Sloppy Joes - Yummy Noises

Ok - you might have to think hard for this one (at least I did). When is the last time you had a sloppy joe?

I'm not really sure where the "joe" part of the name came from, but I definitely know where the "sloppy" part came from. But eating sloppy food is fun. Annnnd delicious.

A couple friends were coming over for dinner, and one of them has a lactose issue (love you, Ger!) and I have actually been really surprised at how many of the recipes in my arsenal are not lactose-intolerant friendly. What can I say, I guess I just love dairy.

So we landed on sloppy joes! Delish and dairy-free. I have had multiple people tell me that Rachael Ray's sloppy joe recipe is ridiculously good so we gave it a try. Verdict: they were not wrong. But you know what made it even better? Adding in a little cayenne pepper. BOOM! I would recommend starting with about half a teaspoon, you can always add more to your liking.

This recipe came together really quickly and it's a one pot meal...which means less dishes! Yay!

You may be wondering what those little red blobs on the right are. It's tomato paste! You know how a lot of recipes call for maybe two tablespoons of tomato paste? And even though it comes in a tiny can, you still have most of it left after you used what you needed? Well I like to lay out a piece of plastic wrap, portion the rest of the can out into one tablespoon scoops, cover it in another piece of plastic wrap and freeze it. Then, when I need a couple tablespoons for a recipe - it's all portioned out and ready to go!