Lee's Perfect Sloppy Joes

Lee edited the recipe a bit for clarification, so this is slightly different from what i posted earlier.

Brown three pounds ground beef (80/20 is what I would recommend)


Drain and dump into large crock pot. Discard excess fat.

Dice 1 large spanish onion, two small green peppers or 1 Large.

One mild hot pepper (could be Anaheim or Pablano) or for more spice use 2 Jalapenos. Dice 3-4 cloves of garlic.

Heat onions, peppers, and garlic in the same pan with your meat juices. Cook lightly until just soft about 7 minutes or so.

Dice one Roma tomato and put aside. Don't cube them too small though - we want chunks.

While they are cooking mix the following in a bowl:

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

2 tablespoons paprika

1/2 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons whole grain Dijon mustard (make sure it is not the creamy kind)

1 teaspoon cayenne powder

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

3 tablespoons molasses

3 tablespoons honey

Put the bowl aside once finished.

Now the onion and pepper should be done. Stir into that 2 cups of ketchup and another 1/2 cup of water. Stir until mixed well.

Bring to a boil. just as it comes to a boil, add the mixture in your bowl. Stir until well blended. Bring to boil one more time and let simmer about 2 minutes. You do not want to let simmer long, By doing that it will become too thick.

Once this is done add to the crock-pot with you meat.

Mix well and put on high. Let it bring it self to a boil in the crock-pot and then you can turn to low.

Let cook for at least three hours. Stir occasionally.

Generously feeds a family of five for two meals - we'll probably have it for breakfast tomorrow ;) For smaller families, put half of it in the freezer and you've got dinner for next week.