I keep telling my pals I’d be a vegetarian if I wasn’t married to a steak and potatoes kind of dude.
Thankfully, that steak and potatoes kind of dude is willing to try anything once and anything that I put in front of him. So I was pretty excited to try the Tempeh Sloppy Joe’s I saw over on Caitlin’s blog. Except the first time I wanted to cook them, I couldn’t find tempeh (or you know, I just didn’t know what it looks like or where to find it. I think they were out of it that weekend…) But then, last weekend I randomly stumbled upon it in my local Stop & Shop…and I thought I’d have to trek over to Whole Foods. Stop & Shop for the WIN!
Vegetarian Sloppy Joes {via Healthy Tipping Point}
Ingredients (for 2 burgers):
- 1/2 cup organic ketchup
- 1/4 cup organic yellow mustard
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- Sprinkle of cinnamon, chili powder, and pepper
- 2/3 packet of organic tempeh, chopped and crumbled
- Spinach for garnish
- Bun of English Muffins
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Combine first 6 ingredients in a small pot on the stovetop.
- Turn on low and heat for five minutes, until it starts to bubble. Stir thoroughly!
- Add in crumbled tempeh and stir.
- Pour into oven-safe casserole dish and place in oven.
- Cook at 350 for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Spoon onto bun and top with spinach
I didn’t realize we were out of honey until it was too late (I could have sworn we had some) so I added a little bit of molasses which seemed to work out well. I kind of winged the ingredients (doubled mostly) because I wanted to have some extras and/or have seconds because I’m a pig.
BUT! The awesome part about this meal (it’s kind of like, three or four days late. I think I made it Thursday night and have just been too lazy to update my pictures) was the side dish.
Sweet Potato Fries {via Country Living}
Ingredients
- 1/2 t ground cumin
- 1/2 t salt
- 1/4t ground red pepper
- 1 T vegetable oil
- 2 large (about 1 1/2 pounds) sweet potatoes
Directions
- Prepare the sweet potatoes: In a small bowl, combine cumin, salt, and pepper. Set aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Peel potatoes, cut each in half lengthwise, and cut each half into 6 wedges. In a large bowl, combine the cut potatoes, oil, and spice mixture. Toss until potatoes are evenly coated.
- Bake the fries: On a baking sheet, arrange potatoes in a single layer and place on the middle shelf of the oven. Bake until edges are crisp and potatoes are cooked through — about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.
{Yum.}
The night before, I had gone over to a gal pal’s apartment late night after my staff meeting at work and she cooked an amazing meal of steak, grilled veggies and sweet potato fries so I was kind of craving them. Except I had two sweet potatoes on the counter and decided to make them myself.
Weekend was good – I’ll update more later with a race recap of the Dash & Splash 10k which I ran with a nasty case of the hangover nauseousness (that’s a whole SEPARATE story). Considering my last 10k didn’t freakin’ record my time (The 2009 Capitol Hill 10k – my D-Tag didn’t work but apparently that was common as a lot of the reviews on active.com complained about that but it sucks because I don’t have a record of my time for that). This was, regrettably, the ONLY working out I did this past week. Granted it was like 100 gazillion degrees and I HATE when Hubs has the car because it means I can’t get my sorry butt to yoga classes.
All in all though, back to the meal, it was INCREDIBLY easy to make, the cook time was relatively fast, though it would have been easier if you know, I had dualing ovens. Even a gas stove would be nice. I miss my gas stove from DC.
