What to do with 75% lean ground beef

rankinsect

Here's one of my favorite recipes, courtesy of my mom:

Sloppy Joe Sauce

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46 fl oz tomato juice
2 cups ketchup
1 green pepper, diced
1 onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped (including leaves)
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon mustard

Add tomato sauce and ketchup to a pot, and put over medium heat. Chop vegetables (I use a food processor) and add to the sauce. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

This makes a very large amount of sauce. I portion the recipe into fourths and freeze them. I thaw the sauce in the fridge the day before I make the sloppy joes (although in a pinch, just microwaving them to break up the ice a bit is fine).

When I want to make the sloppy joes, I brown one pound of ground beef, and when it's fully browned, add one of the sauce portions (that is, 1/4 of the original recipe) and heat until the sauce is simmering. I let the meat and sauce simmer for a few minutes. I prefer to serve by slicing open a fresh kaiser roll from a local deli and adding heaping portions of meat. You'll get four to eight sloppy joes per pound of beef, depending on just how much meat you like to pack on each one.

This makes a sloppy joe with a lot of sauce and flavor, and a good mixture of meat and veggies. You could really easily stretch the sauce over five or six pounds of meat instead of four if you want it to be meatier.

KetoneKaren

Stuffed peppers, cabbage rolls, chili, burgers.