Tuesday June 5th

I started off the day stealing this recipe

http://bicyclingvegan.blogspot.com/2012/06/tempeh-joes.html

Sloppy Joes, vegetarian style.

I followed her recipe fairly closely.  By the way, she is a Matador regular and someone I have been plastering with questions every time I see her.  She has been a vegan for years. Her blog is packed with hundreds of ideas and recipes.  I have read tons of her stuff, and snagged lots of ideas.  If your a veggie head, you should subscribe to her blog.

Anyhow, here is her recipe for Vegan Joes

1 block tempeh (use gluten-free tempeh for gluten-free joes)
Olive oil
At least 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 can diced tomato
1/2-1 can tomato paste
up to 1 c water
4 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder (or 1/4 c onion diced)
1 t salt
1 t chili powder
1 t cumin
Optional: pepper


The substitutes I used....
Fire roasted tomatoes instead of diced tomatoes
granulated garlic instead of powder (I think it has more pop)
8 oz (1 cup) of diced red onion instead of onion powder
cayenne pepper instead of chili powder (I also doubled it so I could get some heat)

Since I used fresh red onion instead of powder, I started by cooking that first.  The onion was slowly sauteed until it was a dark golden brown then I followed her directions.

I toasted my bun and added a sprinkle of extra sharp cheddar cheese.

This little guy was was the result.

My mom cranked out some great Sloppy Joes when I was growing up, but I will be honest, I have grown to hate the idea of a Sloppy Joes.  Maybe school lunches made me hate them or perhaps the years of horrible Manwich commercials have scarred me for life.  I just can't understand why images of kids with crap smeared all over their faces would be a good marketing campaign.  For some dumb reason, the idiots in the marketing department at Manwich think that makes people hungry for their red, sugar filled crap.

Seriously, the second ingredient is high fructose corn syrup, the forth ingredient is corn syrup and then a little later down the list... they even add sugar.  Their newest marketing campaign says its healthy because there is "a full serving of vegetables in every can."  I think that stupid little can of garbage represents all that is wrong with America. 

Putting all of my dislike for Manwich aside..... I enjoyed the Veggie Joes.  If I was going to do the recipe again, I would try to add a little more tempeh.  Probably two blocks instead of one.  However, when I look at her blog pictures it seems like her batch has a lot more tempeh than mine did.  I probably picked up a smaller "block" than she had.

There was nothing wrong with that lunch.  I would happily try it again.


See you next time, Cheers