4 lbs. ground beef
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/4 cup butter
1-14 oz. bottle catsup
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. salt

Sauté onion in butter in large soup stock pan. Add ground beef. Brown lightly. Drain off excess fat. Add rest of ingredients and simmer. Cover for 30 minutes. Use to fill 30 to 40 warm buns. Or cool and freeze in 1 pint freezing containers. One pint will make 6 to 8 sloppy joes. Serve with sliced onion, cole slaw, and pickle wedges.

This hamburger recipe is a family favorite!

Two More Recipes for Use with the Six Meals from One Chicken Recipe

The last two chicken recipes for use with the Six Meals from One Chicken recipe require either biscuit dough or cornbread. I have included recipes for both biscuits and cornbread below. These are great for family meals or for quick meals when unexpected guests arrive. Serve either of these meals with salad and iced tea for a true southern experience.

Homemade Chicken and Dumplings

1 container of chicken from six meals from one chicken recipe, thawed
1 tsp. pepper
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. salt
3 containers of chicken broth from six meals from one chicken recipe, thawed
1/2 tsp. tarragon
1 quart water, or as required to have your soup pot 3/4 full of liquid


Biscuit (Dumpling) Dough:
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup oil
1 cup and 1 tbsp. milk

In a large stockpot, bring chicken, pepper, garlic, salt, tarragon, broth, and water to a boil.

Stir together the dry ingredients to the dough. Add oil to the center of the dry ingredients, then pour milk onto oil. Stir until dough forms a ball. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls into boiling chicken mixture, tapping each to force it to submerge. It will float back up--this is ok. Once all dumplings are in the pan, bring pan back to boiling, then reduce heat. Cover loosely and allow to simmer for 20 minutes. Serves 4 to 6.

Chicken and Dressing Casserole

2 pans of cornbread, baked, cooled, and crumbled (recipe below)
3 boiled eggs, sliced
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 loaf of bread, stale or day old bread is best, toasted
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp. sage
1 tsp. sea salt
3 containers of chicken broth from six meals from one chicken recipe
1 container of chicken with liver and heart from six meals from one chicken recipe, thawed
1 can chicken broth, if needed--everything is cooked, so it is safe to taste to determine if you need more broth or seasonings

Mix all ingredients. Add a little water if too stiff to pour into pan. Pour into a large baking dish, and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Cover for the first 30 minutes.

Homemade Cornbread

2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 cup flour
2 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup oil
Milk--enough to make a medium consistency dough (usually about 1 1/2 cups--depends on the weather)

Mix all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Pour oil and eggs into the dry mixture and stir until it forms small pea sized clumps of dough. Add 1 cup of milk and stir. If needed add 1/2 cup more milk. Do not over stir. Pour into well greased pan (works best in a cast iron skillet), and bake for 20 minutes at 420 degrees. Serve with beans or soup, or freeze for dressing casserole. Left over pieces can be frozen to add to other recipes, too.

Additional recipes for homecooked meals can be found at Moms Red Kitchen and Around Moms Kitchen Table Blog.

Two Chicken Recipes for Use with Six Meals from One Chicken Recipe

Here are a couple more chicken recipes that take only a few minutes to prepare using precooked chicken and/or precooked rice. Precooking makes meal preparation much quicker and more enjoyable. When the family is asking what's for dinner, whip up one of these tasty recipes. These recipes work great with the Six Meals from One Chicken recipe.

Chicken Asparagus Casserole

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/3 cup milk
1 container of cooked chicken from six meals from one chicken recipe
1 cup 14 oz. or 15 oz. can asparagus spears, drained
1/2 cp crushed corn chips
Dash nutmeg

In a medium bowl, mix soup and milk until well blended. Mix nutmeg and chicken into the soup mixture. Pour the soup mixture into a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish, then arrange asparagus spears on top of soup mixture. Sprinkle corn chips over the top. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Makes 4 servings.

Chicken and Rice Casserole

1 16 oz. can peas with carrots (can use 10 oz. frozen instead)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 cup water
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 1/3 cup precooked rice
1 container of cooked chicken from six meals from one chicken recipe
1/2 cup grated Cheddar cheese

Combine vegetables, soup, milk, water, and salt in saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for three minutes. Stir in the rice and chicken. Top with cheese. Pour mixture into a 2 quart casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

First Two Chicken Recipes for Use with Six Meals from One Chicken Recipe

There are so many ways the chicken from the Six Meals from One Chicken recipe can be used. Here are two I think you will enjoy.

