Sloppy Joes

The base of this recipe comes from my parents.

When my parents would give my brother and I options for dinner and Sloppy Joes would come up.. what kid says no?  It is a basic, but very flavorful recipe that leaves tons of room to dress it up, add to, or leave as is :)

Sloppy Joes Base Recipe
1lb ground Lean Turkey (you can use ground beef or chicken too!)
Half an Onion chopped
2 Tablespoons minced Garlic (I love garlic, so you can add more or less to your like)
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar (more or less depending on desired taste)
1 Tablespoon Vinager (more or less to balance)

*Additions:

I added to the mix Sweet Mini Peppers.  The Red/Yellow/Orange ones you find in a little container in the produce section.  I sliced them length wise so they were little rings of sweet peppers :)

Start by sauteing the onions and garlic until till the onions are soft.  Then add the sweet peppers and continue to saute until soft.  Splash veggies with vinegar (I used White Wine Vinegar) to de-glaze.  While the veggies are cooking, season the ground turkey with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Combing ground turkey and spices.  Put the turkey in the pan on top of the veggies and press down the meat to cover the surface of the pan.  Let cook checking every few min.  Stir and break apart the meat while cooking with a spoon.  Once the meat has fully cooked and been broken apart (about marble size piece, or bigger depending on preference) add in two cans of tomato soup.  Stir.  This is where the taste comes in.  Add brown sugar first.  Taste test after brown sugar is added.  Depending on personal taste you can add more sugar to give it a sweet undertone.  If it becomes too sweet add a little (and I mean LITTLE) vinegar at a time, testing after each add.  I personally like the sloppy joes to have a little more than subtle sweet undertone, but also a a balanced acidity that can be tasted.  Balanced to me at least :)  Check for taste in the spice department again and adjust the pepper and salt level.  Let simmer for 5 min on medium.

Serve over either slices of bread or hamburger buns with american singles or plain!  Enjoy!

This is a great way to take my parent's recipe for Sloppy Joes and give it a healthy twist using turkey in exchange for beef.  Also adding more veggies to the mix also increases your daily veggie intake and fiber intake.

A few different veggies you can play with:
Tomatoes, Green Chile, Legumes, Zucchini and other Squashes.

Ash!