sloppy, yummy and a sweet ending

Sloppy Joe’s!  I haven’t made these in ages and I always feel like a kid again when I make them.  They’re the perfect thing because they are so easy to make and also very versatile to add into other recipes. 

    

It was so messy that I had to eat it with a fork! 

On the side I went for another simple thing . . . sweet potatoes!  I didn’t feel like running our oven from h*&l, because it gets too darn hot, so I just micro’d them on the potato setting which was super easy and they came out just fine.  They aren’t as ‘carmel-y’ tasting as when they bake in the oven, but it was pretty darn good to me :)

And look what was there to greet me when I got home!

  

      I was so lucky to win a gift certificate to mix my granola from Emily and it finally arrived all the way from Florida.  I’ll use this a little later for a sweet surprise . . .

Sloppy Joe’s

Yield:  6 (about 1/2 cup serving)

• 1 lb extra lean ground beef (95-96%)
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 cups low-sodium tomato sauce (I used my crock-pot sauce) I still have more of this left to make pasta later!
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp dried oregano, crushed
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• giant handful of chopped spinach
• 6-8 whole wheat hamburger buns

Directions

Sauté the onion, bell pepper and lean beef in a large sauté pan over medium heat until cooked through and crumbled. 

Form a circle in the middle and plop tomato paste in pan and cook for 5 minutes to develop the flavor.  Add the tomato sauce and next 6 ingredients (through pepper); stir and let simmer for 20 minutes.  Turn off the heat and add the spinach, let wilt. 

Place about 1/2 cup of beef mixture onto each bun.  I also added some mozzarella cheese and a side of yummy sweet potato.  I have a little bit of ground beef and pasta sauce left over, so I’ll use that for some baked pasta tomorrow, love versatile leftovers! 

Approximate nutrition stats to the left are just for the beef mixture.

 

And as for the sweet surprise! . . .

I really wanted to try out the granola, and while it wasn’t breakfast time I knew I could find some way to use it!  I took one healthy choice fudge bar and chopped it up and layered it with the granola.  Then the bar got kind of melty and it was like indulgent ice cream contrasted with the chewy texture of the oats, so good! 

Here’s my granola mix:

I thought it was really good!  It’s just not as formed and crunchy as I like my granola to be.  I think it would be better as a muesli?  I prefer more of a plank type granola that almost breaks your teeth off.  It is also pretty expensive (about $13) and took 7 days to get to me, so I don’t know if I would get it again just for those two factors.  I did love the flavor and the idea of mixing your own to make it unique because they had plenty of yummy mix-ins to choose from.  Thanks Emily!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s your favorite sweet ending to the day, food or otherwise?