Family Favorite Friday: Sloppy Joes

Yeah, I know. Sloppy Joes aren’t exactly healthy. My family doesn’t eat them very often. No, these babies are reserved for “special occasions.” Besides, I only eat red meat about once a month and when I do I want it to count! Using grass-fed, organic ground beef helps to make them healthier along with the use of whole wheat buns. I hope you like, it’s a very simple recipe, and it’s an American classic I’m sure everyone is familiar with.

Sloppy Joes

Ingredients

    1 pound ground beef

    1 medium onion, diced

    1 cup ketchup

    ¼ cup water

    2 tbsp brown sugar or 1 ½ tbsp agave syrup

    2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

    2 tsp mustard

    1 tbsp canola oil

    ½ tsp garlic powder

    ½ tsp onion powder

    ½ tsp salt

    4 hamburger buns, split

Saute the diced onion for about 5 minutes. Add the meat and brown in a wide pan over medium heat and then drain. Stir in remaining ingredients (except the buns!) and stir. Bring to a boil and then allow mixture to simmer at medium-low for about 20 more minutes or so. Serve over toasted burger buns with salad, mixed veggies, or French fries (you can bake them to cut back on the calories!).

 Lily loved this when she first had it. I had made them from scratch at Paul’s request one day, and after years of never really liking Sloppy Joes, I discovered that this recipe was quite tasty. I don’t know what kind I have been served in the past, but I know the sauce out of the can doesn’t taste this good! 

Lily's and Mommy's plates

Served with green beans and corn topped with her favorite topping- grated Parmesan cheese

Me likey

Although I greatly dislike the way animals are treated on factory farms, red meat once in a while can be very good for you. Making an effort to buy ones marked "grass-fed, pasture-raised, growth and antibiotic-free, organic" will greatly reduce your carbon footprint on the livestock raising parts of the world and will also be much better for you and the animals. Red meat is chock full of iron and B vitamins which provide you with healthy brain function, energy, and a balanced mood. Red meat is also very good for the heart and can help to prevent heart disease.

As I have mentioned in a previous post, when I was pregnant I got sudden cravings for red meat and my OBGYN told me this was because my body was lacking in iron due to Miss Lily sucking it all up. I have always been mildly anemic, so I was not surprised by this. Apparently, supplements were not enough to keep my body happy, and I had to take what was meant to be a break from vegetarianism and start eating red meat again. I have not been able to get back on the no-meat diet since, but I do limit my intake.

I had also meant to raise Lily vegetarian, and did for her first year. She didn’t try any meat until she was about 16 months old, and that was all Paul’s doing. I allowed it, just chicken and turkey at first, but then when she was 18 months old she caught a rare case of Bell’s Palsy which cannot be easily cured. It’s a virus that has to be “waited out” and the only things that supposedly help are massaging the affected area and taking vitamin B supplements. Well, I don’t know if the massaging did much, especially since it was near impossible to get Lily to stay still long enough for me to do it effectively, but shortly after she started recovering and I started giving her B complex chewable vitamins, the weakness the Palsy left in her right eye started to subside. Since then, she eats meat whenever we do.

It’s funny how life works like that, how you can plan and even anticipate for it to go one way, but something comes out of left field and completely changes that. I would like to go back to a stricter veggie diet eventually, but right now I am just going along with what my body tells me, and sometimes it wants to eat meat.

I don’t intend to post a Sweet Saturday post or link-up this weekend because I have so much going on (as always). We’re moving next weekend and Lily’s big party is this Sunday, and these things keep me busy! But, who knows, maybe I will find the time :) I do have something yummy lined up for the next Meatless Monday though, so do check back for that! I do intend to post something sweet next week though, as I will have plenty from Lily’s Mickey and Minnie party to fuel that!

Just a reminder, I’m holding a recipe contest in honor of my 1 year Blogiversary. Please send me your yummy, healthy, family-friendly recipes to healthymommyhealthybaby@gmail.com and be entered to win a 1 year subscription to Eating Well magazine and have your recipe featured here on HMHB! I can’t wait to see what you send me! Have a nice weekend!