Real Food Recipe {Sloppy Joes}

I cook every meal my family eats (except Dillon packs his lunch for work, I didn't do it correctly at the start of our marriage and he took that responsibility back after a few days).  We VERY rarely eat out.  Does this mean I am a cook?  I don't really know about that.  I don't particularly enjoy cooking.  I enjoy baking, particularly the terribly putzy stuff that my mother hates that takes 207 steps to assemble. But I've been doing much more from scratch cooking lately and have found some tasty recipes I thought deserved sharing. Baking I like to be putzy, cooking I like to go on the table in 30 minutes or less (extra credit if I don't have to remember to thaw anything the day before). 

The first recipe I want to share is a quick and super easy recipe for sloppy joes.  I started with this recipe, and adapted it to be Whole 30 compliant while I was doing it.  I didn't own Whole 30 ketchup and I still don't know what coconut aminos are.  Growing up on sloppy joe from a can, this tastes awesome and is really easy, and still very affordable.  Why eat the canned stuff?

Here's a bonus tip: this uses a portion of a can of tomato paste.  Throw the other half in a jar or plastic bag in the freezer until next time.  No need to buy one of those fancy resealable tubes of tomato paste. 

A hit with the "under two" crowd as well

Sloppy Joes
1 lb ground beef
1 yellow pepper, diced (I used green in the photo)
1 red onion, diced
2 T coconut or olive oil
6 T tomato paste
2-3 T apple cider vinegar
1 t ground mustard
1 t garlic powder
Salt & pepper

Saute the onion and pepper in the oil until soft.  Add the beef and brown.  Then, add the tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, garlic, mustard and salt and pepper, add a touch of water or broth if it seems dry.  Let those flavors meld on med/low heat for 10-30 minutes and enjoy on a bun, baked potato (WHOLE 30), sweet potato, or fries. Bonus points if you want to add a different kind of hot pepper, some crushed red pepper or other little kick of heat!