Back in the early 90s, when my family first adopted a vegan diet, we had to get creative when we wanted to re-make our old favorite non-vegan dishes. Back in the day, there was no such thing as Silk soy milk in every grocery store, no Daiya “cheese”, no Gardein, no Boca, etc. (At least, if these products existed, they weren’t marketed or distributed well, as we’d never heard of them.)
While I love and appreciate many of the commercialized vegan products available across the U.S. globe today, I wanted to take a moment to appreciate some naturally vegan ingredients that anyone can find in almost any grocery store, without having to visit special health food sections, or anything like that.
Meet my new favorite tex-mex sloppy joes. The stars of the show? Beans. Yep. Good ole’ black beans and kidney beans, seasoned to perfection with lemon, cilantro, cumin, onion, garlic, and cayenne. You’re going to love the chewiness of the beans, the crunch of the bell pepper and the fresh flavor of lemon and cilantro. Add some fresh greens like lettuce, cabbage, kale, or arugula, and you’ve got yourself a nutritious and protein-rich meal.
I hope each of you enjoy a restful weekend. (Guess what? Tomorrow’s Friday!!)
And today, I just have to share with you a little food for thought that I found fascinating. Did you know that God’s original plan for the human diet was plant-based? Check it out…
“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” Genesis 1:29 (King James Version)
Easy Vegan Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium red onion (finely chopped)
- 1 green bell pepper (finely chopped)
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1/2 cup black olives (very finely chopped)
- 15 ounces fire-roasted diced tomatoes (1 can, with juice)
- 15 ounces cooked black beans (1 can, drained)
- 15 ounces kidney beans (1 can, drained)
- 2.25 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1/2 cup cilantro (finely chopped)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
- 6 burger buns (vegan)
Instructions
- Heat up olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat for about 20 seconds.
- Add chopped onion, chopped green bell pepper, and minced garlic to your large saucepan, and sauté until onion is tender and becoming clear–about 5 minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients–finely chopped black olives, fire-roasted diced tomatoes, black beans, kidney beans, sugar, lemon juice, and seasonings.
- Allow mixture to simmer until most of the juices are cooked off. When the texture of your sloppy joes resembles that of a very thick chili, you know it’s done.
- Toast your vegan burger buns, if desired, and serve sloppy joes with your favorite greens.
http://www.veganiowan.com
http://lifeandkitchen.com
The thing that struck me the most about your post is that your family adopted a vegan lifestyle in the early 90s. I don’t think I even knew what vegan meant until several years ago! And I love it when recipes get away from tofu, Daiya, etc. Those things are all wonderful and serve a purpose when you need to replicate something animal-based, but I feel like nutritionally, you aren’t always doing yourself a favor when you load up on processed faux meat and cheese. Plus, when I venture to smaller towns to visit family, I’d never dream of finding them on the grocery shelves. Thank you for sharing this!
Thanks, Kelly! A vegan diet made me pretty much a weirdo, back in the day. I’m so happy that so many others have found the wonderful gifts of health, compassion, and deliciousness that comes from following a vegan diet. :)
I love this recipe! I can’t wait to make it this weekend. I’ve had sloppy joes made with lentils, but this looks like such a good alternative. I’m glad I found your site!
Thanks Lindsay! P.S. I like your name. Lol. I need to try lentil sloppy joes. That sounds amazing.
These look so tasty! Never seen anything like. I’ve been a vegan for 21 years :) so glad I found your site from pinterest.
http://thefamilyvegan.com
http://Thefamilyvegan.com
I just wanted to say thanks for this recipe. My household is somewhat new to the vegetarian/vegan lifestyle, we’re just about a year in and while I LOVE to cook I constantly seem to hit roadblocks when I’m looking for new recipes to try, add to the fact we now live in a small town that doesn’t even have a proper grocery store – it makes things complicated. I don’t like using “fake” anything, if it can’t be made with a vegetable i’ll likely skip over it. I looked at at least 5 sloppy joe recipes today before I found yours and they all had some form of TVP. Needless to say i’ll be making yours this week, thanks again!
http://www.houseofbakes.com
This sounds very good. I’m from the south too and can’t imagine how difficult it must be to be vegan. :) My family tries to eat a lot more meatless meals than we ever have so I’m always looking for options like this to try out. Looks great. Going on my “to make” list.