Missing My Kitchen and Sloppy Joes

I miss my old kitchen.  I've always had a thing for working in the kitchen, however I've come to realize that for me, cooking is nothing short of therapy. 

 

It's been a challenging week.  The kids seem tired and cranky, I seem tired and cranky, Mike and I ended our 4-month-long Breaking Bad Netflix marathon, our dogs lives were recently threatened by a future neighbor who claimed Goose ate his chicken, (I only wish I were kidding) Molly's having night terrors, I'm saturated in essential oils, feel bloated, hate my hair and we have ants. 

 

Have I mentioned my kitchen sucks?  I have a 1-foot section of counter space which I do the majority of my cooking on.  Sometimes I resort to doing my prep work on the burners for lack of space.  I try to think about the life of Caroline Ingalls and realize I'm just spoiled.  For crying out loud, she raised 4 girls, one who was blind, plus she took in poor Albert when Charles found him walking the streets of Sleepy Hollow.  Additionally, she did it all prior to wash machines, mini vans, Duncan Donuts coffee and Pinterest. 

 

Regardless, my kitchen still sucks.

 

Thursday I was at my wits end.  I can't tell you how many times I heard, "I just goed poop and it was a big one", "I peed in my pants", "Molly put a ponytail holder on the cats ear and he scratched her", "I keep having to turn this dang show up because you guys can't shut your holes."  The word 'dick' kept showing up on Maisie's easel, Molly kept talking about going to Bisconsin next week and also claimed to hate spicy tornados (tomatoes). 

 

I'll be the first to admit they were getting to me.  Then I started cooking.  I don't know where the idea stemmed from, but I'm grateful for it.  I submerged myself in making homemade mac and cheese, 2 lbs of sloppy joe meat, 5 quarts of cabbage soup, cookies and sun tea.  Suddenly, just as the cheese began to melt into my white sauce, so did my headache.  Just as my patience was growing thinner than my hair, I felt it start to surge.  Call it my new "Stress Away" essential oil, call it taking a break from the kids, call it a hallucination; I'm come to the conclusion cooking is my drug and I'd been in withdrawl. 

 

I'd like to take this moment to mention I still hate my kitchen.

 

So with that, I'm leaving you with my Sloppy Joe recipe.  Maisie ate 3/4 lb for lunch last week.  Just sayin'...

 

Sloppy Joes (this stuff's like crack, I'd double it)

 

1 lb ground beef

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp yellow mustard

3/4 cup ketchup (that's not a typo)

3 tsp brown sugar

 

Brown the meat.  I always rinse and drain under hot water.

Return meat to skillet.  Add onion, garlic powder, mustard, ketchup and brown sugar.  Simmer until heated through. 

Serve on bakery buns with sliced cheese and pickles.

 

Your welcome.