Sloppy Joes

Sloppy Joes, okay I know when you read that title you thought "everyone knows how to make these".  Everyone may but we all make them just a little bit different.  What brought me to write about them and share my recipe is because on Wednesday I received a text from Aimee asking what I put in my sloppy joes.  I preceded to share with her as detailed as you can with a text what I put in my sloppy joes.  And than decided to make them for dinner.

Whenever I make sloppy joes I think of my brother Curtis.  My "recipe" is from him.  I don't even know what I used to make before.  I just remember one time helping him prepare dinner and this is what we made and these are the ingredients he had me use and how to cook them.

Ingredients:  for 2 people  (adjust according to how many you are serving)

1/3 lb. ground beef
1/4 yellow onion - diced as small as you like
8 oz. tomatoe sauce
garlic salt to taste - probably about 1/2 tsp.
1 TBS yellow mustard
1/4 to 1/2 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce (depending on how tangy you want it)
1/4 to 1/2 cup of brown sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)

That's all, I don't add catsup, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, or other ingredients but I know some of you have a recipe that calls for those items.

Directions:

In a skillet break up your ground beef and add your onions.  Cook/saute until the ground beef is thoroughly brown  and the onions are transparent (this was the secret Curtis shared with me, if you cook the onions to transparency the flavor is just right and the little guys are not crunchy - so I think about Curtis while I am doing this).  While you are cooking the ground beef, break it up with a spatula to little, little pieces (unless you like bite size chunks of ground beef in your sloppy joes)

You can see I am not picky about onion size

Add the rest of the ingredients; in the order listed.  It probably doesn't matter that much what order but I would definitely do the tomato sauce first to have sauce to add the rest too. 

About 1 TBS of mustard

Take a little taste of the brown sugar before putting it away, its that good.

 Simmer until it is the right thickness about 10 minutes.

Serve on a hamburger bun or kaiser roll (because that is what we had)
If you are my husband, add miracle whip or mustard to your bun
Eat and enjoy

If you want to know a little more about my brother Curtis Brinkman - google him