Domestic Goddess Tip-Week #8

I love my CrockPot! I may not have an "unhealthy obsession with my CrockPot" like Stephanie at A Year of CrockPotting. But I love it just the same!

Our air conditioner recently went out, and we spent a few days in the blistering Summertime heat of central Kentucky. I was looking for ways to cool down the house (or rather not heat it up) and one of the things I thought I could do, was use my CrockPot instead of my oven or stove top.

So I flipped through Stephanie's site, trying to find a recipe that would suit my picky eating, my two-year-old, and well... Cory really eats anything, so it was just Moose and I to please. We tried a few things, but I absolutely loved the Sloppy Joes recipe. And Ariel, it is SUPER EASY!

Sloppy Joes in the CrockPot
h/t: edited a bit from A Year of CrockPotting
1 pound lean ground meat
1 packet of McCormick sloppy joe mix
1 6oz can tomato paste
1/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of white vinegar

I used extra lean hamburger, but (Stacy!) you could use ground turkey or ground chicken for this.

Mix the raw meat with the sloppy joe mix and the tomato paste. Add the 1/4 cup of water and the 1/4 cup vinegar, and stir well.

Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours, or on high for 3-5. I cooked it on high for four hours, and since I was home when I cooked it, I stirred it once or twice.

The meat is done when it is crumbly and fully cooked. Serve with hamburger buns, or on top of rice. We ate this with microwaved mac & cheese and peas. The next time I make this, I would toast the buns so that they would be a little stiffer for the sloppiness of the Joe;) We also like our Joes with a slice of cheese on top.