Sloppy Sams

A fat-laden pile of slop on a soggy sugary bun? No, thank you. A flavor-rich, satisfying meal chock-full of nutrients and awesomeness? Yes, please!

 Last night for dinner we had lentil Sloppy Joe's (which are renamed Sloppy Sams on the allrecipes website...not sure why...maybe guys named Joe are big meat-eaters, and Sams tend to have a more veggie-minded palate?). On the side we had crispy, salty kale chips and red wine. Yum. The Sloppy Sams recipe I adapted from "Marian" on allrecipes.com.

Sloppy Sams
4 hearty servings

Ingredients:
 3 cups water
1 cup lentils
1 onion, diced
1 tsp. olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Bell pepper, diced (I used 1/2 an orange pepper and 1/2 a yellow pepper)
1 jalapeno, finely chopped (optional)
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 can tomato paste
2 Tbsp. ketchup
1 tsp. mustard powder
1 Tbsp. chili powder
2 Tbsp. molasses
Dash of soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
4 buns (I used whole-wheat sandwich slims to cut down the carb-load and it was delish!)

Directions:

1. Combine water and lentils in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a big pot and cook the onion over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, bell pepper, jalapeno, and diced tomatoes, and cook for about 5 more minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, ketchup, mustard powder, chili powder, molasses, and soy sauce and simmer for 5-10 more minutes until it's thickened and smells amazing.
3. Stir the lentils into the sauce mixture (you can drain them if there's a lot of cooking water left, but mine didn't need it) and let it cook for a minute or two to combine all the flavors. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over buns.

Kale Chips

Ingredients:
Kale
Olive oil spray
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
2. Cut the kale leaves from the tough stems and chop them into smallish pieces, maybe a couple of inches long. You can use the curly kale or the flat kind.
3. Put the kale pieces into a big bowl and spray them with a bit of olive oil spray. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper and toss.
4. Arrange the kale pieces on a baking tray in a single layer (you might need two baking trays if you have a lot) and bake for about 30-33 minutes.
5. You can eat these right out of the oven or later on. They are salty, crunchy, and delicious!