Saturday was errand day. Sam's Club, Trader Joe's, Penzey's, Porter Paint, Marsh... That meant it was time to rotate the pantry when we got home. Not my favorite job to do but I'll admit I love seeing everything neatly stacked when I'm done. When I got home I started sloppy joe's thinking they'd make a couple of great lunches next week. What I didn't count on was that the rotating of the pantry would turn into a mass cleaning out and I'd run out of time to fix dinner - or at least the energy to fix dinner! So, sloppy joe's to the rescue. This is a recipe from Mom. Supposedly it came from the Ayres tea room. I've not seen any reference to this on anything I've ever read about the tea room. So, who knows? The corn salad is a recipe I made up a couple of years ago. It's super easy. Best eaten within a day of preparation.

Sloppy Joe's
1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion diced
1 medium green pepper diced
ketchup
dry mustard (do NOT substitute any other kind!)
cider vinegar
dark brown sugar
worcestershire sauce

Brown the beef and vegetables. Drain really well. Add the other ingredients. Since I've been making this for so long, I use the eyeball method. Looks ok, taste and add whatever is missing... So, here's a guesstimate: 1/2 c ketchup, 2 tsp dry mustard, 1 T cider vinegar, 1 T dark brown sugar, 1 t worcestershire. Allow this to cook for about 30 min so the flavors blend. Adjust as desired. Serve on toasted buns. You might need to add a bit more ketchup if you reheat this.




Corn Salad
4 ears corn
4 oz jar pimento
1 sm red onion, finely diced
2 T robusto Italian dressing

Cook the corn and remove the kernels from the cob. Mix with the other ingredients and serve.