Sloppy Joe's

I know, it's Monday.....

I cooked really delicious meals all weekend long and Mondays are always really busy days at work. When I came home for lunch I thought about throwing something together in the slow cooker, but obviously the frantic pace at work didn't carry over to my lunch hour. 

So, I am making the omnipresent, (I know big word. I get rolled-eye looks from my whole family when I do that), Sloppy Joes. Sheesh, I gotta exercise the vocab once in a while peeps. Oh, and by the way, it's another way of saying "universal or ever-present". 

Now, I know that this is not a high-brow kind of dish, in fact I think most would relegate this to the lower recipe realms. But this weekend when I was grocery shopping, I asked DH if I should buy some hamburger buns to make Sloppy Joes with and he was like "Yeah"!! 

But come on, what guy doesn't like meat, seasoned, saucy and tangy between 2 halves of a buttered-toasted bun?

So tonight that's what's on the menu and on this blog!

Enjoy a easy, simple but really yummy

SLOPPY JOE NIGHT

Unbuttered Bun photo

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. Butter
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 ½ lbs. ground beef
1 green pepper, chopped (this is optional, my family does not like)
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
½ cup ketchup
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp of prepared yellow mustard
Freshly ground black pepper

 6-8 Hamburger buns and butter

Directions:

1. Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. 
2. Add the onions (and peppers if using) and cook, stirring, until they start to turn translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the beef and cook, stirring and breaking up the meat, until it is finely crumbled, the liquid boils off and the meat begins to brown, about 10 minutes. Drain the grease off the meat and onions. 
3. Stir in the tomato paste, and keep stirring until the meat is coated. Add the BBQ sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, soy sauce, and pepper, mustard and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Cook until the sauce is slightly thickened, 4 to 5 minutes. You can make the sloppy joe meat up to 2 days in advance and reheat it over low heat or in the microwave.
4. Butter both sides of the buns and cook on a medium hot griddle or skillet until lightly browned. 
5. Serving a heaping portion on one side of the bun and top with the other side.
6. Serve sliced pickles and chips on the side.