New recipe: Homemade Sloppy Joe's

Ingredients:
1 package hamburger buns
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound Italian sausage
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle chili sauce
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, bell pepper, celery and oregano. Saute 5 minutes, or until onion is tender. Transfer mixture to a bowl and reserve for later.
2. In the same skillet over medium high heat, combine the round beef and sausage, and saute for 10 minutes, or until well browned. Drain grease, and add reserved onion mixture, chili sauce, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Let simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Serve over toasted hamburger buns.

Let me start by saying that never in my life have I cared for sloppy Joe's. They have always smelled funny and tasted worse to me. But for some reason this recipe stood out for me and I knew I needed to try it.

Now of course, I did make a few changes. For starters, we all know I don't eat pork of any kind, so instead of the sausage I just used more ground beef. Next I used hot taco sauce instead of chili sauce, and I used 3 cloves of garlic instead of 2 because I LOVE garlic! (And Danny never said anything about it having too much garlic, so it was fine.) I also added about 1/2 of a chopped jalapeno because I had it in my refrigerator and I like things spicier. Other than that, everything else I kept the same.

Danny walked in the house from work and said it smelled really good, (first good sign!). He started asking what was in it and I refused to tell him until after he tried it and said if he liked it or not. (I was afraid if I told him it had taco sauce in it he would start to think it wasn't a real sloppy Joe.)

So anyway, I got the buns all toasted in the broiler (4 minutes on low is more than enough) and served. He took one bite, looked at me with this look...then he said "oh my gosh this is really good!" Phew! I was a little worried because like I said, I've never liked sloppy joe's so didn't know how they should taste. Then I tried it and what do you know, I like it too! Yay!

So all in all, very good recipe. I'm happy that I tried it and will definitely make it again!

Sorry I forgot to take a picture. I was so concerned with how it tasted that the picture thought completely left my mind.