Lentil Sloppy Joes!
Seeing as I’ve posted recipes for both Healthy Oreos and Healthy Butterfingers this week, I figured a non-dessert post was in order. After all, a person can’t live on chocolate, cookies, and candy, alone. We can come close…
Anywhoos, so last night I made these:
Thinking of sloppy joes brings me back to high school.
My mom always placed high importance on family dinner nights, and she’d somehow manage to make a big meal even on days we were super busy. (We were always super busy!)
My sister and I played on the school’s varsity tennis team, with long practices each day, and Friday nights were particularly animated: we’d board a bus in the afternoon, then play intense matches until well after dark. Intense might not be a strong enough word… we sometimes played against China’s future Olympic team!
Ever the supportive parent, my mom attended almost every match. Yet, when we’d finally drag our tired (and hungry) bodies off the courts, there it would magically sit, waiting for us:
A home-cooked meal.
Sloppy joes became one of our favorite Friday-night dinners, and one of our mom’s favorites as well, because she could make them in the morning in the crock pot. Her recipe is actually meatless (I’ve been a vegetarian since high school), but it calls for a few ingredients one can’t buy in the US. So last night I changed it up, and I incorporated lentils into my new creation.
Although I didn’t use a crock pot for this recipe, I imagine you could. The recipe comes together very quickly, and there’s even a microwave option!
Did you sit down to family meals when you were growing up?
Or do you try to have family meals with your own kids? My family tried to all eat together whenever we could. Sometimes after-school activities got in the way; and sometimes we were forced to eat in the car, en route to soccer practice or art class. But when we got the opportunity to sit down as a family, we took advantage.
I don’t remember ever eating dinner in front of the television, unless it was a special “movie night.”
Lentil Sloppy Joes
(Sloppy Loes)
- 2 15-oz cans lentils, drained and rinsed (about 3 cups cooked lentils)
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 1/4 tsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1-2 stevia packets, or 3-5 tsp sugar or sweetener of choice, or to taste
- 14 oz tomato sauce (I used no-salt-added)
- up to 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (or soy-free alternative)
- optional: 1/2 an onion (diced) and 2 tsp oil
Lentil sloppy joes: If making these on the stovetop: sauté the onion and garlic in the oil until onion is translucent. Add lentils and spices, stir, then add all other ingredients and cook uncovered (stirring occasionally) until thick like sloppy joe filling. If making this in the microwave: add all ingredients to a large microwave-safe dish (minus the onion and oil, which you won’t use with this method). Microwave until it boils, stir, then repeat the process until it is thick like sloppy joe filling. Makes about 5 cups.
View Sloppy Joes Nutrition Facts
Link Of The Day:
My family sat down for a meal almost every night when I was a kid. We even had courses! First, we had half a grapefruit, then a small salad, then something like pot roast (Ugh!) . I remember My sister and I couldn’t have dessert (which was usually a Twinkie!) unless we finished our salads. (And I hated salads back then!) Now my husband does the cooking about three nights a week! I make desserts from this blog, of course. We both work full-time and my kids have extracurricular activities but we try to sit down together a few nights a week. I read somewhere that families who have dinner together have kids who are less likely to get into trouble, etc. (So far so good!)
I can’t wait to try this sloppy Joe recipe!
This might sound like a stupid question, but when you say ‘tomato sauce’ do you mean like ketchup? Or tomato puree? Would tinned tomatoes work?
(I’ve never had sloppy joes, so I’m not certain what I’m aiming for here!)
Tomato sauce = tomato puree
I lurrrrrve lentil sloppy joes! Sometimes I just use it as a dip for pita chips. 🙂
I am definitely going to be making this sometime! Thank you so much for the post. I am a vegetarian (or at least do my very best) and this looks fantastic.
That is a great idea for lentils that I never would have thought about!
I LOVE sloppy Joes, so I am psyched to have a healthier version. Katie, what’s your favorite vehicle for transporting said yumminess from plate to mouth?
We ALWAYS had family dinner time: no TV, cloth napkins and everything. Even when my brothers and I came home from sporting events late, we always had home-cooked food. My mother decided that if she was going to spend time in the kitchen, she was going to have an amazing end product!
Spoon, I guess, if you’re not eating them as part of a sandwich.
And I love your idea below!
What is the bread you used in the main photo? It looks so much like an English muffin, which is a totally cool idea. (I was thinking ciabatta roll, since I’m not vegan, but I wondered what your thoughts were, since you’re a cooking goddess, in my opinion.)
Yes, English muffin 🙂
PS-you know what would be cool? For the new header on the site? If A-each picture was the anchor for the link for the recipe pictured, and B-if you could rotate the pictures every couple of days.
=]
I made this last night for dinner. A perfect solution to the “whats for dinner?” question that always seems to be looming overhead. My family is not vegetarian, I just like to go easy on the meat (especially red meat) but I actually included a little bit of hamburger in it too (for the carnivore husband). It turned great! I was also going to add some diced bell pepper but forgot until it was 90% done… Next time!
Thanks for another awesome post!
Mmmh, lentils! How comes I think of lentils and all pulses, actually, when Fall sets in? They’re such great comfort food.
My family tried to sit down to meals as often as possible though it wasn’t always easy due to my father’s job.
Made this tonight and it was great! I’ve never cooked lentils before so I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty this was 🙂 I ate it with homemade tortilla chips. I will definitely be making this again.