Baking Bits: Sloppy Joe Bake

When I began my cooking expedition several years ago, I got this recipe from a friend of mine. I thought, I love Sloppy Joe sandwiches, but gosh they are so darn messy for my kids (ahem…and husband). This was the perfect solution! I hope you enjoy it as much as our family does!

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 lb. ground meat (I use turkey)

Can of biscuits (10 small or 8 large)

2 cups Spaghetti Sauce

8oz Tomato Sauce

Sloppy Joe Seasoning mix

Onion powder

Onion Salt

Minced onion

1 cup Mozzarella Cheese

1 cup Cheddar Cheese (not pictured)

Brown meat. Just before it’s completely browned, add in minced onion, onion powder and onion salt. Now, I don’t have exact measurements for these three ingredients as I do them by sight and taste. But, it’s probably somewhere around 2T of minced onion, 1 tsp onion powder and a dash of onion salt.

NOTE: You can use a fresh onion, chopped finely if you prefer. But, my kiddos won’t eat them and literally spit them out if I try to sneak them in. Not to mention the fact they will just not eat if they seem them in a dish. So, I go with the alternative.

Once the meat is browned and onion mixture is cooked thoroughly, add the spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce and seasoning. Now, the original Sloppy Joe seasoning mix yields 3T for 1 packet, but I’ve found that was too strong for our family. So I only use 2T.

Mix it all up really well. Now, cover and simmer for 10 minutes

Now, once you have simmered the mixture, you can either let it cool and place in a gallon size freezer bag and freeze, or if you’re like me and don’t always get things done ahead of time, you can continue on to the cooking stage.

So, assuming you’re like me, you'll pour the mixture into a 9x13 pan.

Top the meat mixture with the 2 cups of cheese. (NOTE: I only had Mozzarella, so we went without cheddar, but I normally use both.)

Now, you’re going to top the meat mixture and cheese with the biscuits. Okay, so a trick I learned was to flatten out the biscuits. I just do it by hand. Just pull them out of the can and kinda pull on them in a circular motion all the way around to flatten them out. (It makes them cook faster and cover more area!)

Now, I covered mine with foil, set it in the fridge for later in the day. (Do this before putting the biscuits on though.) When you're ready, you’ll cook it on 375^o for 20 min. or until the biscuits are golden brown. Watch closely so your biscuits don’t burn. Sometimes mine take 20 min and sometimes they take more like 25min. I think it depends on how much you stretch your biscuits.

Doesn’t it just look yummy? This is one of my kids’ favorite meals.

What’s your kids’ favorite meal? Have you adapted a favorite meal to make it easier to cook or freeze? How?

**NOTE: If you choose to freeze this meal. You’ll want to thaw the meat/sauce mixture, add cheese and biscuits. Then cook at 375^o for 25-30 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown.

Happy Cooking!!

Blessings,

Annette


Linking up here:
This post is linked to The Imperfect Housewife.