Country Bob's Joes

The people at Country Bob's sent me a couple of bottles of their wonderful All Purpose Sauce a while ago and last week I finally got a chance to do some experimental cooking with it. After trying a few of the dishes from their recipe book, it was time to begin adapting my cooking to it. The first thing I had to try was a new version of the old Sloppy Joe standby. It came out great, so here it is:

Dan's Country Bobified version of the Sloppy Joe:

1 lb. ground hamburger
1 chopped green pepper
1 chopped medium onion
2 cups chopped/diced tomatoes with juice
1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
1/2 cup County Bob's All Purpose Sauce
salt, pepper, garlic powder, and chili powder to taste

Brown the hamburger and onion in a fry pan, adding in the chopped peppers about half-way through the browning. When the meat is browned completely, drain and then stir in the tomatoes and juice, the mustard, the Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce, a dash of salt and pepper and a bit of chili powder and garlic powder. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes until the liquid from the tomatoes has mostly evaporated. Serve over a half-bun or home made bread slice as an open face sandwich with dill pickles and chopped onion for a garnish. Definitely tasty.

When I made this, I used some frozen diced tomatoes from Mom's garden that I had in the freezer. Some other variants that are tempting me is to replace the tomatoes with a can of either diced tomatoes with jalapeño peppers for a spicy version and diced tomatoes with habanero peppers for a blazing hot version. (Diced tomatoes with jalapeño peppers and diced tomatoes with habanero peppers are available in the Mexican foods section of most grocery stores.)

If you try this or any variants, let me know.

BTW, I just checked the Country Bob's site and you can now sign up for a free bottle of Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce for yourself, another family member, and a friend. With a triple freebie like that, how can you go wrong? Just click on the link above and follow the directions.