Lulu's Recipe Box

Sloppy Joes

The hubby and I are gearing up for the Packers playoff game tonight with some sloppy joes. I originally put them on the menu for Sunday night, but we pushed dinner out with friends to Friday night, and sloppy joes sounded really good for this cold night while we watch football. This yummy recipe comes from my mother. Can you tell that she is a good cook from all of the recipes I post from her?! I was a lucky girl growing up with a mother that cooked amazing meals every night. Sloppy joes are a delicious sandwich to warm you up on a cold winter night. It's a great meal to make for a crowd too (maybe an idea for the upcoming Superbowl parties). It freezes really well which is what I'll be doing with our leftovers. I feel like sloppy joes are sort of a Midwestern thing. People on the East and West coasts, did you grow up eating sloppy joes? Maybe you call them something different? I'm just curious. Have a wonderful Saturday night everyone! GO Packers!

P.S. Lulu's Recipe Box is now on Twitter! Follow me @lulusrecipebox

 

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground chuck or ground beef (90% lean)

1/2 cup chopped onion

7 oz. ketchup

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cider vinegar

2 T. lemon juice

1 T. brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp. dry mustard spice

Cheddar cheese (optional)

Hamburger buns

Directions:

Brown onion and beef in a Dutch oven over medium heat.  Drain off fat.  Add remaining ingredients.  Heat to boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to low, cover tightly, and simmer for 30 minutes. Put a generous amount on a hamburger bun and top with cheese if you prefer. Freeze extra.

 

Homemade Chex Mix

Autumn officially began a few days ago, yet we continued to have 80-90 degree heat here in Philadelphia. We broke the record for number of days over 90 this summer! It was a hot one for sure. I'm ready for the brisk, chilly air and today we were a little closer to achieving that. I enjoyed an afternoon in the kitchen making one of my favorite soups for Autumn, White Bean Chicken Chili

and whipped up some of this semi-homemade cornbread. I discovered this mix last year at Crate & Barrel. You only have to add milk, butter and eggs to the mix. It is really delicious.

 

Pair the chili and cornbread together and you have one of my favorite Autumn meals. : )

I put together one last snack this afternoon that my Grandma always has on hand at her house around the holidays, homemade Chex Mix. It is so much better than the Chex Mix that you buy in a bag at the grocery store. I like to make it to snack on during football games. It's another Fall favorite!

Homemade Chex Mix

Ingredients:

7 cups Kellogg's Crispix

1 cup salted nuts

1 cup thin pretzel sticks

3 Tablespoons butter

1/4 tsp. garlic salt (I have used garlic powder)

1/4 tsp. onion salt (I have used onion salt)

2 tsp. lemon juice

4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

Combine Crispix, nuts and pretzels in a large bowl. In a microwave safe bowl, combine butter, garlic salt, onion salt, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. Microwave until melted.

Pour this mixture over the cereal mixture, stirring until well coated. You can microwave on high four minutes stirring after 2 minutes. Then shake in a paper bag or put on paper towels to cool. I like to bake it in the oven. I spread it onto a 12x18 jelly roll pan and bake it for about 4 minutes at 350 degrees, stir it around, then bake an additional 4 minutes. It just needs to crisp up. Be careful not to burn it.  Let it cool on paper towels before putting into a container.