Sloppy Joes For Four

A few weeks ago, while I was making up a meal plan for the month, I asked my husband for some suggestions.  He suggested Sloppy Joes, and I jotted it down and moved on.  It wasn’t until this morning that I realized I have never-ever made Sloppy Joes, not even with a can of Manwich sauce.  So I hit up the ever helpful Google, and came up with loads of recipes.

Unfortunately sloppy joes are apparently intended for large families or small armies.  Each recipe I read called for three pounds of ground beef.  I know I could make a huge batch and freeze the extra, but I’m not a big enough risk taker to use three pounds of anything (not even cheap ground beef, which I don’t actually happen to have, I used venison) on my first try at a recipe.

I noticed that they all seemed to have a varied mix of a tomato base, sugar, vinegar and some veggies.  I decided to use the basic premise, but strike out on my own, based on what I had on hand.

• A scant pound of ground venison (My kids don’t eat much and a pound is usually more than we need for a recipe so I package ours light figuring I can add veggies to most recipes to bulk them up if necessary)
• 1 C ketchup
• 1/4 C brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
• 1 tsp yellow mustard
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
• 1/2 C yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, grated

Brown ground venison (or beef, which will need to be drained) and add in chopped veggies. Reduce heat, and place a lid on the pot to steam the veggies while you mix up the sauce. Add the sauce and simmer for an additional 5 or 10 minutes.  Serve on grilled hamburger buns with a side of your choice.  Yields four, two-scoop sandwiches, and had a bit of extra sauce, so you could choose to use a full pound of ground beef and get another sandwich or two.

Enjoy!