With so many mouths to feed, my mom did everything she could to stretch her dollar at dinner and keep her recipes simple. That meant that a lot of our meals featured ground beef, from meatloaf to tacos to chili to spaghetti there isn’t a ground beef dish my mother didn’t have a recipe for. And then there was my favorite of them all, sloppy Joes. The Sloppy Joes my mom made always included ground beef, onion powder, a Sloppy Joe seasoning mix and potato rolls. The sides typically include Ore-Ida french fries and an iceberg lettuce salad.

Yesterday I had an intense craving for my mom’s Sloppy Joes, I was home sick from work and needed comfort food. Google to the rescue. After searching for recipes online I stumbled across this version on allrecipescom. In an effort to appease my Chubster and to keep grocery shopping at a minimum, I made some tweaks and let me tell you it was fantastic.

The biggest difference between my version and the one from allrecipes was the substitution of ground turkey. I prefer ground turkey for three reasons: first, its healthier, especially when you use all white meat, second, I find it to be more flavorful and third, there is less grease and less grease means less clean-up. Less clean up makes me a happy camper.

And without further ado, my healthy take on one of Bon-Bon’s go to meals.

Health(ier) Sloppy Joes

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground turkey, white meat only
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, quartered
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 cup water
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Whole wheat hamburger buns, split

Directions

1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute the ground turkey until cooked through, about 7 minutes. Add the onion and mushrooms; saute for 5 more minutes, or until onion is tender.
2. Mix in tomato paste and water, stirring until paste is dissolved. Stir in garlic, chili powder, paprika, cumin, vinegar, brown sugar, oregano, salt and pepper. Continue to heat for 5 to 10 minutes, or until mixture is thick.
3. Serve immediately.