I found a Frito Skillet Taco recipe online. As you know by now, a recipe is merely a suggestion. I’ve been ruminating.

This recipe called for salsa, but I omitted it. It called for water—I substituted tomato sauce. It said to put half the Fritos in with the meat. I was repulsed at the thought of soggy Fritos! The black beans were my addition, and I expect the meat could be replaced by refried beans, don’t you think? I used True Lime with Garlic. It shakes right into the recipe like it belongs there… like Adobo might, or a dash of hot sauce. I’d put cilantro in the pan while it’s cooking.

When Honey and I were dating, we volunteered at the high school concession stand while his youngest son played football. The Sloppy Joes-preparation consisted of a lot of browned ground beef in a roasting pan, a few jars of tomato sauce, and a several packages of Sloppy Joe seasoning mixes. It was used for chili dogs; and over tortilla chips, with cheese. It reminded me of school lunches, so I never ate it.

About 10 years ago, my husband and I went to visit friends one night for a pontoon boat ride around the lake. They were still having dinner when we arrived, so we sat down to wait, and read “Cook’s Country,” a magazine put out by the PBS folks who do the show, “America’s Test Kitchen.”

We wanted every recipe we saw, so I asked for a tear-out/mail-in card from our hostess. In no time at all, we were enjoying all the recipes at home. They aren’t fussy, for the most part, and a lot of thought goes into them. They made me less afraid of ingredients like capers!