Homemade Sloppy Joes

I hate tomatoes. Since an evil bout of pregnancy changed my every cell, I now liken the taste of tomatoes to the smell of dead rotting skunk. And Starbucks.

But, I still like ketchup... in very, very small doses, on very appropriate items, such as Chicken Tenders, or a burger if somehow Culver's has magically happened to run out of BBQ sauce upon my visit. But otherwise, I don't do tomato. I will not enter your house if you are cooking anything with a tomato. And, I don't care how ungrateful it looks or dishonoring to a cook it might be, I will pick it off of something that is handed to me in a cultural setting where I am expected to eat it.

So I don't know WHAT came over me last night (I've actually secretly been craving them for a week!) when I decided to make Sloppy Joes! I used ketchup, so that I could avoid the whole tomato issue... They still tasted like tomato tangy stingingly acidic rotten death, but my husband LOVVVVVVVED them!!! Of course, he misses tomatoes terribly. (I've banned them from the house.) I knew he liked them a lot, but it wasn't til today when he told me that all of his co-workers individually asked him what that amazing-smelling lunch was, and were drooling over it, that I decided I might have actually stumbled upon something a little wonderful, no matter if I liked them or not!

You are welcome to use my recipe, as long as you call them Sloppy Talithas =)

WHAT YOU NEED:
1 whole large onion (I actually used about 10 tiny onions I had peeled and frozen)

3 cloves garlic

1 large or two small carrots

Olive Oil for sauteing

1 1/2 cups ketchup (free of HFCS!)

Lots of spices: onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, chili powder, crushed red pepper, crushed brown mustard, salt, freshly ground black pepper, a pinch of white pepper, a smidgen of both ginger and cinnamon, and a bit of both parsley and oregano 

1 lb. ground hamburger

HOW TO:
Chop onion, carrot, and garlic. Cook with a bit of olive oil on medium in a large sauce pan til a little browner than golden brown.
Add ketchup, spices.
Add raw hamburger, and a little more salt. Cook, stirring almost constantly, until the meat has gained a firmer texture signaling that it's cooked throughly. (Note: I don't have a meat thermometer, I'm not a professional. I'm not even fancy. Just find the biggest chunk of meat and see if it's done. If it is, then the rest is, too.)
Then, just slop 'em on to some bread, and eat 'em up =)

COST:
$4-ish. Makes 6-8 sandwiches!