Just How Sloppy is Joe?

There was a restaurant, on the corner of Center and 12th in Salem that served the best Sloppy Joes ever! And no, I never got to try them. Mom and her friends would go shopping and that is where they loved to have lunch. The check was served with chlorophyll pills to help disguise the garlic and spices on the ladies breath. She finally got Dad to try them on an evening out, once. Dad had eaten the original Sloppy Joes back during the war and did not like these posers.

Once Scott and & were married, as we tried to find common ground on our meals, we agreed we had both like the sloppy joes served at school. So I tried the spice packet and we were in love with the dish. I really don’t know why I didn’t just call Aunt Vi, she who had the school’s recipes. Seems, all you needed to do was ask a school cook and they would give out a sheaf of papers with all their recipes!

 I found a recipe in a magazine about 25 years ago and tried it. It was as close to what we had eaten at school as possible. I was telling Aunt Vi about it and she gave a disgusted laugh, she of the Extension Ladies Cooking, Needlework, Arts & Crafts Club. Then we both had a good laugh over how we never seem to remember to ask our family if they can help out with a problem!

Here is the way I now make Sloppy Joes:

It's Duggar Time!

Previously on 19 Kids and Counting, Anna Duggar prepared Chicken-etti for her in-laws. She said it was Josh’s favorite dish.  Jessa pointed out his waistline proves the statement!

 Now those of us over at Duggars Anonymous are notorious for our snark. Of course, we had to pick at the recipe for being too salty, having too much fat, and overall just not healthy. (Much like the Duggars favorite Tater Tot Casserole.)

 Scott and I like TTC on occasion. Rare occasion. Once a year occasion. And then, I try to make it a little healthier by using low sodium, low fat products.

 This week, I promised I would fix a healthier Chicken-etti on Tuesday. That’s my 2fer night. 19 Kids and Counting AND LOST! I just realized it’s a 3fer, add on Table for 12. Don’t talk to me, I’m watching teevee!

Stuffed Peppers and Meatloaf

Grandma Jo served the first stuffed peppers I ever ate. They were good, for having green peppers. I have never been a green pepper fan. When I discovered the colorful, thus ripe, sweet peppers; I immediately became a fan!

I remember Grandma serving Scott the filling, but no pepper. She explained her only brown-eyed grandson didn’t really care for green peppers. Aren’t grandmas the greatest?

 Stuffed peppers have a lot in common with meatloaf; in fact some people use the very same recipe for both. I have favorite recipes for each.

Hamburger Gravy over Mashed Potatoes

One of the best dishes our school cafeterias put out was Hamburger Gravy over Mashed Potatoes. They served it with sauerkraut. Hey, it was still the ‘50’s/’60’s and people are differently then.

We were allowed to eat one ‘hot lunch’ a week. Otherwise, Mom made us cold lunches. At first she sent milk in a thermos but we liked buying our milk. I guess it made us feel more independent. Or maybe we were embarrassed to be one of the few who brought milk from home. I remember milk was $.03 a day.
My favorite ‘hot lunch’ was HGoMP. When we tried to get Mom to make it at home, she never got it right. She always made . Sometimes she would crumble a hamburger patty into the gravy.
So I took over and got it right through trial and error.

My Current Chili

My current chili came about one day when I was out of tomatoes. I had cooked a pot of pinto beans, browned up the ground meat, toasted the spices, and was reaching for tomatoes to deglaze the fry pan. No tomatoes in the pantry, freezer, or even dried tomatoes. I just had to make do. Well, the resulting chili was delicious without tomatoes.


I serve chili two ways. Either cornbread or corn chips as the side dish. I have always just used the recipe on the corn meal to make it. Corn and beans complement each other for a complete protein.

We like to make a full pot of chili. After dinner, I make three or four lunches for Scott by freezing the chili in individual serving containers. I freeze cornbread in a sandwich bag for each serving. Or he can buy corn chips at work. That leaves us with just enough leftover for a meal of chili burgers or dogs.

Uncle David's Favorite Chili Recipe

Our Uncle David was unique. He was Mom's younger (by six years) brother. He never married. He didn't hold a steady job until he went to work for Uncle Walt. He liked to play the horses and greyhounds. He had crush on both Julie London and Nancy Sinatra. He played their records over and over, much to my delight. When he was a teen, we played a game, he had 'foo foo dust' in his pockets, where he sprinkled me with pocket dust and I became a fairy.

When Uncle Dave arrived, he showered his nieces with kisses and hugs. We would wiggle and squirm to get away. Mom said we hurt his feelings when we did that. I felt bad about that, I truely never wanted to hurt him. Twenty years after his death, my cousin Nancy said, "I would give anything for one of Uncle David's hugs." I had to turn away or else break into great, grieving sobs.
Dave loved my chili.  He said it was better than Mom's, which was saying a lot.  I know what he liked about mine, I used ketchup in my chili.  Dave loved his ketchup.
We didn't see Uncle Dave for the year or so he was stationed in England.  When he came back, my younger sisters didn't remember him and would scream if he came near them.  It took a couple of months for them to realize he was the best uncle ever.  My apologies to Uncles Lawerence, Les, Ed, Roy, Walt, Harry, Jack, Ed, Jerry, and Bill.  I know you all know what I am talking about.

T(aw)co

So, that is the way Peggy pronounces t(ah)co.  We have decided it was those '70's she lived in the midwest, those first years as a flight attendent.  She picked up that midwest twang.  Hey, come to think of it, she traveled to Iowa?, Ohio? when her birthday twin Rene, and her family came to visit ours back in the late '60's.  Peg went home with them and flew back a couple of weeks later.  Rene and Peggy were born in the same hospital on the same day.  Our moms were in adjacent beds.  We have pictures of their birthdays together until Rene's family moved when the girls were about five.  They are still friends.

Mom's Crappy Homemade Pizza

Okay, that is Selene's name for the pizza recipe I have been using since 1966. My young self had no idea what pizza really was. You see, the pizza we got in school lunches back then, was nothing like pizza. The school cooks used pre-made square pizza crusts, (similar to the round ones you can buy at the market) tomato sauce, process american cheese, and either leftover sloppy joe mix or spaghetti sauce. Baked and served on the plastic trays.
In 1966 I had my first American style pizza, Hawaiian, cold. A group of friends met at Shakey's Pizza Parlor for my cousin Nancy's 16th birthday. My sister, Peggy Ann, and I had never been to a pizza parlor before. The party organizer ordered the pizza when she arrived. Everyone else was late due to 'cruisin' the gut'. It was a townie thing. Anyway, we ate one piece of 'pizza' and were hooked. Another night we tried pepperoni, it was all good.
So, one night I tried to make pizza for the family. It was a disaster. Mom's green cooking encyclopedia, the only cookbook she ever owned, had limited information on pizza. I remember there was a recipe for risen dough that I did not have time to prepare. So, I made biscuit dough from the box, rolled it out, put it on a cookie sheet. I used canned tomato sauce, Tillamook cheddar cheese, raw hamburger, and pepperoni sticks for topping. Well, the dough was not cooked through. The hamburger grease filled the cookie sheet. And the pepperoni sticks were as hard as rocks. We ran to the burger joint and brought dinner home.
Selene calls it MCHP because the crust is too thin,the toppings include ground beef and pineapple, and there is no pepperoni. I make other pizzas, but this was my first and Scott still likes it.