Happy National Cheeseburger Day!

It is National Cheeseburger Day, and I plan on celebrating in fine fashion. It won’t be difficult because, cheeseburger fan that I am, I have plenty of recipes from which to choose from traditional, to restaurant-style, to a sloppy joe version, even cheeseburger soup! To get the recipe for any or all of these cheeseburger variations, click the link under the photo. Don’t just sit there, grab your buns and join me. Cheeseburger Casserole Sirloin Burgers with Pimiento Cheese Animal Style Burgers Cheeseburger Soup  Cheeseburger with Apple Bacon Relish  Slow Cooker Chili Cheeseburger Soup

Sumptuous Sloppy Joes

Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes

I love sloppy joes, but I don’t love standing at the stove browning ground beef, sweating onions and celery, or stirring occasionally as it simmers. The best way, in my opinion, to make sloppy joes is in the slow cooker. No standing at the stove, no browning ground beef, no sweating onions or anything else. Just crumble the meat into the crockpot, add all of the other ingredients, give it a mighty stir, and kick back and do whatever you’d like for the next six hours. When the filling is ready, drain well, pile it high on toasted buns, and wait for the accolades.

Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes

Adapted from afarmgirlsdabbles.com



3 lbs. ground chuck

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

1 c. finely chopped celery

6 large cloves garlic, minced

1 14.5-oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes

1 c. chili sauce

½ c. ketchup

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

2 T. prepared mustard

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

½ T. dry mustard

1 T. chili powder

1 T. cumin

1 t. garlic powder

1 t. espresso powder

½ t. paprika

¼ t. freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste

Play all ingredients into a 7-8 quart slow cooker, being sure to break up the ground chuck as you do so. Stir everything together until the beef is well coated in all of those wonderful spices. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. Drain before using; freezes beautifully.

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Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes, St. Louis Style

That's one of my Homemade Dill Pickles on the side.  Yummy!

If you've read this blog with any regularity then you know that one of my favorite foods is the cheeseburger.  Yes, I do love lobster, shrimp, scallops, and steak, and all sorts of wondrous, time-consuming meals, but when push comes to shove, a cheeseburger is my go-to meal.  I always find the sign of a good restaurant is one that knows how to make a truly good burger.  Juicy, perfectly seasoned and cooked, that tastes like steak, is served on toasted buns and uses REAL cheese (cheese food does have its place, in queso, say, but NOT on a burger).

 

I also have a bit of a fondness for sloppy joes, something I've enjoyed since my Nancy Drew-reading youth.  This recipe combines the yumminess of a sloppy joe, with the deliciousness of a Philly cheese steak, made even better by a dash of St. Louis style in the use of Provel Cheese (rather than the traditional and readily available Provolone).

 

Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes, St. Louis Style

1 lb. ground chuck

1 onion, chopped
1/4 c. A-1 steak sauce
1 c. beef stock (Made with LB Jamison Soup Base)
1/2 green pepper, seeded and diced
1 8-ounce package button mushrooms, sliced
Provel Cheese, sliced (or in ropes), Provolone works if you’re not in St. Louis

Steak Seasoning mixture, to taste

Pinch of dried oregano

Pinch of garlic powder

Kaiser Rolls

Preheat broiler.  In large skillet over medium-high heat, brown the ground chuck, breaking it up as you cook, about 8 minutes. Add the onion, green pepper, and mushrooms, and cook until softened, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in the steak sauce, beef stock, steak seasoning, oregano and garlic powder, and bring to a simmer.  Cook until most of the moisture has absorbed.  Taste, and season with salt and pepper, if necessary. 

Split open rolls and toast under broiler. Place a scoopful of the meat on the bottom half of the roll, top immediately wth cheese, allow it to melt down into the meat mixture and then drizzle with additional steak sauce, if desired. Put top half on roll in place, serve with a dill pickle spear.

This post is linked to:

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Tasty Tuesday

What's Cooking Wednesday

& Foodie Friday

Sumptuous Sloppy Joes

It's not that I don't like making lunch, it's just that, for the most part, I don't particularly like lunch food.  Yes, I love a good bowl of soup with a hunk of warm, crusty bread on the side, but there are a lot of days in the week where this is just not an option due to time constraints, inflexible schedules, not to mention low energy, or just plain disinterest.  On these days the sandwich looms ahead.  The sandwich.  My husband probably makes the best sandwich in the world.  He takes great pains to assemble ingredients, knows just which condiment will complement the ingredients the best, and how much of said condiment to use to make it absolutely delicious.  I, on the other hand, am not a great sandwich maker.  I do, however, make an excellent sloppy joe.

This recipe was born out of a longing for a good, hot sandwich that had all of the deliciousness of, dare I say it, my favorite food: the cheeseburger, while at the same time having the smokey zing of barbecue. It is hearty and satisfying, kids and men particularly love it, and it freezes beautifully, so can be made ahead for such food-gobbling events like the Super Bowl.

Sumptuous Sloppy Joes

1 tablespoon butter

1 small onion, diced

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/4 cup green pepper, diced fine

1 pound ground chuck

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 cup beef gravy*

1/3 cup ketchup

1/3 cup barbecue sauce

4 slices Velveeta cheese

4 hamburger buns, toasted

In a large skillet, melt the butter until the foam subsides.  Add the onion, and cook until transparent.  Stir in garlic, and cook until fragrant.  Add green pepper, cook for two minutes. Remove from heat; set aside.

Crumble beef into another large skillet and season with pepper.  Cook over medium high heat until meat is browned and fat is rendered.  Turn out onto paper towel-lined plate and drain throughly.  Add drained beef to vegetable mixture, stir until combined, and return to heat.  Stir in gravy, ketchup, and barbecue sauce, and simmer until liquid is reduced and meat mixture is saucy, but not runny (or to your own taste).

Place scoops of mixture onto the bottom halves of your toasted hamburger buns, dividing evenly.  Top with a slice of cheese and place under the broiler until cheese is melted and gooey.

*If I don't happen to have any leftover gravy from the recent cooking of a roast, I make gravy following the directions on the jar of L.B. Jamison's Beef Soup Base.  For this reason, I do not include salt as one of the ingredients in this recipe.  Reducing the mixture should make it salty enough, but do taste before serving and add additional, if needed.

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