{In The Kitchen} Seriously Sloppy Sloppy Joes With Beans And Garlic Roasted Steak Fries

I love cooking but it’s something that I haven’t really explored here on the blog. Since I made a recent pledge to increase the number of posts that I publish each week, I think more recipe posts are in order.

Last night I made these incredibly delicious sloppy joes and I had to share the recipe. Yes, I’ve shared a recipe for sloppy joes last year but I’m always tweaking it and improving upon my original recipe. This time, I added a can of pinto beans to the meat mixture since I realize the little bit of ground turkey I pulled out was NOT going to feed four people. Adding beans was a quick way to stretch the meat and give us a couple more vitamins and nutrients. I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that you can’t taste the beans. You can, but if you like baked beans, it won’t even faze you.

Super Sloppy Joes With Beans and Roasted Garlic Fries

Ingredients: 

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 small red bell pepper, chopped (optional)

1/2 can to 1 can pinto beans, rinsed well

3/4 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 (if you don’t have it, use black pepper)

1 splash apple cider vinegar

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 tablespoon yellow mustard

1/4 cup BBQ sauce

Directions

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and veggies to the pan and cook for five minutes. Push veggies off to the side and add the beans.  Let them cook for a few minutes and then smash them in the pan using a potato masher (or a fork). Put the meat in the pan and begin to break it up. Add brown sugar and steak seasoning to the skillet and mix. Reduce heat to medium and cook onions, peppers, and Worcestershire sauce with meat for 5 minutes. Add ketchup, mustard and BBQ sauce to pan. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to simmer and cook  mixture 5 minutes longer. Delish!

Roasted Steak Fries

1 package frozen steak fries (unseasoned)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread fries out on baking sheet. Pour oil over and toss to coat all the fries evenly. Add more oil if desired. Mix garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper together; sprinkle over fries. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.