Meatless Fridays

Here is another summertime favorite made meatless and pretty healthy for you! Kids will eat this up and never, ever miss the meat! Make a large batch of this and put half in the freezer for a quick meal for another night. This week's Meatless Friday meal is:

Sloppy Lentil Joes

3 cups water
1 cup lentils, rinsed
1 cup chopped onion
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chopped tomato
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1/2 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons molasses OR brown sugar
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Combine water and lentils in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, cook onions with the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until the onions have softened and turned translucent. Add tomatoes and garlic, and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, ketchup, mustard powder, chili powder, molasses and Worcestershire sauce; simmer 5 to 10 minutes until thickened.
Drain lentils and reserve cooking liquid. Stir lentils into sauce mixture, adding cooking liquid or water as needed to obtain the desired "sloppy joe" consistency. Serve on whole wheat buns.