Veggie Sloppy Joes

We had some extra buns in the freezer from burgers a few weeks ago that needed to be eaten.  Hence, sloppy joes.  Not the most exciting meal, but these are a little different than your everyday joe, so I'll post it anyways.  Plus, if you start readers with low expectations, they get excited when you pull out something really great a few posts later . . . right?


1 lb can tomatoes
2-3 carrots
2-3 celery sticks
1/2 lb ground meat (I used ground turkey because it's what I had on hand)
1 onion
mushrooms
14 oz can beans (I used kidney, but I've used red before)
Buns
Cooking staples


Place tomatoes, carrots (grated), and celery (roughly chopped) in a blender.  Blend.

Brown meat with onion (minced) and 2 cloves garlic (minced) in a large skillet.  Cook and drain (if needed).  Add mushrooms (chopped real small) and some salt and pepper.  Cook mushrooms for a few minutes.


Pour tomato mixture into skillet.  Add 2 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp oregano, a little red pepper, and a spoonful of sugar.  Simmer for 10 min or so.  Drain and rinse beans.  The beans I used this time were huge so I quickly mushed them all with a fork (not a thorough job at all).  This serves 2 purposes:  1)  My husband doesn't really likes beans.  Mashing them hides the taste and texture of the beans (once added to the tomatoes) but you still get the protein (since there's barely any meat in this), and 2) Mashing beans helps thicken the tomatoes, which were pretty runny until I added the beans.  When I made this with small red beans I only mashed half of the can and left the other half whole to be chunky like the meat.  That worked, too.  Heat through.  Simmer without a lid until it reaches your desired consistency.  Enjoy!


When Anna made this, I think she said she toasted the buns with some red onion slices and cheddar cheese, or something.  I didn't want cheese, didn't have red onion, and didn't feel like toasting the buns (call me lazy).  Also, when Anna did this, she used one of those cans of sloppy joe base that you can open and just add meat.  So she added the veggies to the can of sloppy joe base instead of the tomatoes and left out the spices.


Note:  If veggie sloppy joes creeps you out, you wont really taste the celery, carrots, mushrooms, or beans, I promise.  But since there isn't much meat in this, they help to thicken everything so that it's still sloppy joe consistency.


Recipe idea by Mark Bittman in the May 2010 Cooking Light Magazine, with several changes by Anna and myself.  Thanks Anna for trying this first!