Lentil Snobby Joe's

simple and delicious

Everything you love about sloppy Joe's, lotsa tomato, subtle spice, a dash of tang and a hint of sweet,  minus the hamburg. This vegetarian classic replaces the meat with fast cooking lentils making it great for busy weeknight dinners plus it makes a ton so you can have it for lunch the next day. I've made this dish a lot and it always comes out great and all the omnis I have made it for think its delicious as well. Traditionally served on burger buns it can also be served chili style with some shredded cheese and a big hunk of corn bread, like pictured above.

Lentil Snobby Joe's

adapted from theppk.com

Ingredients

1C dry lentils

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 jalepano or 1/2tsp  red pepper flakes

1 12oz can tomato sauce

2T tomato paste

2T chili powder

1-2T paprika

1T cumin

1T yellow mustard

2T maple syrup

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Cook lentils until they are soft but not mushy.

2. In a BIG skillet or pot, cook the onion, peppers, and garlic until soft.

3. Add the cooked and drained lentils to the veggies.

4. Add the seasonings and stir well. Then add the tomato sauce, paste, mustard and syrup.

5. Simmer on low for at least 10 minutes.

Apple Walnut Lentil Loaf

I was really surprised how good this dinner was. I wasn't sure how it was gonna turn out because I had never made a lentil loaf before and thought it was going to taste bland and not hold its shape well. but to my delight it came out way better than I thought, it held its shape when sliced and served and tasted delicious, my meat eating boyfriend said it tasted like Thanksgiving stuffing. This sweet yet savory loaf features plump raisons, crunchy walnuts and a granny smith apple for a unique twist on the traditional meat loaf.
This recipe comes together really easily especially if you already have cooked lentils on hand otherwise the lentils will take an extra 30ish minutes to cook.

Apple Walnut Lentil Loaf

Ingredients

For the Loaf
1C cooked lentils
1 onion chopped
3-4 colves of garlic, chopped
1 carrot, grated
1 celery, chopped
1 apple, grated
1/4C of raisins
1/4-1/2C walnuts, chopped
1-2t thyme
1/2t cinnamon
salt and pepper
1 egg
1/2C uncooked oatmeal, processed into oat flour
2 slices wheat bread, lightly toasted and processed into crumbs

For the Glaze
1.5T ketchup
1T maple syrup
1/2 of the grated apple

Directions
1. Heat some oil in a skillet over medium high heat and cook the onion and garlic until soft. Add the carrot, celery, 1/2 of the apple, raisons, walnuts and salt and pepper and cook about 5 more minutes then remove from heat.
2. Process about 3/4 of the lentils in the food processor and then combine everything in a bowl and mix together with your hands.
3. Put into a prepared loaf pan and spread the glaze over the top. Cook at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

For the glaze just mix everything together in a small bowl and spread it on top before cooking