Meatless Sloppy Joe Recipe

The other day we had a surprise 40th birthday party for a cute friend of ours.  I think I heard someone say that 40 is the new 20 {~ yeah, I'm going to go with that!  We're not getting old yet!}

Knowing that there were going to be at least three vegetarians at the party I volunteered to make a vegetarian version of the Sloppy Joes we were having on the menu.  It's a really tasty version of the old classic.  In fact, I am quite honored to say that her cute 11-year old begged me to give his mom the recipe!  And he isn't even one of the vegetarians!  Major accomplishment!  Which means it must be really tasty and you should totally make it yourself!  :D

Meatless Sloppy Joe

1 package firm tofu, pressed
1 large onion, chopped
1 large red or green pepper, chopped
2 tbsp nutritional yeast, optional {you can get it at health food stores though}
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 cups ketchup {get the kind without corn syrup}
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 can red beans, rinsed and drained

Press the tofu for a few hours in the refrigerator to squeeze out the liquid by either using a tofu press, or by placing it in a shallow dish with a plate on top that is weighted with heavy books.  Drain the liquid and crumble the tofu into a non stick frying pan.  Add the onion, pepper and nutritional yeast and saute until onion and peppers are softened.  Add the rest of the ingredients and heat through.  Serve on buns.

Pressing the liquid out of tofu changes the texture of the tofu.  It makes tofu a very convincing scrambled egg or ground beef type substitute. Of the two pressing methods, using a tofu press will save space in your refrigerator.  I only wish I had two for when I want to make extra large batches of food {like large amounts when company comes etc}.

Enjoy!