Sloppy Joes

Serve this thick and tasty ground beef and bean sauce the traditional way on split and toasted hamburger buns — or go off the grid and ladle it over a bed of tortilla or corn chips.

Recipe Ingredients:

2 pounds hamburger
1 medium onion
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
4 teaspoon Montreal steak seasoning
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
2 (15-ounce) cans tomato sauce
2 cups cooked red kidney beans or lima beans
8 hamburger buns, split in toasted for accompaniment (optional)
Tortilla or corn chips for accompaniment (optional)
Shredded cheddar cheese for garnish (optional)

Cooking Directions:

1. Splash a little olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium high heat. Add hamburger, breaking it up. Add the brown sugar and Montreal steak seasoning to the hamburger. Cook until hamburger is brown.
2. Add onion and red pepper to the mix. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
3. Mix vinegar Worcestershire, tomato paste and tomato sauce in a mixing bowl. Add to hamburger mix along with the cooked beans. Cook about 5 minutes longer.
4. Serve on hamburger buns, or tortilla chips, and top with a shredded cheese, as desired.

Makes 8 servings.

Recipe and photograph courtesy of California Dry Bean Advisory Board.