Meatless Meals - Sloppy Joes!

My husband is a real "meat and potatoes" man, who would eat red meat every day if I didn't cook. When I remind him that he needs to switch to chicken, pork or fish a bit more often, he doesn't believe me! It doesn't matter that I have the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association or American Heart Association on my side - he eats like he was still a teenager and those days have lonnnnng passed!

THAT is why we have a meatless meal once a week and I get a bit sneaky with things like smuggling ground golden flax or wheat germ into his favorite dishes. White foods are the evil culprit of a bad diet, things like: white potatoes, white rice, white sugar, white flour and white bread. This is a simple gem of wisdom that I picked up when sitting in on my Mom's Diabetic nutrition classes.

This Sloppy Joe recipe comes from a friend who made it for one of our weekend scrapbooking crops. I was intrigued to try it and was pleasantly surprised! It was VERY savory and based on lentils.

Lentils just rock! They help to lower cholesterol. The fiber in lentils helps to keep your blood sugar from rising too fast after a meal. Among other nutrients, 1 cup of lentils provides you with 30% of your daily requirement of protein. And they're high in iron (foliate).

I did tweak her recipe a bit. Removing some and pureeing them, then adding them back to the batch, helps hold it together better and stick to the bun better. It is also harder for my dear husband to realize that there is absolutely no meat in it!

This is SUPER easy - just toss into a crock pot and let rip over night, remove some to blend and add back. Freeze half the batch right away so you don't end up wasting any...it makes a very generous batch! This is what it looks like going into the pot:


Ingredients
1 c. dried, red lentils (rinsed) (or mix 50/50 with organic green ones)
2 c. boiling water
1 1/2 c. celery, finely chopped
1 1/2 c. carrots, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
3/4 c. ketchup
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. cider vinegar

Directions
In your crock pot put all items and mix well. Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours, or high for 4-6 hours...if you do it overnight, you wake up to a fantastic smell! When lentils are tender to the taste, remove half of the mix and blend to a mild paste then add it back to the pot. Serve on halved whole wheat buns and enjoy!