Monday, August 15, 2011

Sloppy Seconds... on the Sloppy Joes...

When I was a little girl, my momma would sometimes make sloppy joes using the ever popular Manwich out of can- I mean how else do you make them? And I think that Manwiches were pretty much an invention of the 1970s along with hamburger helper as it's something to help the working mom get dinner on the table quickly, right? I have never thought of it as a 'homemade' meal- it's just open a can.

So last night after I mentioned we were going to have burgers, Dave mentioned that he has had an 'awful lot of burgers lately"- he's been getting burgers on the way home from football practice much to my chagrin, but I shall begin packing his lunch as of tomorrow! Long story short- we had Mexican out last night, but I still had burger meat to deal today! What to do? What to do?? I decided to revisit the ultimate man sandwich- the sloppy joe! Somehow I just knew the Dave would LOVE a sloppy joe... after all, it's meat on a bun, right? But I did not want to go buy a can in a sauce. How hard could it be? This is what I can up with and I gave the dish it's own signature name...

"Sloppy Daves" ....
(hmmmm sounds kind of kinky huh?)

1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green peppers
1 cup chopped tomatoes (or one can drained tomatoes or Rotel)
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons mustard
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon Louisiana Hot Sauce
1 teaspoon Dale's seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder


1. Brown the beef with the peppers and onions. Drain any grease ('cause these are not greasy joes!)
2. Add tomatoes, ketchup, brown sugar, mustard and all the seasonings. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. If the sauce is too thin, add 1 tablespoon of dried onion. Dried onion will help thicken the sauce.

And that's that: two basic steps... oh how wonderful! I imagine you could add other spices to change it up a bit, but I thought this combination was perfect. Dave however did think it needed a bit more spice so NEXT time, I will kick it up a notch. But overall, these Sloppy Daves are Dave tested and Dave approved!

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