Sloppy Joes (Yes, I am serious) and Homemade Sweet Potato Chips

On Sunday evening, I polled the dinner table asking for suggestions for dinners this week.  Its fun to get dish suggestions and then go seek out a delicious looking recipe.  Will immediately chimed in asking for sloppy joe's.   Walter and Jake seconded Will's motion.  Now in the spirit of full disclosure, when I have made sloppy joes for the boys in the past, it has involved a certain canned mixture you can find at your local grocery store (yes..Manwich).  It is the sort of thing you whip up when you are going out, but need to feed your kids and maybe the babysitter.

A few weeks ago I was watching a rerun of the Food Network show The Pioneer Woman, and she made homemade sloppy joes for her family.  I have to say, they looked absolutely delicious.  Remembering how good (and easy) hers looked, I thought this was the recipe to try.

RECIPE:  Sloppy Joes (courtesy of Food Network and Ree Drummond - The Pioneer Woman)
Ingredients
2 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 large green bell pepper, diced
1/2 large onion, diced
1 1/2 cups ketchup
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons chili powder, or more as needed
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more as needed
Hot sauce, such as Tabasco
Worcestershire sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 kaiser rolls
2 tablespoons butter, softened
Chips or salad, for serving, if desired
Directions
Start by browning the ground beef in a large pot over medium-high heat. Drain off the fat.

Add in the green peppers and onions. Stir, and then add 1 cup water, the ketchup and garlic. Stir it around to combine, and then add the brown sugar, chili powder, dry mustard, red pepper flakes, and hot sauce, Worcestershire, salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine, and then cover and simmer over medium-low heat, about 20 minutes.

To serve, spread the rolls with the butter and brown them on a griddle or in a skillet. Spoon a good amount of the meat mixture onto the bottom roll, and then top with the other half. Serve with chips, salad or just enjoy it by itself.


This turned out to be as delicious as it looked on the show.  What I really enjoyed was the contrast of the slight sweetness with the bit of kick in the sauce. I used very lean beef (93/7).  The sauce is flavorful enough, that you could also use ground turkey.    

As a side to the sloppy joes, I made homemade baked sweet potato chips.  I had the largest sweet potato I have ever seen.  I should have taken a picture of it.  This one potato made enough chips for all four of us.  I recently invested in a mandolin slicer, so I was able to slice the potato at 1/8 of an inch chips.  I tossed the raw chips with olive oil, kosher salt and ground pepper.  Arrange the chips on a baking sheet in one layer.  Bake at 350 for 12 minutes and then turn the chips over.  Bake for another 6 to 10 minutes.  Watch the chips carefully and don't allow to get too brown.  Some will cook faster than others, and will need to be removed as they are done.  Let the chips sit for a few minutes after baking.  They should have nice crunch.

The sloppy joes and chips would be great for a football watching party (I guess I am a few weeks late for the Super Bowl - but keep in mind for September).  You could make sliders with the sloppy joes, and the chips would be great for snacking.