Spooky Sloppy Joes

Ghoulish garnishes add Halloween fun to sloppy Joes, everyone's favorite, flavored-up loose-meat burger.

Recipe Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped orange bell pepper
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce with basil, garlic and oregano
1/2 cup chili sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 kaiser rolls, split

Ghoulish Garnishes*:
Black Olive and Orange Bell Pepper Spider
Cheddar Cheese Jack-o-Lantern Faces
Cheese Curl Horns
Green Onion broomsticks
Olive Bats
Ghosts

Cooking Directions:

1. Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Add ground beef, onion and bell pepper; cook 8 to 10 minutes, breaking into 3/4-inch crumbles and stirring occasionally. Remove drippings.
2. Stir in tomato sauce, chili sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Cook an additional 3 minutes or until heated through; stirring occasionally.
3. Spoon equal amounts of beef mixture on bottom half of each roll.
4. Decorate beef mixture or roll tops with Ghoulish Garnishes, as desired. Close with top half of each roll.

Makes 4 servings.

*Ghoulish Garnishes:

• Black Olive and Orange Bell Pepper Spider: To make one spider, cut pitted black olive in half lengthwise and place each half slightly overlapping in center of ground beef mixture or on center of roll top. Slice orange bell pepper into eight 1/4-inch thick strips. Place strips in spoke fashion around olive to make legs. Cut two small pepper pieces to make antennas. Place above olive slices.
  
• Cheddar Cheese Jack-o-Lantern Faces: To make jack-o-lantern face, cut out pumpkin shape from Cheddar cheese slice with cookie cutter. Using small thin-bladed knife, cut out mouth, nose and eyes from pumpkin shape. Place cheese cutouts on top of ground meat mixture or on roll top.
  
• Cheese Curl Horns: To make cheese curl horns, insert two cheese curl snacks vertically into roll top
  
• Green Onion Broomsticks: To make green onion broomsticks, cut off the root end of a green onion with small thin-bladed knife. Carefully cut thin slits 1/2 inch deep lengthwise into the white part of the onion. Soak sliced part of onion in cold water so ends curl up. Place on plate with Spooky Sloppy Joe.
  
• Olive Bats: To make olive bats, cut sliced black olives in half. Arrange halves on top of bun to resemble bat wings.
  
• Ghosts: To make ghosts, use cookie cutters to cut ghost shapes from cheese slices.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (1/4 of recipe): 468 calories; 17 g fat; 76 mg cholesterol; 1986 mg sodium; 47 g carbohydrate; 3 g protein; 7.5 mg niacin; 0.5 mg vitamin B6; 2.4 mcg vitamin B12; 4.9 mg iron; 6 mg zinc.

Recipe and photograph provided courtesy of the Beef Industry Council.