Foodie Fridays - Homemade Sloppy Joes

Happy Friday everyone!  We've made another week and of course that means it's Foodie Friday!

And apparently I think every sentence should end in an explanation point today!  Anyway.

I try to eat as healthy as I can which means I try to cook from scratch as much as possible.  Most convenience foods are loaded with salt as it's a cheap preservative, are usually high in fat because fat tastes good, and other things that the human tongue was never meant to pronounce.  Just because it's cheap and tastes good doesn't mean it's always good to go in our body.  I know we can't always cook everything from scratch.  There's school and church and work and all the things that take up so much of our time, but on a Friday night or on the weekend why not treat ourselves to a little something extra?

So what are we treating ourselves to today?  Homemade Sloppy Joes.  I was never a big sloppy joe fan until I tried this recipe.  It's from a small thin paperback cookbook my mom had from the 1970's.  It was a cookbook about cooking all different cuts of beef and this recipe was in there.  It's packed with flavor, has a rich tangy sauce, and will definitely feed a crowd and then some so feel free to cut it in half.  As always if you make this recipe please let me know what you think!  I love knowing what I can do to improve my recipes.

Homemade Sloppy Joes

2 lbs of ground beef
3 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 Teaspoons sugar
2 cups of Ketchup (small bottle of Ketchup)
3 Tablespoons Mustard
3 Tablespoons white vinegar
1 small to medium onion chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic minced
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a couple of tablespoons of canola or vegetable oil in a heavy bottom pan and cook the ground beef until cooked through and no pink remains.  Remove from the pan and drain on a paper towel lined plate.  In the same pan saute the onion for three to four minutes until the onion is translucent.  Add the garlic and cook a few minutes more making sure not to let is burn.  Add the cooked ground beef back to the pan and then add the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, and vinegar stirring well.  Turn the heat down and simmer on low, covered for approximately 45 minutes to an hour stirring often.   If your sauce looks too thick you can thin it with a little water.  

Serve on hamburger buns with baked fries or slaw or broccoli salad or corn salad etc.  

Hope you enjoy and have a great weekend!