"Would you like a bite of my Sloppy Joseph?"

Nostalgia kicked in the door again today, and reminded me about Sloppy Joes. How could I forget? Just as all-American as the hamburger and twice as hard to eat in public. Notice that you never see Sloppy Joes on restaurant menus? It's because they are more unattractive to watch someone eat than buffalo wings - and watching someone eat buffalo wings can be a friendship killer.

But if you are eating them in the privacy of your own home, who's going to judge? Your kids? Your cats? The Sex & The City re-runs that you watch while you eat so that you don't feel lonely? None of them will judge. They all got problems, too.

Sloppy Joes, also known as "Manwiches" usually come out of a can. You buy a hunk of ground beef, open a can of sauce, add sauce to beef and slap it on a burger bun. The sauce not only has high fructose corn syrup and various dehydrated vegetables (gross), but it is crazy high in sodium. Sure it's easy, but so is my recipe. It doesn't take that much longer to cook these from scratch - I had dinner ready in about a half hour and that includes throwing together the salad.

I have not had a 'Joe' in many years, so I basically winged this from memory. It doesn't taste just like a Manwich, but it tastes really good! We always used to have them with Ruffles potato chips (also terrible for you), so tonight I served them with our favorite kettle-cooked salt and pepper chips and a basic salad. Everyone loved it, and actually finished their meals. Hooray for......

Sloppy Josephs

1 bell pepper, diced
1 small red onion, diced
8 oz mushrooms, chopped fine
3-6 cloves of garlic to taste, chopped fine
splash of red wine
1# ground beef
16 oz tomato sauce (I like the roasted garlic flavor, but plain is fine too)
2T ketchup
2T steak sauce (like A1)
1/2 tsp chili powder (I used chipotle, regular is fine)
1 tsp paprika
1/4 c brown sugar
s/p to taste

Saute' the onions, garlic, mushrooms, and bell pepper in about 2T of oil on high heat for 2-3 minutes. When the vegetables are soft and the mushrooms have released their moisture*, deglaze the pan with the red wine. Cook down the wine (about 1 minute) and then add the ground beef. Brown the ground beef in with the vegetables, frequently chopping it up with a wooden spoon as you go. When the beef is evenly browned, add the chili powder and paprika. Give it a quick stir and then lower the heat to med-low and add in the tomato sauce, steak sauce, and brown sugar. Let simmer for about 15 minutes, season with salt and pepper to taste.

I served this on toasted bulkie rolls with melted smoked Gouda cheese.