Vegan Sloppy Joes

We've returned from an amazing road trip (I'll post later) and I'm back to cooking.  I absolutely love traveling, especially with my hubby.  We visited some interesting places, ate some awesome food, and saw one of my good friends along the way.  One thing I love about traveling though is that it makes you really appreciate the comforts of home so much more.  I love eating out, but after a week away I was anxious to get back to cooking some vegan goodies.

I may have overdone it this week.  I made some vegan skewers and also sushi for the first time ever.  I see a lot of meals on sticks for my family in the future.  I love experimenting, but sometimes you need to keep it fairly simple especially on busy week nights.

I've been craving lentils (I know, that sounds weird) but really they are delicious!  They're good for you too!  We've been trying to minimize our processed food intake.  As much as we love Gardein their products are highly process and should be considered a special treat.  I've been trying to incorporate more tofu, tempeh, beans, and lentils into our meals.  Here's one way I incorporated lentils…

Ingredients

• one package of Trader Joe's precooked lentils
• one 15 oz. can of tomato sauce (I used Trader Joe's organic tomato sauce)
• 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
• 1/2 green pepper chopped
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• salt and pepper to taste 
• your choice of bread (I bought a baguette at TJ's and sliced it)

I love how this child and husband approved meal came out.  It was a hardy dish loaded with healthy ingredients.  It was super simple to make as well.  I cooked the sloppy joes in a cast iron skillet, but you could use any pan.  First I sautéed the garlic and onion with a minimal amount of vegan butter then added the peppers.  Once this was fragrant I added the precooked lentils, can of tomato sauce and BBQ sauce to the pan.  I stirred and let this simmer until the lentils were heated.  I piled the lentils on some bread with lettuce, vegan mayo, and some avocado I had on hand.  Boom.

I couldn't make this meal too simple, so I decide to throw some homemade back onion rings into the mix.  This meal was a hit.  The lentil sloppy joes also can make a great topping on a salad as well.  I know I've been snacking on them all weekend.  Whole food goodness (with onion rings).