Not Yo Mama's Sloppy Joe

I haven't been to the grocery store in a couple of weeks.  I know, right!  I just haven't wanted to go.  What have I been doing for dinner, you ask.  Freezer diving!  I went freezer diving the other night and came up with ground beef and Cole's garlic bread.  What to do, what to do?  I went foodie blog diving!  I stumbled across Jessica over at The Learning Curve.  She had a fanfreakintabulous looking sloppy joe recipe and I just so happened to have most of the ingredients she asked for.  I did a little compromising with the ingredients I didn't have but it came out fanfreakintabulous!

Not Yo Mama's Sloppy Joe

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Yield: 4 servings (I doubled mine so we could have left-overs)
Any changes I made are in italics

Ingredients:

• 1 pound extra-lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeño pepper (I used chopped jalepeno's in a jar)
• 1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced (I didn't have any)
• one 15.5-ounce can small red or pinto beans, preferably low-sodium, drained and rinsed (I used Bush's chili beans)
• 1 1/2 cups no-salt-added tomato sauce (I used one 15 oz. can of tomato sauce)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste (I used one 6 oz. can of tomato paste cuz I didn't read directions very carefully)
• 1/2 cup medium salsa
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon unsulfured molasses (I didn't have any so I used honey)
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• whole-wheat hamburger buns (I used Cole's garlic bread)

1. Brown the meat and onion in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, breaking up the meat into crumbles as it cooks. Pour the drippings out of the pan and discard.
2. Add the garlic, jalapeño, and red pepper and cook 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, except the buns (garlic bread), reduce heat to low, and simmer for another 5 minutes.
3. Serve over hamburger buns (garlic bread) and enjoy!

Adapted The Learning Curve!

~ Enjoy!