Sloppy Joes – Comfort food

Last night I was in a hurry before we went and met friends at the movies.  We finally saw “Slumdog Millionaire” which by the way is a good movie and totally worth seeing if you have not.  One cool thing is that Orange (a mobile company here) does a 2 for 1 deal with the movie theatres in London on Wednesdays.  It is a great deal and they serve Ben & Jerry’s at the theatre too! 

On to the Sloppy Joes…my brother and I grew up with this recipe made by Mom who had to have something to feed us and Sloppy Joes out of a can just didn’t work in our house only the homemade version.  I don’t know where she go the original but I know both my brother and I still use the original. The great thing is you can easily add a side salad or another green veggie on the side to round out the meal as the meat dish provides good flavours even though it is so simple.  The best part is that it is the ultimate in comfort food with ground beef on top and then bread on the bottom, we recommend either a burger bun or maybe a piece of homemade bread.  It is simple and easy to make and you can do it in under 30 minutes which is why I used it last night when in a hurry.  The ingredients needed to be added in clumps so it does help to measure out ahead and set aside to speed up the process, or at least gather them out on the counter as it will make it so much easier. 

Lloyd Family Sloppy Joes

1 pound ground beef

1/4 cup of each – chopped – onion, celery & green pepper

1 1/4 cup water

1/4 cup of each – Ketchup & Chilli sauce (we use Heinz 57 Chilli Sauce)

1 Tablespoon of each – brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon of each – chilli powder and salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon French mustard

1 teaspoon Parsley Flakes

In a deep fry pan, simmer the onion, green pepper and celery in a touch of olive oil.  Let the onion start to shimmer and add in the ground beef and break up into bits and allow to start to brown.  After about 2 minutes start to add in the rest of the ingredients up to the Parsley Flakes, they will go in last.  Once everything is in let the meat and sauce start to thicken and boil about 7-10 minutes.  At the end stir in the Parsley flakes and serve over a hamburger bun or a piece of toast.  Homemade cheese bread works well too, give it a slight toast to bring out the cheese! 

The dish makes great leftovers too.  Sorry no pictures we ate in a hurry last night!