I’ve been missing my cooking mojo lately. Dinner has become a chore, rather than a stress relief and I’ve been slapping together some crappy dinners lately. On Saturday the kids had turkey slices, watermelon and pretzels. The day after? They had some watermelon, yogurt, pretzels and turkey. Ahem. You see what I mean?
But I was determined to get out of this rut by making something wasn’t too labor-intensive, but still tasted delicious. My solution? Sloppy joes.
I think (and yeah, I’m bragging) that my sloppy joes are the best in the land. What land? Any land.
I grew up eating Manwich out the can but I saw Rachel Ray’s recipe for sloppy joes and figured, how hard can it be to make it from scratch? I made a few tweaks here and there and voilá! I’ve got a plate full of awesomeness.
Super Sloppy Joes (recipe adapted from Rachel Ray)
Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
1 1/4 pounds ground beef or turkey
2 tablespoons brown sugar (if you like a sweeter sauce, use 3 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon steak seasoning blend, such as McCormick brand Montreal Seasoning
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped (optional)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (I like Lea & Perrin’s extra thick variety)
1/2 cup to 2/3 cup ketchup (start with 1/2 cup and add more if mixture is dry)
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
Directions
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and meat to the pan. Spread the meat around the pan and begin to break it up. Combine brown sugar and steak seasoning. Add sugar and spice mixture to the skillet and combine. When the meat has browned, add onion and red peppers to the skillet. Reduce heat to medium and cook onions, peppers, and Worcestershire sauce with meat for 5 minutes. Add ketchup and BBQ sauce to pan. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to simmer and cook mixture 5 minutes longer. Using a large spoon or ice cream scoop, pile sloppy meat onto toasted, buttered bun bottoms and cover with bun tops.
Sounds easy, right? You can also add some baked beans to it if you’d like to stretch the meat a little bit. I’ve also added zucchini or yellow squash for an extra serving of veggies and it was delicious as well. It’s so good I tend to skip the buns!
As always, if you try it, let me know! 
I was so excited to see a recipe posted! I would love to see recipes here more often. Many of us “young” mommies don’t know how to cook — I think it’s a generation thing. My husband has known from Day 1 that I’m a lame in the kitchen, and I used to always joke that I was a millennium woman — and that he shoud get used to it! But the older I get, the more I DON’T think that’s okay. Especially since I have a child now. It’s the first time in my life that I’ve actually cared about the food pyramid.
So I’m always trying new recipes — and I have only a few that I’ve been super successful with. And I make those dishes over and over and over. My poor husband.
So I’m always looking for something new to try. Thanks for posting this!
@Gerri – I’ve got a million and a half recipes, but a lot of mine are labor intensive and require special trips to the store (I love to cook!). But I do have my arsenal of meals that are quick and cheap…I will try to post more!
Yummo! I will definitely try this recipe. My kids and husband love sloppy joes. This is something I could whip up before work. Thanks for posting.
Yummo! I will definitely try this recipe. Adding steak seasoning blend sounds delicious. My kids and husband love sloppy joes. This is something I could whip up before work. Thanks for posting.
Yes keep the recipes coming
Not a mommy yet, but I love to cook. One to add to the recipe book. Thanks.