Weekend Cooking: Sloppy Joes... with a surprise!

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has been reading my LJ for a while that I don't like vegetable. I'll eat lettuce on rare occasion, but iceberg is my lettuce of choice and that's nothing but crunchy water. Corn is the only one I like, but it hardly counts as a vegetable.

This week's recipe is more than half vegetable, and no one would ever know it. Even me, who peers and stares and pokes at food to make sure nothing icky is hidden in it would never ever know there was a single vegetable in it (other than tomato, but all sloppy joes have that).

Full recipe here, but it's basically a sloppy joe with carrot, a half of zucchini, and a whole pepper, as well as onion and garlic.

I followed the recipe almost exactly. At the last moment I realized I hadn't figured out what I would do about "creole mustard" (I had never heard of it previously). I have dijon mustard, but I decided to just skip it instead of guessing if that would be okay or not.

Tasting it when done, it was a bit bland, so I used my new friend garlic salt. A few good shakes perked it right up.

On one hand, it came out perfect. It doesn't taste like vegetables at all. If pressed, I'd say it's a touch sweet, but that's not a bad thing. On the other hand, I've learned I really dislike chili powder. I used slightly less than called for (I worried it would be spicy, and I don't like things even mildly spicy), but even that is overpowering. Every bite had the chili powder flavor, and I really don't like it.

It's less sloppy than I'm used to (I suspect sloppy joes are like pizza and everyone has a different idea of it).

Oddly, adding ketchup improves it a lot. (I think it covers the chili powder some.)

Assuming you have most things on hand already, it would be really cheap to make. Unfortunately I had to buy everything, including the worcestershire sauce and two spices, each were about $6. As the recipe says, it basically doubles your meat for you. I have a darned big pot full, for only a pound of meat.

I'm almost done with my sandwich. It's really a shame about the chili powder, this would be 100% perfect if it were replaced with some other flavor. (I think I might increase the tomatoes and tomato paste if I made this again, that'd make it "sloppier", too.) *laughs* It's funny, each bite reinforces that I really don't like chili powder. It's not hot or spicy, it just has a really odd flavor.

So, if you have picky kids or don't like veggies yourself or just want a healthier version of sloppy joes, I'd highly recommend this! Just adjust the spices as needed.

Edit: Sandwich #2, after it's been in the fridge for a few hours and reheated, has no chili powder flavor at all. Interesting!

Weekend Cooking: Sloppy Joes... with a surprise!

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has been reading my LJ for a while that I don't like vegetable. I'll eat lettuce on rare occasion, but iceberg is my lettuce of choice and that's nothing but crunchy water. Corn is the only one I like, but it hardly counts as a vegetable.

This week's recipe is more than half vegetable, and no one would ever know it. Even me, who peers and stares and pokes at food to make sure nothing icky is hidden in it would never ever know there was a single vegetable in it (other than tomato, but all sloppy joes have that).

Full recipe here, but it's basically a sloppy joe with carrot, a half of zucchini, and a whole pepper, as well as onion and garlic.

I followed the recipe almost exactly. At the last moment I realized I hadn't figured out what I would do about "creole mustard" (I had never heard of it previously). I have dijon mustard, but I decided to just skip it instead of guessing if that would be okay or not.

Tasting it when done, it was a bit bland, so I used my new friend garlic salt. A few good shakes perked it right up.

On one hand, it came out perfect. It doesn't taste like vegetables at all. If pressed, I'd say it's a touch sweet, but that's not a bad thing. On the other hand, I've learned I really dislike chili powder. I used slightly less than called for (I worried it would be spicy, and I don't like things even mildly spicy), but even that is overpowering. Every bite had the chili powder flavor, and I really don't like it.

It's less sloppy than I'm used to (I suspect sloppy joes are like pizza and everyone has a different idea of it).

Oddly, adding ketchup improves it a lot. (I think it covers the chili powder some.)

Assuming you have most things on hand already, it would be really cheap to make. Unfortunately I had to buy everything, including the worcestershire sauce and two spices, each were about $6. As the recipe says, it basically doubles your meat for you. I have a darned big pot full, for only a pound of meat.

I'm almost done with my sandwich. It's really a shame about the chili powder, this would be 100% perfect if it were replaced with some other flavor. (I think I might increase the tomatoes and tomato paste if I made this again, that'd make it "sloppier", too.) *laughs* It's funny, each bite reinforces that I really don't like chili powder. It's not hot or spicy, it just has a really odd flavor.

So, if you have picky kids or don't like veggies yourself or just want a healthier version of sloppy joes, I'd highly recommend this! Just adjust the spices as needed.

Edit: Sandwich #2, after it's been in the fridge for a few hours and reheated, has no chili powder flavor at all. Interesting!