Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• ¼ cup chopped onion
• ¼ cup chopped green bell pepper
• ¾ cup ketchup, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard, or to taste
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 6 hamburger buns, split

Directions

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir lean ground beef in the hot skillet until some of the fat starts to render, 3 to 4 minutes. Add onion and bell pepper; continue to cook until vegetables have softened and beef is cooked through, 3 to 5 more minutes.
2. Stir in ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and garlic powder; season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.
3. Divide meat mixture evenly among hamburger buns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before

Like my last meal I decided to make something quick and easy so I chose Sloppy Joes! I’ve been studying for a midterm so I wanted to make something that doesn’t take too long to cook, so I would have as much time to study as possible. I also took the peppers out just because I’m not a big fan of it. Sloppy Joe’s are something that I grew up eating so I knew I would like it. I also made this because it is easy to have for leftovers. I also added a cheese slice to each sloppy joe I would make.

 

During

I started the skillet on medium heat like the directions told me to. From here, I stirred the ground beef well it was cooking until I saw some of the juices from the meat. From here I added the onion, but I didn’t add the peppers due to personal preference. I let the beef and onions cook until the vegetables softened and the meat browned. When the vegetables were softened and the meat was browned I started adding other ingredients like the ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, garlic powder and the salt and pepper. After I did all of that I turned down the heat to low and I cooked for about 25 minutes, well stirring occasionally. From here it was ready to eat so I made myself a plate and enjoyed.

 

After

After eating this meal I’d say it turned out pretty good. Like the last meal it wasn’t anything special but it did the job. This meal was perfect for the time I had available with my studying, and I didn’t need to go to crazy to find the ingredients. Overall this is a meal that doesn’t take too much preparation but still is really good. I will say this, DO NOT WHERE A WHITE SHIRT WHEN EATING … this is a very messy meal. If you have any suggestions in what I should make next leave a comment below. Thanks!

Before

The first meal I decided to make for myself was spaghetti and meat sauce.  Like I explained in a previous post I wanted to start out nice and easy. I’m not a big fan of tomatoes or peppers so I took those ingredients out of the Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Ground Beef.  I also made quite a bit so I would be able to have this meal for left overs, and to be able to freeze it for the future. This is a meal that is easy, and you can’t really go wrong with Spaghetti. I’ve never made a spaghetti sauce before so I was excited to add that into my own cookbook.

 

During

To begin I got all the ingredients ready on the table and started going to work. The first thing I did was start making the sauce. To do this I got the ground beef and broke it up and added the onion and garlic, I also added a bit of salt and pepper well it cooked on medium. I had to facetime my mom a few times to make sure I wasn’t messing up. As a colourblind person I struggled with seeing it turn brown. I also wasn’t exactly sure what the recipe was trying to say when it said “vegetables are tender” so I just assumed it meant when the vegetables are soft. Anyways, well I was waiting on the sauce to be done I stirred it around basically continuously because I did not want it to burn. The next step I took was putting the tomato sauce and tomato paste in a pan and started letting it cook. As I stirred I added the oregano, basil and salt. I let this cook for about 30 minutes and I stirred every now and then.

 

As all of this was going on I was also making the spaghetti which was pretty simple. I let the water start boiling then I added butter, salt and the spaghetti. Well that was cooking I gave it a few stirs. When it was ready I drained the water out and put a teaspoon of butter in. After this I made myself a plate and enjoyed.

 

After

Now that I have finished making this meal, I can say it went pretty well. This definitely isn’t the best spaghetti sauce I have had but it was still good. It was quite the experience to be able to do this for the first time. I’m glad I started with something simple to build up my confidence for the next meal. At this point I’m not too sure what to do, so if you have any suggestions please comment below your recommendations. The recipe I made is below.

 

 

Ingredients (Sauce)

1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons dried basil

1 teaspoon salt

1⁄2 teaspoon ground black pepper

 

Ingredients (Spaghetti)

Water

Spaghetti

Pinch of salt

2 teaspoons of butter

 

Directions for Sauce

1. Gather all ingredients.
2. Combine ground beef, onion, and garlic in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook and stir until meat is browned and crumbly and vegetables are tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain grease.
3. Stir tomato sauce, and tomato paste into the pan. Season with oregano, basil, and salt. Simmer spaghetti sauce for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Serve hot and enjoy!

Directions for Spaghetti

1. Boil water in pot. Well the water is boiling add butter, a pinch of salt, and spaghetti
2. Turn water to medium heat (cook for 15-20 min). Stir occasionally.
3. Drain pasta and add teaspoon of butter

What I’ll be Learning

For this project me and my classmates were assigned an assignment that is about learning a skill online that the person would like to know. It was a no brainer for me to choose cooking. Cooking is a very important part of life that all people need to know. For myself this is something that needed a lot of attention because my cooking skills are very limited. I figured there is no better time to start working on this now. Im very interested to see the ups and downs of skill develop and hopefully I will come away with a decent ability to cook for myself and others.

Where am I now

Like I stated previously, my cooking skills are pretty limited. I took Foods in high school so I have some knowledge, but in this class I picked some of the less important roles that were available. Outside of school I can make myself pretty simple meals but it won’t be anything you’d make for company. The one thing I really enjoy cooking is the walleye that I catch after I go fishing. That might sound alright but I do it a max of three times a summer, so there is a lot of room for improvement on my behalf. I have also made traditional Indigenous food like Bannock and Fry bread during my time in University. Overall,  when it comes down to it I can make myself a meal but it isn’t fancy by any means. I hope to improve that in this class.

Where I Plan to go

I plan to continue developing this skill by incorporating some Métis traditional foods. The first meals that I make for this class won’t be anything overly special, but as time goes on I hope to make the meals more and more challenging and time consuming. For this class I will be relying on online cookbooks, and youtube videos and other sources of media. I also might get my grandma to cook with me for one of the entries but it will be more focused on the online learning aspect. I’m really excited to find new recipes that I can make for myself for the rest of my life.

Welcome to Education Sites. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!