Chicken Quesadillas

1 container of chicken from Six Meals from One Chicken recipe
1 cup medium salsa
2 tsp. garlic
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt.
8 flour toritillas
sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided into fourths

Put thawed chicken, salsa, chili powder, garlic, pepper, and salt in a saucepan and simmer until bubbly. Warm electric skillet to 300 degrees.

Place 1 flour tortilla in the skillet. Using 1/2 of one of the divided cheddar cheese, sprinkle cheese on the tortilla. Spoon 1/4 of the chicken mixture onto cheese. Top with other 1/2 of the divided cheddar. Place another tortilla on top, and press down. Cook until bottom is browned and cheese starts to melt. Using a large spatula, flip quesadilla and brown the other side. Lift out onto a plate. Repeat this process three more times. Serve with sour cream. Serves 4.

Chicken and Chile Casserole

1 medium to large tomato
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. oil
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 small can (4 oz.) diced green chilies, drained
1/4 cup sour cream
6 corn tortillas, torn into small pieces
1 container of chicken from Six Meals from One Chicken recipe
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Chunky salsa

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Chop the tomato. Add tomato, onion, thawed chili powder, garlic and oil to a small skillet and cook until onion is almost clear. Stir in soup, peppers and sour cream, and remove from heat. In a 9x9 inch pan, spread about 1/2 cup of the sauce over the bottom, then layer half of the torn tortillas and 1/2 the chicken on top. Cover with 1/2 the cheese, and repeat the layers. Cover with foil and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Serve with your favorite chunky salsa, refried beans, and fried rice. Serves 4 to 6.

More to come! Two more recipes will be posted soon. Enjoy!

For more great recipes, visit Moms Red Kitchen.com.

Six Meals From One Chicken

Bulk cooking and pre-cooking make life through the week much easier, since meals will only take a fraction of the time they usually require. Chicken continues to be a good value. Many recipes will use a cup of diced chicken. By preparing ahead, you can have pre-cooked chicken and broth for six meals from one chicken.

First, purchase a large roasting hen and remove it from the bag it was sold in. Make sure there are no small feathers. Remove the gizzard, heart, and liver from inside the chicken and set aside. Wash the chicken, then place the whole chicken in a large soup pot. Cover the chicken with water and put the pan on a burner on high heat. When the water begins to boil, cover the pan loosely and reduce the heat until the water just simmers. Cook the chicken until the bone pulls loose when you pull the leg, then cool. Do not add salt or seasonings. Salt will keep chicken from freezing well, and seasonings will prevent using the chicken in multiple types of recipes.

While the chicken is cooking, place the liver, gizzards, and heart into a small saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until liver turns brown instead of dark red. Remove from heat and cool.

When the chicken is cool enough, remove it from the soup pot and place in a large bowl or on a platter. Remove and discard the skin. Remove the meat from the bones and tear or cut into bitesized pieces, putting these into a medium sized bowl. Once the meat is removed from the bones, place the bones back into the soup pot and boil for another 30 minutes. Add more water, if needed.

While the bones are boiling, cut the heart and liver into small pieces and replace in the water in which they were boiled. Remove the tough outside of the gizzard and put the inside meat into the water with the other meat. Add about a cup of the chicken pieces removed from the bones to this mixture. Cover and set aside to cool enough to freeze. This mixture will be used in cooking homemade chicken dressing casserole (recipe to be posted later). When it is cool enough, pour into a freezer container and freeze.

After the bones boil, remove them from the pot and discard them. Strain the broth into another pan to remove small bones and bits of skin. If any pieces of chicken meat are strained out, add them to the bowl of chicken pieces. Divide the chicken pieces into five equal parts. Put each part into a freezer container, and freeze.

When the broth has cooled enough, refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. After it had cooled thoroughly, remove the hardened fat from the top. Leave the gel beneath the fat. Place the broth pan on the stove and warm until the gel dissolves. Pour equal amounts into six different freezer containers. Allow to cool completely, then freeze. Be sure to mark the date on each item that goes into the freezer to make it easier to rotate items, using the oldest first.

Bulk cooking allows you to prepare, or partially prepare, meals for later. One container of chicken pieces and one container of broth can be used in many chicken casserole recipes. Recipes using this chicken will be included in the next post.