"Philly" Sloppy Joes

 "Philly" Sloppy Joes

    This recipe comes to us from the Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese Cookbook published in 1981. I was intrigued by the idea of a Sloppy Joe that had cream cheese in it. The recipe was quick and easy to prepare. Start by browning the hamburger meat and while browning the meat (make sure you cook thoroughly and cannot see any pink), you can chop the green pepper and onion. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup each of green pepper and onion. I used a little more than that; it worked out to half of a green pepper and half of a medium sized onion. Drain the hamburger grease and add the chopped green pepper and onion.  Cook until the green pepper and onion are tender. Stir in the barbecue sauce and the salt. Simmer for 15 minutes and add the cream cheese, stirring until the cream cheese is melted.  

    The interesting thing about this dish, is it is served "open-faced" on cornbread. You could surely serve it on rice, potatoes or on burger buns.  What I did was pre-heat my oven, before browning my hamburger meat and mixing up my corn bread and putting it in the oven to bake while cooking the meat mixture. 

    I would definitely make this dish again. Like I said, it was super easy and it was tasty.  You could get six to eight servings with this dish.  Also, I have a friend who really doesn't like vegetables and I'm sure would not eat this. For people who don't like those vegetables, you can leave them out. Are you vegetarian? Use a combination of beans (lentils, red, navy, black, lima, etc) or even crumbled tofu or paneer cheese. Staying away from carbs? Try riced cauliflower in the sauce instead of meat. Substitute other veggies, like zucchini or spaghetti squash. 

     Let me know if you try it and what you think!

*I tried to add a video of my stirring the meat sauce, but due to technical error, or possibly user error, I am unable to add it.*