Veggie sloppy Joes are like childhood on a plate. Growing up in the ’70s, you just couldn’t escape this meaty dish. Since it’s such a comfort food, Ceri and I decided to go retro and bring back the sloppy. We’ve updated it, of course, for a more health-conscious family, substituting all that ground beef with a flavor-rich black bean sauce. This recipe was excerpted from the great new cookbook entitled How to Feed a Family: The Sweet Potatoes Chronicles Cookbook, by Ceri Marsh and Laura Keogh. As two urban, working moms, Ceri and Laura learned quickly how challenging healthy meal-times can be. So they joined forces to create the Sweet Potato Chronicles a website written for, and by, non-judgmental moms, packed full of nutritious recipes for families.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes
Makes: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 5 cup (125 ml) diced carrots
- 1 cup (250 ml) trimmed and diced mushrooms
- 4 tsp (1 ml) ground cumin
- 4 tsp (1 ml) paprika
- 3 cups (750 ml) canned black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup (250 ml) prepared tomato sauce
- 2 Tbsp (30 ml) red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp (5 ml) Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp (5 ml) maple syrup
- Salt and pepper
- 6 whole wheat hamburger buns
- 5 cup (125 ml) shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and carrots and sauté until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Now add the mushrooms, cumin and paprika. Stir everything together and allow the mushrooms to soften, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the beans, tomato sauce, vinegar, mustard and syrup, and allow to simmer and thicken for about 15 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper if you like.
- Toast the hamburger buns (to make those Joes a bit less sloppy). Spoon a generous amount of the bean mixture onto the bottom half of each bun and sprinkle with a good pinch of shredded cheese. Put that hamburger lid on top and serve.
