Sloppy Joes

Oh, come on and admit it. It's okay; you don't have to be ashamed. You know you like a good sloppy joe every now and then! This was my first attempt at making sloppy joes, and I decided to give it a try after a friend sent me a recipe she loves and I thought it would be a good meal to make a freeze part of for after the baby. I ended up adjusting quite a few things in the recipe, so hopefully I'll be able to remember what all I did...but when in doubt, just adjust amounts according to your taste. This was a good meal and my husband loved it. I think he would rather eat something like sloppy joes over a fancy meal any night!

I did not get a picture, but really, let's admit it: Sloppy joes may taste good, but they aren't pretty.

Sloppy Joes

Original recipe here from allrecipes.com

I N G R E D I E N T S :

• 2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2-3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (add a little, and then add more if you think it needs it)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I ended up using a little bit more)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (this is an estimate-original recipe calls for 1/4 tsp but I added more after tasting it)
• Onion powder (I sprinkled some over the top as it was cooking)
• Hamburger buns

D I R E C T I O N S :

• Cook beef in a large skillet over medium-high until evenly browned, stirring to crumble. Add onion and celery, cover pan, and cook until transparent. The original recipe says this takes about 5 minutes, but it took me a while longer to get the celery and onion to desire softness. Drain off any grease.
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• Stir the tomato soup (undiluted), ketchup, water, vinegar, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce into the beef mixture. Season with salt, garlic powder, and onion powder, adjusting to taste. Heat to a simmer over low heat, and cook until thoroughly heated, stirring frequently to prevent it from burning on the bottom. If your onion and celery still needs to soften up, you can cook it for longer. I let the mixture simmer on low for a while, and was more and more pleased with the results after letting the flavors combine for longer.
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• Spoon the hot beef mixture onto buns.