Sloppy Verna's

Courtesy of Speedy Mom from the SL boards.

We did not have sloppy joes that often growing up, but ML's mom would ship over cans of the sauce as a treat for their family. It was one of the first meals I ate with them when we went to visit when we were engaged (guess I was considered worthy of a treat). We had sloppy joes every 2 weeks or so during our early married years, but once we moved overseas and did not have access to canned sauce anymore, it fell out of our repertoire. I tried several different recipes, but none duplicated the taste of canned. Until Sloppy Verna's. Okay, so it's odd that we searched for years for a recipe that tastes like the canned option, but, hey, we're odd, and we're okay with that.

• 1.5 lbs ground beef
• + salt, pepper, garlic powder - all to taste
• 1/2 onion, chopped (optional)
• 1 jar tomato sauce (16 oz.) or equivalent mixture of tomato paste and water
• 2 T vinegar (apple vinegar to gives it a nice sweet taste)
• 1/2 T mustard
• 4 T brown sugar
• 1/4 cup water (optional, depending on sauce consistency)
• salt, pepper
• paprika (optional)

1. Brown and season ground beef (and onions, if desired).
2. Mix together remaining ingredients.
3. Pour over beef.
4. Simmer 30 min.

This can be heated/simmered in the crockpot, as well.

Until we discovered MA's soy allergy, I would make this with TVP, and it was a super easy meal.

Before that, though, this was my go-to meal when I would brown 4-5 lbs of ground beef to freeze in meal-sized portions. I would use some that night for Sloppy Verna's. I'm back to that option now.