Recipe For Sloppy Joes

I have a friend who is moving. She has five children under eight years, including a 6 week old baby. The movers are coming this week, but she had to do most of the packing. She got sick last week with a miserable Spring cold. On top of that, she is not the type of person who likes to accept much help. What could I do? Well, I told her I’d be there at 5pm with a meal and that was all there was to it.

The hard part was that in her family there is a dairy, an egg and a peanut allergy. I love a challenge! So after brainstorming for a little while, I came up with the perfect meal: Sloppy Joes (served on dairy and egg free buns…I had to look at a few different brands to make sure), salad, cut up oranges and rice crispy treats made with coconut oil instead of butter or margarine.

When I talked to her a few days later, she thanked me for the meal. She also said that she was really, really picky about Sloppy Joes. Her whole life, she had only ever liked her mom’s. And now she likes only her mom’s and mine. In her words, she ate “copious amounts” of the filling on sandwiches and salads and straight up (my favorite way, because the filling is gluten free!) As a confirmed feeder, that was music to my ears.

1. Info for Sloppy Joes

• Cook Time: unavailable
• Total Time: unavailable
• Servings: unavailable
• Calories: unavailable

2. Ingredients for Sloppy Joes

• 3½ lb ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped fine
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 6 oz cans tomato paste
• water
• ⅓ cup ketchup
• 2 Tbsp yellow mustard
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce (gluten free if needed)
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar

3. Directions:

1. In a large skillet, brown the ground beef.
2. Drain.
3. Add the onion, celery, salt and pepper.
4. Cook until soft.
5. Empty cans of tomato paste into a 4 cup glass measure
6. Add enough water to make 3 cups.
7. Stir until smooth.
8. Combine remaining ingredients with tomato paste.
9. Stir into hamburger mixture.
10. Heat through.
11. Serve on bread, buns, rice, pasta, or eat plain.