Summer (and all year round) suppers

Ah, summer!  It's one of my favorite times of year.  It might get too hot to enjoy being outside, but my job observes summer hours and lets us off an hour earlier than the rest of the year.  So I love having that extra hour of daylight, even though it means going into work earlier.

But there's something about having that extra hour of sunlight that makes me want to make the time I spend cooking dinner as quick as possible.  So one of my favorite meals in summer anytime I'm in a hurry to get out of the kitchen is homemade sloppy joes.  Kroger and MyMagazineSharing sent me some freebies to try out, and when I saw that McCormick's seasonings were included I knew that it was time to make these again.

If you knew me as a kid (Hi, Mom!), this might come as a surprise.  I grew up hating sloppy joes.  But it turns out that what I didn't like was the purchased sauce.  Canned or jarred, it didn't matter.  I was not a fan (um, hello again, Mom... this is getting awkward...).  But I watched a cooking show a few years ago that did a homemade sauce and I realized I could make my own and leave out the things I didn't like.  Yes, I'm a genius.

My "recipe" isn't precise.  This is something I make to taste.

I use a small can of tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, Apple Cider Vinegar, brown sugar, granulated or powdered onion (real onion or too much of these and I will have major #regrets), and McCormick's Montreal steak seasoning.  I add these to browned ground beef:

As a side note: if you don't have one of these "choppers," you should get one ASAP.  It makes crumbling ground beef as it cooks so, so simple!  It's also awesome for "pulling" or shredding other meats.  I use it on chicken and stew beef all the time.  I picked this one up at Payless/Kroger with my groceries and have now even convinced my MIL to get one too.

Once that beef is cooked, you add in your sauce ingredients and adjust to taste.  The brown sugar vs. apple cider vinegar is probably the trickiest part.  If you like a tangy sauce, you'll want more vinegar.  If you want it sweeter, you'll want more brown sugar.  It's not rocket science, but it can take time to find the taste you love.  I also tend to add some water to thin the sauce a bit.

Putting all this together takes about 20 minutes, so it really is quick.  I like to add a slice of cheddar or colby jack cheese to my sloppy joes to help keep the bun from getting too soggy.  Then you can cook whatever sides you like or just go the easy route and have some chips.

I also recommend having plenty of napkins or wet wipes (or an eager pet) on hand to help clean up any dropped bits.  This batch of sloppy joes turned out to be the sloppiest I've ever made.  I wore half of this meal.  And when I took some leftovers to work the next day, I wore it again... And dropped a fourth of my sandwich on the carpet.  Oops.  Maybe I'll add less water next time.

I loved the McCormick's seasoning, the Keebler Chips Deluxe, and Kleenex wet wipes Kroger/Payless and MyMagazineSharing sent me to try.  I wasn't as crazy about the jalapeno chips, but I'm not really into that flavor in anything else either.  Give sloppy joes a whirl next time you're in a hurry or looking for an easy dinner, and get yourself a ground beef chopper next time you go to the store.  Both are totally worth it!