I know, here I go with the lentils again! They’re just so good, and good for you. Here’s a great sloppy joe recipe using lentils instead of meat.

2 tsp oil
1 red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 c. lentils (I used red lentils)
2 c. water
1 bay leaf
6 oz. can tomato paste
8 oz. can tomato sauce
2 1/2 T. chili powder
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 T. prepared mustard(can use yellow or spicy brown)
1/4 tsp. apple cider vinegar
In a large pot heat oil, onion, garlic, carrots, and peppers until soft. Add lentils, water and bay leaf. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 20 minutes until lentils are cooked and water absorbed. Remove bay leaf. Add remaining ingredients and heat through. Serve on whole wheat rolls.

I really enjoyed the taste of this sloppy joe sauce.  If you don’t like lentils, you could easily use ground beef and I’m sure it would be delicious too. Unfortunately my kids didn’t share my enthusiasm for this meal. Cole seems to have a strange aversion to Sloppy Joes of any variety because they’re too messy. I thought Cole would like these ones a little more than regular sloppy joes because they held together a bit better with the lentils, but they still didn’t appeal to him. Bennett doesn’t have a problem with getting messy (if only!), but I think he wasn’t feeling well this particular day. Tony was at work, so I was the only one who ate these. I froze the leftovers and plan to try again later.
I know though that other kids will eat these, because this recipe was posted on my favourite mommy message-board by a mom who had this to say about them: “I made this at work this week and I was shocked at how delicious it was! I actually mixed the lentil joe mixture with a typical ground beef mixture but if I made it at home I wouldn’t bother with the beef. The preschool kids loved eating it just on top of a bun instead of sandwhich style, and the toddlers prefered to ‘dip’ their buns into the lentil mixture. Either way, they gobbled it up!”

-Recipe from Weddingbells Forum

Update April 21/11: I’ve adapted the recipe slightly from its original form after making this a few times now, and updated the photo as well. It’s great on its own as a lentil stew, or serve it over rice. It’s very versatile!