I’ve been trying to get at least 3 servings of veg into my diet every day. It’s harder than it sounds. Maybe it’s not, but it is for me. That means I have to have 1 serving for lunch, 1 serving for snack, and 1 serving for dinner. Snack is easy: carrots and hummus. Lunch is always leftovers from the previous night’s dinner, so… I mostly just have to make sure I eat some veg in my dinners. I made lettuce wraps early on this week. I was doing quite well with those.
Then I saw this come up on my google reader. For starters, I don’t make anything fancy. I take fancy and make it casual. It’s what I do. I’m good at it. So “Fancy Sloppy Joes” isn’t really my style. But do you know what is? Sneaking veg into sloppy joes. So I ran by the grocery store on my way home from work, all prepared to pick up some carrots and zucchini to put inside of them.
These are a bit on the spicy side of things, but feel free to modify them to your taste. I wouldn’t at all frown on you if you wanted to use a spice pack, either. I was going to, but the only brand I could find put all kinds of gluten into it. Dumb.
I ate it on two slices of Rudi’s multigrain, and while the flavor was great, the texture wasn’t quite right. The bread fell apart in my hands so I went at it with a fork. Manageable, though not ideal.
Sneaky, Sloppy Joes:
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 zucchini, shredded
- 2 carrots, shredded
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1 small can tomato paste
- 1 c. water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- dash red pepper flakes
- salt to taste (I probably used a couple teaspoons)
Cook the ground beef and onions over medium high heat. Drain off any excess grease. Mix in veg, water, tomato paste, and the remaining ingredients. Cook until veg is soft and cooked through and excess liquid has thickened.
