Very vaguely, I remember my mom making us Sloppy Joes when we were younger with ground turkey, and not being a huge fan. Not even sure if she made them, like I said, vague memory! I do confess though, that vague memory has been standing in the way of fulfilling Scott’s request for Sloppy Joes, over the past few years. With one slow-cooker recipe under my belt, I decided to use it again and make a lentil version of the Sloppy Joes Scott’s been requesting – it turned out pretty good! I accidentally cooked it on high for 8 hours, instead of low, so it came out a bit mushy, but still delicious. This recipe is also admittedly easier to prepare than the Black Bean & Mushroom Chili. With this recipe, everything gets thrown right into the slow cooker, rather than cook part of the ingredients ahead of time. I think I’m starting to see the appeal of the slow-cooker. P.S. If you try this out, let me know how you like it.
Some notes
- I used 1.5 cups green lentils and 1/2 cup de puy lentils (because we didn’t have enough green lentils). I actually like the texture this creates, since the de puy hold their shape better (i.e. get less mushy) than the others. I’d definitely use the same ratio again.
- I used an orange pepper, since I’m allergic to the green.
- Instead of cane sugar, I used raw sugar already on hand. Would also do this again. Since raw sugar can be a replacement for brown sugar, I am pretty sure this is what sweetened up the mixture nicely.
- We used OneBun instead of a traditional hamburger bun.
- We got about 12 servings, although recipes says the yield is 8-10 servings.