Anyways, on to the amazing recipe we had for supper tonight. I have been trying to figure out how to include more beans/legumes in my diet. I usually have chronic low milk supply when my kids are nursing so I'm starting early trying to find some good recipes. My friend in Ontario, you know who you are supermom! gave me a few suggestions - refried beans in the slow cooker (which I tried and loved, I'll post about that later) and this recipe for a vegan alternative to Sloppy Joes. I tweaked the recipe slightly by adding some homemade BBQ sauce, recipe to follow, I also used 3 Tbsp of chili powder and a yellow pepper instead of green because thats what I had on hand. I served them on homemade no-knead hamburger buns. Wow, was I ever impressed!! Even the hubby enjoyed them, which says a lot because first off there was no meat and secondly it was made out of lentils, which is not high on his preference list. I will definitely add this recipe to my collection for future meatless Thursdays, or whatever day of the week I feel like making them! Below is a copy of the BBQ sauce we had made earlier in the week, as well as the hamburger bun recipe.
BBQ Sauce:
1 Cup Ketchup
1/2 Cup white Vinegar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Dry Mustard
garlic powder to taste
Worcestershire Sauce to taste
A few shakes of Liquid Smoke
Combine all ingredients.
Hamburger Bun Dough:
6 1/2 Cups flour
2 Tbsp INSTANT Yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp Salt
1 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 Cup Milk
1 1/2 Cup hot water
Measure out flour into large red tupperware bowl (my all-time favorite bowl for mixing bread doughs! - I like the old red colour the best but tupperware didn't agree with me). Add yeast and salt to flour. In a separate bowl combine sugar, milk and hot water. Pour into flour mixture. Stir mixture together until the dough forms a lumpy, sticky mass. Cover and let rise for 2 hours, or however long you have. Use right away or refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Forming the Buns:
Flour your hands generously, because the dough will be sticky. Cut/rip/pull off chunks of dough in the size of your preferred bun. The size all depends on the purpose of the bun I suppose. Form the lump into any bun shape you want, try not to play with it too much or it will turn out on the chewy side. Place buns on a prepared baking sheet, I use bacon grease that I have stored in my fridge in a wonderful mason jar.. but you can use parchment paper etc. Cover with tea towels and let rest for around 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 400F. Bake for around 15-17 minutes.
The yield for this dough recipe varies based on how big you want your buns...haha...that statement made me laugh...Tonight for instance I only made 6 buns for supper, but I have at least 1/2 to 3/4 of the dough left in the fridge. The recipe came from a great book that I rely on frequently for my no knead dough recipes. You can find it here. Or you can borrow it from my kitchen, with the knowledge that if you lose it you will replace it because I LOVE this book!
Let me know what you think of the recipe if you try it, and hey do you have any tried and true bean/legume recipes you would recommend to a nursing mom?
yours in the kitchen,
Alicia
ps. I just wanted to add that I didn't add the full recipe of BBQ sauce to the Snobby Joes, maybe 1/2 cup or so.
