Awesome sloppy joe recipe

[punkrockmama]

Hey, just thought I'd share this. I have been looking for things I usually make on the stovetop that would also work in the crock pot since the baby will be here soon.

This is a sloppy joe recipe that I found on allrecipes.com. I tweaked it and added some stuff and it comes out so good on the burner. Or in the crock pot, which I've tried twice now.

ground beef (about a pound)
one small chopped onion
big clove garlic chopped (totally unnecessary I just really like garlic)
one chopped green pepper (I never seem to have peppers when I make this so I pretty much never add it)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 c. ketchup (could add more if you like 'em really sloppy. I usually just eyeball it and I probably do add more than that)
1 tablespoon regular yellow mustard
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
a couple of good shakes of Worcheshire sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
salt and pepper

I really do eyeball pretty much everything I ever do in the kitchen so you may do more or less of the ingredients. Whatever tastes good to you, I know I like to play with my food. It's fun to cook like that. :)

If on the fire then just sautee garlic, onion and pepper for a few, then add in the hamburger and brown that. Toss everything else in, stir, and turn it down to simmer. Let it go for as long as you can since it tastes better the longer it simmers.

For the crockpot, just dump everything in, give it a stir. Put it on high for an hour, then turn it down to low until dinner time. I usually start it around 9am and it's actually done by about 3 or 4pm so it hangs out until we eat at 6ish.

We have 'em on big yummy kaiser rolls with oven fries (I make those with chili powder, paprika, salt and pepper, and some olive oil). Along with some frozen corn on the cobb. So good!

[trentsmom]

>For the crockpot, just dump everything in, give it a stir.

Does this mean I don't have to brown the ground beef first?

[punkrockmama]

Yep. Put the meat in raw (I even did one from frozen). Cook it on high for the first hour. I should say that I use beef that is pretty lean so there's no need to brown and drain the fat.

[trentsmom]

Awesome! I hate having to pre-cook meat before putting it into the crockpot. I mean, I thought the whole point of a crockpot was to just dump everything in, turn it on, and walk away.

Hmmm. Maybe I'll make sloppy joes for dinner tomorrow. DH will be thrilled!

[punkrockmama]

I mean, I thought the whole point of a
>crockpot was to just dump everything in, turn it on, and walk
>away.

My thoughts exactly.

[jasmine]

thanks for the great and easy recipe. I tried it today and it was delicious. I used the crockpot and it came out great. DH and DS loved it, but I may add a little less brown sugar next time. Like you said, playing with food is fun :-).

[punkrockmama]

Hey, so glad you liked it!! Yeah, sometimes I go less on the b. sugar. I think it depends on how much mustard and vinegar gets thrown in there. :)

I'm always nervous about sharing recipes. People have different tastes ya know. I think, what if people don't like it and they're all god that chick must have had her taste buds burned out if she thinks this stuff is good,LOL. :P

[mommyoftwo]

Hmm, that sounds really good. We don't like mustard so I don't have any in the house. I wonder what would happen if i just increased the amount of mustard powder and added a little more vinegar? I rarely follow a recipe exactly either. And I always add more garlic to everything which drives my husband nuts though he does like what I make. He just thinks its funny that my answer to everything is that it needs more garlic. I'll have to try this soon.

[punkrockmama]

He just thinks its funny
>that my answer to everything is that it needs more garlic.


Haha, I am the same way. There's this restaurant called The Stinking Rose, nothing but garlic every which way till Sunday. It is my life's goal to dine there one day. ;)

[mommyoftwo]

Oh I've heard of it. I don't know that I would like the garlic ice cream but I would love to try some of the other things. Did you know that there is a whole festival dedicated to garlic. The specialty is the garlic ice cream, but they make all kinds of garlic dishes to sell, have garlic cooking competitions etc. I saw it on the food network and it was sooo funny. I think it would be a blast to go.