Sloppy Joe Bread Bowls (aka... Neat Joe's)

I would like for you to meet "Neat Joe"... Sloppy Joe's cousin.  Neat Joe entered my life purely for selfish reasons... laundry!  As we all know Sloppy Joe is not so kind to the laundry.   Of course my kids were completely thrilled with these bread bowls so I am claiming I only did it to please them. :) That's my story and I'm sticking too it. :)  These Sloppy Joe bread bowls turned out fantastic.  It was almost like eating a really deep dish individual pizza with Sloppy Joe filling.  The cheese and the bread contained the "sloppy, plus we got to enjoy more sloppy and less bread. I love this method and I know I will be trying it again and again. It's no longer the laundry that making this such a good idea... it's because it was fantastic.  I got 10 fingers up (my kids' version of saying 10 thumbs up).  Now if that doesn't make you want to try this dish... what will. :)


 Ingredients:
5  Kaiser or Hoagie style rolls
White melting cheese (I used a combo of provolone and mozzarella)

Meat filling:
1lb of ground lean meat (I used chicken... pork, beef, turkey can be substituted)
1/2 cup of onion chopped
1/2 cup of diced green bell pepper
1-2 cloves of grated garlic
red chili flakes to taste
seasoning salt and black pepper to taste

Ingredients for the sloppy sauce
8oz can of plain tomato sauce
1Tbs of paprika
1 Tbs of sriracha (if you like it spicy)
1Tbs of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 Tbs of vinegar
2-3 Tbs of brown sugar (sloppy joe's are sweet and tangy so it depends on how sweet you want it)


Directions:

Start browning the ground meat then add garlic, onion, green bell peppers, seasoning salt, black pepper.  Then add your ingredients for the sloppy sauce:   Cook in the sauce for 10-12 minutes on medium low flame until well combined. Taste for seasoning. 

To prepare the bread bowls, slice a little bit off the top.  Then take a small knife and cut a circle on the inside of the bread and use your fingers to hollow out the bread.  Make sure to leave enough on the bottom and sides so the filling stays in. 
Note:  You can save the unused filling to make bread crumbs or soak in milk to make meatballs or meatloaf. Just put into a ziploc bag and into the freezer until need.  

Then fill each hollowed out bread bowl with the sloppy mixture. Top with cheese.  I used sliced provolone cheese and then topped with some shredded mozzarella cheese.  Place on a baking tray and bake for 7-10 minutes on 375 until the cheese melts.  Enjoy.

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