Sloppy Lentils

I can't believe it has taken me so long to post this fabulous recipe. Anyway, I loved loved loved this! Of course, I'm a huge fan of the good old sloppy joe. It's one of my favorite "easy" meals so it's no wonder that I loved this healthier version of Sloppy Joes.

Here we go!

First I combined the following ingredients in my crock pot.

2 cups water (the original recipe uses 3 cups, so notice the change for crock pot preparation!)
1 cup lentils, rinsed (red or brown lentils are preferred)
salt to taste (optional)
1 cup chopped onion
28 oz can diced tomatoes or tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 tablespoons rapadura, molasses, or honey
1 Tbsp white vinegar

(Please note that you need to read the labels on your ketchup. Most "regular" store brands will have HFCS in them. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid!)


Added the lentils!

I also made my own hamburger buns from scratch (the ones from the store - a regular store (not whole foods or trader joes) have nasty chemicals in them) from my mom's recipe. They were a little flat - so more like thin buns but I think I forgot the last rising time and I rolled them a little thin. They will be better next time.

Here is a picture of the buns!

The sloppy lentils in the crock pot.

The sloppy lentils (and peas) right before I gobbled them up.

My notes: At the end of the day (right before dinner), I checked the crock pot and noticed that it was still pretty sloppy. So I went ahead and cooked another 1/2 cup of lentils on the stove top (only takes about 30 minutes) and added it to the crock pot. I suppose you could fix this by adding even less water or tomato sauce initially (or adding more lentils when you first start). I need to tweak this a little to figure out the exact right ratio.

Sloppy Lentils Crock pot

2 cups water (the original recipe uses 3 cups, so notice the change for crock pot preparation!)

1 cup lentils, rinsed (red or brown lentils are preferred)

salt to taste (optional)

1 cup chopped onion

28 oz can diced tomatoes or tomato sauce

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup ketchup

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1 tablespoon chili powder

3 tablespoons rapadura, molasses, or honey

1 Tbsp white vinegar

salt and ground black pepper to taste

4 hamburger buns, split

cheddar cheese, grated (to top your lentils when serving)

Combine all your ingredients in the crock pot (besides the buns and cheese!). Turn on low and cook for approximately 5 hours, until lentils are tender and the mixture has thickened and absorbed most of the liquids. Serve on open faced hamburger buns and top with melted cheese, as desired.

My notes: Andrew ate his closed and we just used sliced cheese, not melted, on the sandwiches. Also, the recipe makes A LOT! Thankfully I loved this so much that I was happy to eat the leftovers for about 4 or 5 days after the initial dinner. Next time I might cut it in half and see what happens.

I hope you like this as much as I did. It is not gourmet but it makes me hungry just thinking about it.

If you're doing weight watchers, the sloppy lentils filling (minus the cheese and bun) is only 2.5 points. I originally calculated 3 points for the filling but there were more servings than my initial calculations told me, so I think the points were lower after all.

Let me know if you fix this and what you think!

Mmmmmm! So easy and so yummy!