Crock Pot Sloppy Joes

 

Yesterday we had 10 friends and their kids over for a euchre tournament. My husband and I enjoy playing cards, and we have a lot of friends who do too. Sometimes we just play with one or two couples. But yesterday, there were 12 of us playing. We had three tables set up, with two couples at each table. After we all finished a round, one couple from each table moved to the another. That way each of the couple-teams got to play at least one game with all of the other couples. It was loads of fun.

Including kids, we had 22 people over. The whole time all the parents were playing cards, the kids were all upstairs, playing video games, ping pong, board games, etc. Everyone seemed to enjoy the evening.

Before the euchre tournament officially began, we all had dinner together. It needed to be something simple to prepare for a crowd. I made sloppy joes in the crock pot. My guests brought salads and chips and dips. It couldn’t have been easier than that.

Now when it comes to sloppy joes, my hubby is quite particular. He doesn’t like sloppy joes that are too ketchupy, too vinegary, too sweet, or too sloppy for that matter. Several years ago, I found a recipe in Better Homes and Gardens’ All-Time Favorite Crockery Recipes cookbook, and tweaked that a bit. He really likes that recipe…and our guests said they did too. I like it because it’s another do-ahead entrée that I can put together in the morning, and my food prep’s done. Here’s the recipe:

Crock Pot Sloppy Joes

3 ½ pounds lean ground beef
2 large yellow onions, chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
6 stalks celery, chopped
3 tsp. crushed garlic
¼ cups ketchup
3 T. dark brown sugar
¼ cup prepared mustard
¼ cup white vinegar
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
1 T. (heaping) chili powder
16 to 24 hamburger buns, toasted

Brown ground beef, onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic together in large skillet. Drain grease, and then spoon into a large crockery cooker. Add brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and chili powder. Cook on low, for 6 to 8 hours. Spoon into toasted or steamed hamburger buns. Makes 16 to 24 sloppy joes (depending on the size hamburger bun you are using).

Enjoy!
~Becky

Mini Fruit Pies

My family’s favorite all-time dessert, hands down, is pie. Sometimes, though, “we” can’t seem to decide on what type of fruit pie “I” should make. That’s when I like to make mini fruit pies. I make them in individual 6-ounce sized Pyrex custard cups. That way you can make more than one variety. If you don’t have baking cups or ramekins, you can also use muffin tins.

I use this crust recipe:

2 1/3 cups unbleached white flour
1 tsp. salt
6 T. unsalted butter (straight out of the fridge so it's very cold)
2/3 cup vegetable shortening (frozen)
5-6 T. cold water

Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Using your fingers or a pastry blender, cut in butter and Crisco until the mixture resembles coarse meal. (If there are some pea-sized pieces of shortening or butter in the mixture, that is fine.) Sprinkle water on top of flour and salt mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time. After each sprinkling of water, gently mix in the water drops with some of the dry mixture. After 5 tablespoons of water has been sprinkled in, the mixture should hold together in a ball. If it doesn't, sprinkle one more tablespoon worth of water onto the dough. Shape dough into 16 equal-sized balls. Roll 8 of the dough balls into circles about 5 inches in diameter. Place these circles into the bottoms of 8 baking ramekins or muffin tins. The other 8 dough balls will be used to make the top crusts.

Next, make the filling. Here are the ingredients needed for the filling:

4 cups frozen blueberries, blackberries, raspberries or peaches, thawed slightly
1 cup granulated sugar (preferably ultra-fine or Baker’s Sugar)
4 T (heaping!) all-purpose flour
1 tsp. lemon juice
3 T. butter, cut into small pieces

Usually, I’ve always got a variety of frozen fruit in the freezer. The recipe I use calls for 4 cups total of frozen fruit. So I might make four different varieties of fruit tarts, using 1 cup each of blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and peaches. I’ll get out four small mixing bowls, and put a different type of fruit in each. Then I’ll divide up the sugar, flour and lemon juice among the among the four bowls. Each small bowl of fruit will make 2 tarts. Put the filling in each of the bottom crusts. Then dot the butter on top of the 8 mini pies.

Next, roll out the other 8 dough balls into circles about 4 inches in diameter. Dampen the rim of the bottom crusts slightly with water to seal on the top crusts. If desired, you can make out a small cut-out in the top crust. Or, you can just cut out a slit on top to allow the steam to escape. You may also make a woven crust, or top the pie with a crumb topping (the topping I used in Friday’s strawberry rhubarb crisp works great; you’ll just need to cut down the amount of the recipe you make based on how many mini pies you are topping).

Bake the pies in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes—until crust is golden and filling is bubbly. These pies are wonderful right out of the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

What I really like about these pies is you can make them up ahead of time, wrap them in plastic wrap, and then freeze them for a month or two. You would just need to thaw them in the refrigerator 12 hours or so before baking.

Enjoy!
~Becky