Falling In Love with the Crock Pot: Sloppy Leucks

In January, my fiancée (J) suggested we get a Crock Pot after having some delicious slow cooked chicken noodle soup at his parents' house. As soon as we got home to Vermont, we went to Bed Bath & Beyond (literally the very first place we drove to after landing at the airport) and bought a 6 Quart Crock Pot:

We brainstormed recipes and made shopping lists and it was LOVE instantly. While I'm definitely no Crock Pot pro...I do love it and I think it's a great addition to any household! It is so convenient to prepare the slow cooker in the morning when you first wake up, go out and do whatever you want all day long, and come home to a delicious smelling apartment AND a warm home-cooked meal :)

One of the best days we had in January included: prepping the slow cooker at 7am, packing up our snowboards and spending the day taking turns at Stowe (which is only about one hour away).



As soon as we got back, we had SLOPPY JOES waiting for us! Although I did "adapt" the recipe to our taste buds so we actually call them "Sloppy Leucks"...needless to say, they were just as good, if not better, than any I had had in the past! Not to mention that neither of us had even had sloppy joes in 10+  years...which only made it that much better!



 Here's our recipe - it's EASY and quick (only takes 4 hours!)


SLOPPY LEUCKS

Ingredients:

1-2 pounds lean ground beef/turkey (we used ground turkey)

1 large white onion, chopped

1 large green pepper, chopped

1 (12 ounces) bottle prepared chili sauce (we just used pasta sauce)

1 (6 ounces) can tomato paste

1 tablespoon ground red (cayenne) pepper (gives it a kick!)

2 to 3 tablespoons brown sugar, to taste

2 to 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 packet of mccormick's "sloppy joe" mix (optional)

Toasted sandwich/hamburger buns

Preparation:
In large deep skillet, brown ground beef/turkey; drain off fat.

Place ground beef mixture in crock pot and stir in all other ingredients.

Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours, stirring occasionally.

Serve on toasted buns and enjoy!

Hope you try, enjoy, and LOVE it just like we did! <3