SLOPPY JOES

yields 6 REASONABLE SANDWICHES

ingredients

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 0.5 yellow onion
• 1 red or green bell pepper
• 1 carrot
• 1 cup finely chopped button or cremini mushrooms
• 2 clove garlic
• 1 to 2 jalapeños, seeded and minced
• 2 tsp soy sauce or tamari
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 1 1/2 cup cooked kidney beans
• 1 1/2 cup cooked lentils (about ¾ cup dried)
• 1 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1 TBL apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
• 4 or 6 whole wheat hamburger buns, split and toasted

Instructions

0 chop onion, bell pepper, and carrot

1 In a large skillet or wok, warm the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and carrot and cook until they start to soften and the onion looks kinda translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms start to soften up too, about 2 minutes longer.

2 Add the garlic, jalapeños, soy sauce or tamari, smoked paprika, cumin, and mustard powder and sauté until the mushrooms have released some of their liquid and everything is smelling awesome, about 2 minutes.

3 Dump in the whole beans, lentils, tomato sauce, vinegar and bring that up to a simmer. Once everything is all warmed up, turn off the heat and taste that . Add more garlic, salt, spices—you know, flavor—if you think it needs a little extra something.

4 To serve, pile high on toasted burger buns with a side of celery seed slaw (from the BBQ Bean Sliders) or a Big-Ass Salad. End up with some leftovers? This also makes a thick but badass pasta sauce.

Modifications

You know what you can handle.

Not like the mustard condiment, it’s the kind you find on the spice aisle. No luck or don’t want to spend the cash? Sub in 1 tsp of prepared yellow mustard if you must.

Or one 15-ounce can of beans, all rinsed and .

No clue how to cook lentils? See Basic Pot of Beans.

One 15-ounce can of tomato sauce is cool here.

• recipe