Sloppy Joe Stuffed Buns

The recipe I’m sharing with you today is one I’ve been making for many years, and it’s a family favourite.  Whenever I announce that we’re having sloppy joe stuffed buns for dinner, there’s a lot of cheering, fist-pumping, and exclaims of “YES!” from the whole family.  So why have I waited this long to post it, you ask? Let me tell you, it’s not for lack of trying. I’ve taken photos several times now, but I’m usually rushed because the kids can’t wait to eat, so I’m never quite satisfied with the way the photos turn out.  Last time I tried, I was out on our balcony, and Ayla kept opening the sliding door and asking, “What you doing, Mommy? What’s dat? Is dinner? I eat it? Mommy? Mommy?!” Then she crouched down and started eating the buns while I was frantically snapping photos of my disappearing food.

Then when I go to edit the photos, I can’t find them on my camera or on the computer, so I move on to another recipe post instead, making a mental note to look for the sloppy joe photos later. Finally, I’ve tracked down most of my photos, and although they’re not perfect, I don’t care. I just want to share this recipe with you, because it’s definitely worth sharing.

The sloppy joe filling is packed full of vegetables and meat. I often use ground turkey because it’s a nice healthy lean meat, but ground beef is very good with these as well. I use shredded zucchini and carrot, to sneak in a little extra nutrition. These sloppy joes aren’t actually all that “sloppy” because my kids used to get frustrated trying to eat them when all the filling kept falling out, so I started hollowing out dinner rolls and stuffing them with sloppy joe mix and cheese. This way, the sloppy joe mix stays put.

The boys are being goofs in this photo, but it’s because sloppy joe night makes them so excited! Seriously, they can’t get enough of these things. Cole doesn’t like cheese (whaat??) so I leave the cheese out of his and he’s happy. I actually really look forward to sloppy joe night as much as the kids do.  It’s a very easy dinner to make, and so much fun to eat.  The leftovers are also great over pasta, rice, in lettuce wraps, or on toast.

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Sloppy Joe Stuffed Buns

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground meat (beef, turkey, etc.)
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 1 cup carrot, shredded
• 1 cup zucchini, shredded
• 1 can (14 oz) crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 8 - 10 dinner rolls or slider buns
• 1/2 cup grated cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, etc.)

Instructions

1. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.
2. Add ground meat and cook until browned, breaking apart the meat as it cooks.
3. Drain off any excess fat.
4. Add onion, carrot and zucchini. Cook for 3-5 minutes, until the vegetables soften.
5. Add crushed tomatoes, ketchup and BBQ sauce.
6. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
7. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 10 minutes, while you prepare the buns.
8. Hollow out the buns. There are a couple ways to do this. Either cut the bun in half and dig a little hole in the center of both the top and bottom portion of the bun with your fingers; or don't bother cutting it first and just dig your fingers into the side of the bun to hollow it out.
9. Stuff grated cheese and sloppy joe mix into the hollow-out hole in each bun.
10. Serve warm.

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