Bone Broth Marathon: Lentil Sloppy Joes
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Our Bone Broth Marathon will continue through Valentine’s Day. Look for the posts every Wednesday.
This is one of the many variations of sloppy joes that has appeared in the Menu Mailer since it began in 2007. The sloppy joe recipes always get great reviews and moms love it because it’s a food their kids recognize as ‘normal.’ It’s often classified as junk food, too, so that’s an added bonus to have a nutritious meal that makes you happy but your kids consider a treat.
We cook down the stock to concentrate it, so the sloppy joes still come out loaded with stock but aren’t wet and messy. Cooking down stock is always a good strategy to get nutrition into your kids without having soup to the point that they complain and refuse to eat it. I use this method to get stock into almost every meal that I serve.
Red lentils don’t work in this recipe because they dissolve when you cook them. For this recipe to hold together, you need the lentils to come out whole.
I like using molasses in tomato-based sauces. It has more trace minerals than rapadura, and the kids don’t notice.
If you like recipes like this, consider subscribing to the Menu Mailer. There are many recipes like this in the Mailer. Traditional Foods doesn’t have to be expensive or forbiddingly foreign. You can have nourishing, creative, filling and kid-pleasing meals without resorting to French cooking or having your family hate everything you fix.
From the Menu Mailer
Hands-on: 20 minutes
Hands-off: 20 minutes
1 cup lentils- any color except red
2 cups warm water
2 Tbs vinegar
3-4 or more cups of beef or chicken stock (or 2 cups if you wish to skip this step)
2 Tbs coconut oil, butter, ghee, red palm oil or other fat
1 onion, diced
1 rib celery, diced
1-2 carrots, grated
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1 Tbs rice or white vinegar
1 Tbs molasses
2 Tbs prepared mustard
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp each garlic powder and pepper
¼ tsp chili powder
Dash oregano
5 drops Concentrace, optional
Ketchup, optional
In a bowl, combine the lentils, warm water and vinegar. Cover and allow to soak for 8-10 hours. Drain and rinse thoroughly.
Place the stock in a saucepan or stockpot and cook over medium heat until reduced to two cups. Whisk in the lentils, bring back to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Cook until the lentils are tender, about 25-40 minutes, until tender. Cooking time will depend on your type of lentil and how tender you like them. Drain if needed.
Meanwhile, in a skillet heat the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and carrot and sauté for 5-8 minutes or until tender (if you are adding ground meat to this recipe, add it here and cook until no longer pink). Stir in the remaining ingredients and add the lentils once they are done. Simmer until the desired consistency is reached, or add ketchup if a saucier texture is desired.
View all of the posts in the Winter Real Food Challenge: Bone Broth Marathon series:
- Bone Broth Marathon and Giveaway
- Where Do I Get the Bones?
- Flavor the Broth for Free
- Large and In Charge (roaster as a giant crock-pot)
- Chicken and Rice
- Concentrace Trace Minerals in Your Stock
- What About The Fat?
- Make Stock Convenient To Use
- Leek and Sweet Potato Soup
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KerryAnn Foster runs Cooking Traditional Foods, the longest running Traditional Foods Menu Mailer on the internet. KerryAnn has ten years of traditional foods experience and is a former Weston A. Price Foundation chapter leader. Read about KerryAnn’s journey to health through multiple miscarriages, celiac disease, food allergies and intolerances, obesity, adrenal fatigue and heavy metals.
Founded in 2005, CTF helps you feed your family nourishing foods they will love. With two choices of Menu Mailers, multiple eBooks, Print Books and a Gluten and Dairy-Free Traditional Foods eCourse, KerryAnn makes traditional foods easy, accessible, affordable and family friendly for everyone.
KerryAnn founded Nourished Living Network, a network for traditional food and natural living bloggers, in 2011. NLN provides support, publicity and networking opportunities for bloggers all across the traditional foods spectrum. Our Recipe Gallery features recipes from the twenty-four member blogs and growing.
I’ve never thought to reduce stock down before. What a great idea!
I’ve started cooking my rice in chicken stock to get extra flavour and nutrition into our dinners. It comes out wonderfully.
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