Chicken Salad, Sloppy Joes, and buns.

I made chicken salad last week and made a special trip to Shirley's to get the most outstanding sandwich buns ever.  As it turned out the chicken salad was to be served over a bed of lettuce and there was no need for the buns. This person cannot let a trip for fabulous buns be for naught so I thought I would make Sloppy Joes.

Sloppy Joes are usually too sweet for me and in the past I have used the seasoning packages but one look at the ingredients in those packages makes me want to try to get it right from scratch.

This is what I came up with, a recipe modified from several others.
Sloppy Joes

1 pound 80/20 ground beef

½ cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped green bell pepper

½ teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard

½ cup ketchup*

¼ cup barbecue sauce*

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce*

Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown beef, onion, and green pepper.  Drain off liquids.  Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, barbecue sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.  Mix thoroughly.  Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Taste for seasonings, serve on soft hamburger buns. 

6 servings

* These are the variables.  I used Muir Glenn Organic Ketchup and Bull’s-Eye Original B.B.Q. sauce and for me, this was the right amount of Worcestershire sauce so that the Joes were not too sweet.

I did have to replace the buns though.

Min!

I carefully scanned the kitchen counters before I left the house but I did not look behind me and the buns, 7 big ones, were easy pickin's on the island.  Sigh.