What a day....

Well, after another long 5 hour plane ride and a 2 hour wait to find out one of our bags (along with 78 others from the DC flight) were not going to be at the airport tonight, we are back home in Phoenix. Hopefully this will be the last flight until we go leave for the final time. The move is scheduled to happen mid July, so that leaves us with plenty of time to get our extra pantry items used up! The one thing I will definitely miss is our walk-in pantry. The new kitchen is probably half the size of our current one, so until we have the time to renovate it to our liking, it will be an interesting adventure getting used to the smaller space. If we could have only moved some of the kitchens we saw into this house… but we had to compromise on something to get the acreage we wanted.

By the time we arrived home, we were pretty tired, but I had been itching to get something made in the kitchen. I opted to go with a no-fuss quick dinner, that again, uses up some pesky pantry goods. Sloppy Joes with Corn uses canned corn, but since it is that time of the year, use fresh sweet corn if you got it! Ground sirloin makes up the main portion here, but I would not hesitate to use some ground turkey breast for half to lower the fat some.

Once the meat has started to brown, thick tomato paste is added for richness and does a good job of holding the mixture together. Smoky cumin and chili powder add that classic smell of sloppy joes I remember while growing up. A dash of cayenne brought the heat up to a respectable level, but you could add a dash or two of Franks Red Hot and I wouldn't mind! After the mixture is thinned with some chicken stock and allowed to simmer to concentrate the flavors, corn is stirred in to add a different texture to your ordinary joes. This made a generous six servings, so we opted to save the mess and have them open faced.

Recipes
Sloppy Joes with Corn