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Whether you call them taverns, loose- meats, made-rites or sloppy joes, ground beef sautéed with chopped vegetables, seasonings and sauce served on a bun is a hit.
We called them Sloppy Joes when I was growing up and they were always a favorite. I know my mom hid some vegetables in them, as I do now with my grandson. Our recipe calls for onion, celery and green pepper but you can easily substitute diced or grated carrots. To reduce the sodium you can also substitute tomato sauce for the ketchup (this saves 420mg of sodium!)
To save time consider making a large batch and freezing it for a quick meal. Some families buy 10 pounds of ground beef at a time and make a basic mix like this one to freeze and use in various ways like spaghetti sauce, taco filling, etc.
The cost of beef is high this year. You can save money by buying ground beef with a higher percentage of fat if you are willing to rinse the ground beef as we have outlined in the steps below. Just be sure to collect the water with the ground beef fat in a bowl and refrigerate to harden fat. Spoon hardened fat into trash so you don’t clog your plumbing.
Sloppy Joes
Serving Size: 1/2 cup meat and one bun | Serves: 5
Ingredients: 
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
- 1/2 cup celery, chopped (about 1 stalk of celery)
- 1/2 cup green or red pepper, chopped (about 1/2 large pepper)
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup tomato ketchup
- 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 5 whole wheat buns
Instructions:
- Combine ground beef, onion, celery, and pepper in a medium skillet. Add water.
- Cook over medium low heat for 15 minutes. Stir as needed. Cook until beef mixture reaches at least 160°F.
- Put ground beef mixture in a colander. Pat mixture with paper towels and rinse with warm water to remove fat.
- Return to skillet. Add ketchup, mustard, and sugar. Heat 5-10 minutes on low heat.
- Toast buns, if desired, in an oven broiler, toaster oven, or skillet. To use a skillet, spread buns with margarine and place face side down in skillet. Cook over medium heat 1-2 minutes.
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