Thursday, November 3, 2011

All American Super Sloppy Joe's

Do you have memories of favorite meals from your childhood?  One of my favorite school lunches was good old all American sloppy Joe's.  My mom never made them.  Not quite sure why, but she just never did so it made me very happy when they were on the school lunch menu.  After Dan and I were married, it became a staple on our menu.

This is a recipe I found years ago in a magazine.  Our sons fell in love with this version of Sloppy Joe's and I have been making them this way ever since.  They could eat an entire pan of these at one meal (double recipe).  I always prayed for left overs.

Talk about a great "go to" meal when you are tired and need something on the table fast.  It is a quick and easy recipe which are two of our favorite words right?  Quick and easy?  Yes!!  I served one of our favorites, parmesan potatoes, with our sandwiches tonight and some lovely crudites - carrot and celery sticks and broccoli and cauliflower florets.  Throw in a little ranch dressing for dipping and what could be easier?  Or if you prefer, a green salad would round out the meal.

Tomorrow night, I will give you the instructions for the parmesan potatoes.  (Talk about fabulous!)
Tonight it's all about Sloppy Joe's.  I have always doubled this recipe so I knew there would be enough to satisfy our sons.  Now, I double it so we can have left overs because they are so good.  Here are the ingredients you will need for a single recipe.  This is easily doubled or tripled.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef (I use 80/20 grass fed, hormone free from the farmer's market)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped (I used a red one tonight because I didn't have green, worked just fine)
1/4 bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's, 18 oz bottle)
1 package taco seasoning mix

Brown your ground beef with the onions, peppers and garlic until beef is brown and onions are translucent.  Add the taco seasoning mix and stir.  Pour approximately 1/4 to 1/3 bottle of barbecue sauce into the ground beef mixture and stir.  Heat through.

Serve on your favorite buns.  That's it.  Quick, simple, easy, delicious.   It's got just a little spice from the taco seasoning and a little sweet barbecue flavor from the barbecue sauce.  Oh so good!

This is a great recipe for tailgating, for a teen party or quick and easy dinner.  I have served it on Super Bowl Sunday.  Delish!   Give it a try.  I think you will like this one!  You may actually have time to watch your favorite television show or read a book it's so quick to fix.  Enjoy.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

30 days of gratitude for the Month of November.  Every day list something you are grateful for!

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” ― Dr. Seuss