food (food) | sloppy joes

I never went to summer camp.  The closest I got to overnight camp was with my 7th grade class and that wasn't more than 2 nights away from home.  So needless to say I never got the opportunity to get sick of camp meals like spaghetti night or sloppy joes night.  The first time I ate sloppy joes was when I slept over at one of my friend's house in 6th grade and I'm pretty sure my friend thought I was crazy for never having it.  But growing up in a Filipino household, having food like Chicken Adobo and Lumpia was more common than burgers and fries.  So from time to time, I crave a part of my late youth and want something like sloppy joes to remind me the non-traditional childhood foods I rarely had.  Instead of cheating by using stuff from the can or a powder mix, I created my own version which my husband gave 2 thumbs up!

What you'll need:

• 1/2 chopped yellow onion
• 1 chopped green bell pepper
• 1 15oz can of tomato sauce
• 1 can of tomato paste
• 1.5 lbs of ground sirloin (you can substitute with ground turkey or chicken)
• 1 tbsp of garlic powder
• 2 tbsp of worcester sauce
• 2.5 tbsp of brown sugar
• 1 tbsp of salt
• 1 tbsp of black pepper
• 2 tbsp of olive oil

Directions:

1. In a large pan, heat olive oil and saute bell pepper and onion for 2 - 3 minutes before onions become too translucent
2. Add ground sirloin and break down meat until brown
3. Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, garlic powder, worcester sauce, brown sugar, salt, black pepper and mix until all items have combined evenly
4. Bring to a boil and lower to medium - low heat
5. Simmer for 10 minutes 
6. Serve on your favorite roll or bun (I serve mine on an Udi's gluten free roll and it's delish) with your favorite fixings. I toasted my roll and added a slice of american and gouda cheese.  You really can't go wrong.