This month’s Dempster’s sandwich gave me a little lesson in supply, demand, and the art of improvisation.

Originally, we wanted to rock some mean burgers. Sarah and I are part of a crew that does semi-regular Danforth Dinners, a dinner party for 8-10 where we take turns hosting to give everyone a taste of what the group has to offer. Though not everyone lives in East York anymore (rumours of a St. Clair Supper are in the air…), we still try to keep up, regardless of the newest — and likely most difficult — member sometimes wanting us to do otherwise.

So, knowing that time’s often limited for parents, our friends give us the easy job — “just bring the buns”. Well — everyone in town must’ve had the exact same idea now that our weather’s more promising than the horror we dealt with for 6 months, because no matter where we looked, we couldn’t find Dempster’s Deluxe Hamburger Buns anywhere! We checked six stores, and everyone must’ve been out barbecuing in 10° weather, because they were out of stock like the hot toy at Christmas!

So that didn’t work out — I mean, obviously we still had burgers, we’d be stupid not to — but with some other bread we’d never heard of before to encase the deliciousness we knew we were to get.

With my delicious burger dream reduced to crumbs and the buns to hold them mysteriously absent wherever I looked, I needed a new sandwich idea and fast; a freelancer’s deadlines wait for no man! So it was off to Plan B — thinking back to my childhood and the stuff my Mom whipped up when she was in a hurry — SLOPPY JOES.

A Reward for Sloppiness!

A food appropriately named for the fact that you can’t take a bite without dropping some meat, the mighty Sloppy Joe’s a quick solution for a hungry belly, rewarding it with mounds of delicious seasoned ground beef if cooked correctly. And — coincidentally — it gave me the opportunity to add something else to the mix….

Ground beef, old Cheddar cheese, Dempster’s 100% Whole Wheat bread, lettuce, onion, Mrs. Dash Sloppy Joe Seasoning Mix, and Hunt’s Tomato Paste with Garlic

When your life’s entrenched in social media, you’ll come across some things you never see yourself using — invites to parties, piles of branded swag, or in this case, the Mrs. Dash Sloppy Joe Seasoning Mix I got as a Klout perk!

Some quick thinking and a grocery store trip later, Operation: Get in My Belly was underway, with the ingredients coming together in all the right ways!

The master plan went down a little like this:

Ingredients:

• 4 slices Dempster’s Original 100% Whole Wheat Bread
• 1 packet Mrs. Dash Sloppy Joe Seasoning Mix
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 6 oz can tomato paste
• 1¼ cups water
• 1 onion
• several lettuce leaves
• shredded old cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Brown meat in large skillet on medium-high heat
2. Drain fat
3. Stir in seasoning mix, tomato paste, chopped onion and water
4. Bring to a boil
5. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally
6. Serve on Dempster’s Original 100% Whole Wheat Bread, garnishing mixture with shredded cheese and some lettuce leaves

As always, if you’re a fan of the sandwich, you can see even more on Dempster’s DIY Sandwich website, Twitter or Instagram, or Maple Leaf Foods’ new Appehtite.ca, a social site for Canadian cooks to feature their best recipes! With any of these options, you stomach will surely thank you!

As delicious as it looks? You betcha!!!

The Skinny on the Sloppy

So if you want to Get Your Nom On (as is always recommended), try this recipe out — feeding it to your face is a messy job, but someone’s gotta do it, right?

Get voracious,

–case p.

[Disclaimer: Though a paid post, the methods and opinions within are my own, and the sandwich was delicious!]