What's for lunch?

We went to different schools in different towns, but when the discussion about school lunches landed on Sloppy Joe's, we compared notes and found ourselves reading the same textbook.

Spiced ground beef in tomato sauce, straight-up ... no diced green pepper or chopped onion ... served on a hamburger bun with a side of cut corn and tater tots.

We search for recipes and (even though Nat'l Sloppy Joe Day falls on Monday this week), decided to make it the Saturday night special.

We considered updating the menu, adding the green pepper and onion found in so many recipes, or switching out the white bread hamburger bun for whole wheat ... nah. And the corn? Maybe a green vegetable would be a better choice. Probably. But no, it had to be corn.

And finally, the tater tots. Would you like a side of tater tots with that? Yes, please.

It may not rank as the healthiest, most well-rounded meal, but it hit every note on the school lunch scale of nostalgia.

The only thing missing was that chocolate frosted peanut butter bar I remember.

And of course, because one thing always leads to another ... and, what's school without homework, there's a new assignment:

Find a recipe for those chocolate frosted peanut butter bars.

Do you have a favorite memory of school lunch? Was it cafeteria style, packed in a lunch box, or a brown paper bag?

Is there a lunch you'd want to recreate? Make it.

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