By September 11th. I was twenty, a junior at Spelman. Terrell called from Morehouse at 9:03 AM and said, "Turn on the TV." The world changed while I stood in my dorm room in pajamas. But the week is also about other things.
Shanice — the girl who stole food — is doing better. Connected with resources. Eating. Paying attention. She smiled at me in the hallway Wednesday and the smile was a thank-you that didn't need words. This work. This quiet, unglamorous, tissue-box work. It matters. It doesn't make headlines. It makes hallway smiles.
Set the Table is growing. Forty girls across two Saturday locations. Vanessa told me I need to formalize it. "Make it a real thing," she said. I said, "It IS a real thing." She said, "Make it a real thing that survives without you in the room." She's right. The transition from doing the work to building the system that does the work is the hardest thing I've faced — harder than divorce, harder than blended family — because it requires trust that other people can carry what I started. And trust, for a woman failed by her first husband and by the healthcare system that didn't save her mother, does not come easily.
Made chicken tortilla soup Thursday — roasted chicken, black beans, corn, tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, lime. Topped with avocado, sour cream, tortilla strips. Curtis said, "Is this Mexican?" I said, "It's Thursday." He ate two bowls. The "hm" was approximately 8.0. I didn't tell him the recipe came from Pinterest because Curtis does not believe in Pinterest and some truths are better left unspoken.
That Thursday soup was its own kind of medicine — something warm and built from scratch when the week had scraped me thin. I reach for that same instinct whenever the world asks too much: put something real on the stove, feed the people in your house, and let the meal do the talking your words can’t. These Jalapeño Sloppy Joes carry that same spirit — they’ve got heat, a little mess, and no patience for pretense, which felt exactly right for a week that asked me to hold Shanice’s quiet smile, Set the Table’s future, and September’s weight all at once. Curtis will eat two of these, too. I’m not telling him where the recipe came from.
Jalapeño Sloppy Joes
Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs ground beef (85/15)
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced (leave seeds in for more heat)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 6 brioche or potato buns, toasted
- Sliced pickles and shredded cheddar, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Brown the beef. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground beef and cook, breaking it apart, until no pink remains, about 7–8 minutes. Drain excess fat, leaving about 1 tablespoon in the pan.
- Build the base. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion and jalapeño to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
- Add the sauce. Stir in ketchup, tomato paste, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, smoked paprika, chili powder, salt, and black pepper. Pour in the water and stir to combine everything well.
- Simmer. Reduce heat to low and let the mixture simmer uncovered for 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens and coats the meat. Taste and adjust salt or heat as needed.
- Serve. Spoon generously onto toasted buns. Top with shredded cheddar and pickles if desired. Serve immediately.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 420 | Protein: 26g | Fat: 16g | Carbs: 44g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 780mg