PW's Sloppy Joes...A La Jenny

As I said the other day, I recently moseyed my way over to Pioneer Woman's website (or "that Pilgrim blog friend of yours" as my husband so lovingly referred to her...like she's really my friend...yeah right) to check out what all the fuss was about.  What I found was incredibly detailed recipes with yummy ingredients so I thought I would take this week to give some of them a try.  And lucky for you, I'm sharing!

Tonight was Sloppy Joes!  And the day after I just talked to Shaina about cutting back on red meat.  Ah well.  Maybe tomorrow?  I've linked directly to Pioneer Woman's recipe so head on over there if you want the real thing.  But I'll give you my own step by step instructions and a few things I changed up...so stick around.  Trust me.  I used butter.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. Butter

1 1/4 lbs. Ground Beef

1/2 Large Onion, Diced

1/2 Green Bell Pepper, Diced

5 cloves Garlic, Minced

3/4 cup Ketchup

1/2 cup Water

1 Tbsp. Brown Sugar

1 tsp. Chili Powder

1/2 tsp. Dry Mustard

1/4 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes

Worcestershire Sauce

Tabasco Sauce

Salt and Pepper

Hamburger Buns

Garlic and Herb Butter

 

Prep:

 Add butter to a large skillet over medium high heat. PW suggests a dutch oven, however I halved her recipe so I went with the large skillet instead.  Plus, that darn dutch oven weighs approximately 35 lbs. without food in it...so the more I can avoiding lugging out that thing the better.  Even though it is quite pretty...

 

I must admit, I was a little skeptical using the butter.  I have never used butter to cook my meat, but PW is really smart.  So I listened.  And you should too.

Add ground beef and cook until brown. 

Drain the fat and discard.

 

 I drained all of the fat, going against PW's advice.  That was perhaps a mistake.  I should've known.  When cooking the veggies, I was left with no fat which made the process take a little longer...and I am certain I lost some yumminess down the drain...but my booty will probably thank me.  Someday.

Add onions, green pepper, and garlic. Cook for a few minutes or until vegetables begin to get soft.  I cooked them for approximately 6 minutes, but remember, I had no fat to work with.  Just keep testing the tenderness of the veggies to be sure when to move on.  I should also mention I used way more garlic than was originally called for, but that's just how we roll.  Go with it.

 

Add ketchup, brown sugar, chili pepper, dry mustard, red pepper flakes, and water.

 

Stir to combine.  Here I also added several shakes of Worcestershire and Tabasco.  Don't be scared.  Just do it.  Oh.  And salt and pepper.  

Also, I just noticed I was supposed to simmer this for 15 minutes here.  Oops.  I missed that part.  Clearly it was not necessary...but do what you wish!

Now, to toast the buns or not to toast the buns?  Hm.  Is dirtying another pan worth it?  Answer = yes.  I used a griddle and buttered up the buns with this little beauty I found as Costco.  DELICIOUS!

Oh yeah.

Spoon meat mixture over the buns.

This recipe serves 4 and is a perfect meal for the two of us with a day of leftovers tomorrow.  And it was just delicious.  Totally better than Manwich, which is what I usually use when "making" Sloppy Joes.  I didn't find it spicy at all, even with the red pepper flakes, chili power, and Tabasco.  In fact, I tasted mostly Worcestershire.  Maybe next time I would increase the heat just a touch, but we are a family of spicy eaters...so taste before you increase!

Hope everyone enjoys!