Navy Beans, Navy Beans

As I have chosen to do nothing productive in the past three days, I am up to my eyeballs in laundry and housework today. What am I doing? Drinking coffee and blogging. Nice. Anyway, in the absence of anything real to post about... how about a recipe instead? We're preparing for a journey to see Mops and Pops, so we'll probably be scarce until the beginning of next week. Au revoir!

Slop, Sloppy Joes [hairnet not included]
Two Generous Servings

• one small onion, diced
• half a green bell pepper, diced
• two cloves of garlic, minced
  
• half a pound of lean ground beef (or ground turkey)
• salt and pepper
• 2 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 small can of tomato sauce (8 oz, I believe)
• 3 T brown sugar
• 2 hamburger buns (we used the not-so-fun light wheat buns, but I would definitely recommend the big honkin' deli rolls if you're not trying to lose baby weight)

Okay, so listing all of this made me realize that... if you are preparing empanadas AND sloppy joes in the same week (like we did), for the love, go ahead and brown up all of your meat with onion and a whole bell pepper and salt and pepper. Save time. I totally should've done that, and normally I do. Go figure! Anyway, onto the directions:
1. In a small amount of olive oil, cook onion, pepper, and garlic until just beginning to soften (about 2-3 minutes).
2. Add beef (or turkey or whatever) to the pan, and allow to brown -- break it up with a wooden spoon.
3. After meat is brown, add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Stir in next 3 ingredients and allow to bubble. Reduce heat to low.
5. Add brown sugar and stir. Continue to cook on low until your bread is toasty (see step 6).
6. Toast your buns, hon.
7. Spoon your sloppy mixture onto buns. Michael and I differ here: I eat sloppy joes with a knife and fork. He thinks that's sacrilege. I say, if you eat with a fork, you get more meaty goodness. Whatever. Do what you like.

I should also note that we would typically serve this with tater tots. However... well, okay. We're trying to keep baby weight off until there's an actual baby. :-D I also should note that this tastes nothing like Manwich, so if this is what you're expecting, don't make it. I, for one, could not tell you what Manwich tastes like, so. I think it' s great. Enjoy!