I don't know about you but our family gets into dinner ruts. Not that this is entirely a bad thing. Most of my usual dinners I can cook blindfolded. Or with a two year old and two huge Labradors tearing the house apart or totally underfoot. There are bonuses. But I am also an adventurous eater and like variety. So after eating pasta at least two nights a week (one leftovers) for about as long as I can remember, the last thing I wanted to make with the ground turkey breast sitting in my fridge was some more pasta bolognese.
A little pat on my own back, I also think I'm pretty good at looking at the random mishmash of ingredients in the fridge and coming up with something to make, and I also don't mind combining a number of recipes or working from none at all. I'm not scared to try new things or come up with my own creation. So last night I took that ground turkey and made some delicious sloppy joes, that just so happen to be pretty healthy too!
A little pat on my own back, I also think I'm pretty good at looking at the random mishmash of ingredients in the fridge and coming up with something to make, and I also don't mind combining a number of recipes or working from none at all. I'm not scared to try new things or come up with my own creation. So last night I took that ground turkey and made some delicious sloppy joes, that just so happen to be pretty healthy too!
Clean Turkey Sloppy Joes
- 1 pound organic ground turkey breast (or regular ground turkey)
- 1 red pepper
- 1 yellow pepper
- fresh garlic (I used 4 or 5 cloves, crushed but I love garlic.....if you don't you may want to back this off to 1 clove!)
- 1/2 tsp onion powder (I would have preferred to use 1 fresh onion, but somehow I didn't have one on hand)
- 1 can organic diced tomatoes (I used one with green chilis)
- 1 can organic tomato sauce (the pureed tomato kind, no sugar or anything else added)
- 1/2 to 1 tsp ground cumin
- hot sauce to taste (I used garlic hot sauce and used about a tablespoon, maybe more and it was nice and spicy)
- Worcestershire sauce, about 1 tbsp (This is really the only non-clean ingredient in here, although it's not too bad....some added sugar. You could eliminate it and use a tad more vinegar.)
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar (Again, adjust to your taste and add more if you think it needs it. I mainly used the vinegar to cut some of the sugar flavor from the tomatoes and peppers without adding salt.)
Start by browning the turkey over medium heat. While browning chop the peppers and onion (if you have a fresh one) and peel the garlic. When the turkey is almost done but still a touch pink, add the peppers and onion. The sooner you add the veggies they more mushy they will be. The later you add them the firmer they will be. It's up to you as to how much texture you like in your sloppy joes. I don't like mine smooth (I don't like the veggies to turn to mush) but I also like them cooked through. After they have cooked for a few minutes and are starting to become fragrant (I cook by nose a lot), add the crushed garlic into the pan (you can also mince it but I hate mincing garlic so a crusher is vital to my cooking).
Side note about cooking with garlic, I always crush it about 10 minutes before I need to add it to what I'm cooking. This allows a chemical reaction to take place that releases enzymes in the garlic that have all the good health properties and benefits.
Cook for another minute and add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes (I drained most of the way before adding). Add all the spices and sauces (onion powder if you don't have a fresh one, cumin, hot sauce, Worcestershire, vinegar). Turn the heat down to medium low and let it simmer, stirring frequently. The flavors will meld and the sauce will thicken. Cook until it is the sloppiness you prefer. I don't like mine runny so I cooked it until the sauce had thickened quite a bit.
Serve on whole wheat hamburger or hot dog rolls, or over brown rice, quinoa, or just eat it with a spoon. I topped some lettuce with it today to make a salad for lunch and it was delicious!