Pudding Pops as Easy as 1-2-3

I don't remember eating a lot of pudding pops as a child.  I remember eating fudgesicles and those nasty fla-vor-ice pops.  You know, the ones that you had to freeze before eating and came in a plastic tube that will cut your tongue?  They tasted like cheap Kool-Aid.  So gross.  Fudgesicles delicious.  Jell-O Pops delicious.  Fla-vor-ice bad!

I found these randomly at my Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market

I don't have any children but I don't think that should stop you from purchasing uber cute Popsicle molds and making delicious ice pops.  I've tried to make pudding pops before and they always turn out kind of watery.  I found a recipe using half-and-half and the mouth feel of these pops is almost exactly like I remember pudding pops. Pudding pops are really easy to make too.

General Tso's Chicken or Why I Hate Cornstarch

I have avoided making my own Chinese takeout style food for many reasons: too much prep, steps and frying. But mostly the frying part. Than, I saw this recipe on the Brown Eyed Baker.  My mouth began salivating just looking at the pictures.  So I decided to get over my aversion to frying and make it.  Yeah, I was right.  A lot of work but it made a lot of food and it was delicious.  I'll try to kick up the spice next time I make it.  On a spiciness scale from one to ten I give it a 1.  I have a feeling that my red pepper is old so my fault.  I'll buy some dried red chilies from the Asian market before making it again.  I may regret that decision!  Spicy doesn't agree with me.  But it burns so good!

Gleaning {Cabbage Sloppy Joes}

When I joined Americorp I was so excited. I just knew I'd get to learn, meet new people and do exciting (i.e. interesting things). I was able to meet so many new people and experience different cultures, food and points of view. I just know that if I had stayed in the Midwest I'd be a much boring person (and still single!).

I served in Apopka, Florida (Foliage Capital of the World!) at a place called the Hope Community Center. They work a lot with migrant workers and immigrants. I didn't get to spend much time at the HCC because I was placed at a domestic violence shelter some distance away. While I love working at the DV Shelter getting to spend time at the HCC was a great experience too. Every other Friday was Americorp meeting time. Good times! Most times it was an oppurtunity to kind of relax and enjoy each others company. A nice change of pace from our placements for some of us. Sometimes we did service learning projects as a group. Those were fun too.

Couldn't find any of us gleaning, found this one though ala 2009

 The one I remember most is gleaning cabbage. Gleaning is collecting leftovers from a farmer's fields after the harvest. You would be amazed at how much food is leftover to just rot in the fields of be turned over to become fertilizer for next crop. I think we collected over 2 tons of cabbage for the Second Harvest Food Bank.

Picking cabbage is back breaking work. It's done by hand with a little knife and gloves. Gloves that soon become useless because the cabbage is moist from the overnight dew or rain. I had blisters on my hands and such an achy back! Picking veggies and fruits is not good times. I once picked peaches for a month one summer up north for pay. Not fun. Besides the aches and pains and low pay there is also the ick factor. As in the crop has been sprayed with pesticides at some point.

I learned a lot about where are food comes from, who picks it and the environmental and health impacts of producing food. look up info about Lake Apopka sometime. Scary!

Moving on...we got to take some of our cabbage home! So I have a few pounds of cabbage and no idea what to make with it. Cole slaw. Sure, but not my favorite thing. So nothing to do but Google cabbage recipes. This recipe came up. I can't remember where it I found it. Probably recipes.com. So I apologize for lack of credit. Thanks. It's yummy.

For this recipe you'll need half a head of shredded cabbage. I recommend using your knife and cutting board. My food processor shreds it too fine. Also needed: green pepper, onion, ground beef, ketchup, brown sugar, lemon juice, white vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, yellow mustard, and slat and pepper. It's a lot of ingredients but this Sloppy Joe isn't from a can.

In a large saucepan cook the beef,onion and green pepper over medium heat. Drain off excess fat. Icky!

Add cabbage. Cook till just crisp tender.

In a small bowl (or container or something else container-ish!), combine ketchup, brown sugar, lemon juice, white vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, yellow mustard. Stir well.

Add to meat and cabbage and than cover pan and let simmer about 10 minutes or until cabbage is tender.

I like to serve on hamburger buns with a side of mac & cheese. Try this recipe from the Pioneer Woman. It's so good!

Cabbage Sloppy Joe's
from recipe.com?

1lb ground beef
1 1/2 cup finely shredded cabbage
1 medium onion chopped
1/4 cup green pepper, diced
1 cup ketchup
3 TBS brown sugar
2 TBS lemon juice
1 TBS white vinegar
1 TBS Worcestershire Sauce
1 TBS yellow mustard
1 tsp salt
1 dash pepper

In large saucepan, cook the beef, cabbage, onion, and green pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink and vegetables are crisp tender; drain.  Stir in ketchup, brown sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt and pepper.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes or until cabbage is tender. 

2009-2010