Loaded Sloppy Joes (an evolution in veggies) – gluten free

Loaded Sloppy Joes (an evolution in veggies) – gluten free

I have never been a huge fan of sloppy joes.  I would make them occasionally, but if I had ground beef to use, it would rarely be my first choice.  Now we make what we call “loaded sloppy joes”  all the time. It started with me having some celery that need used up, so I diced a bunch and tossed it in, and the next time I added zuchinni, until slowly, our sloppy joes became about 3/4 veggies to a 1/4 meat.  I am always looking for shortcuts, for one pot meals, and this is a simple way to get a lot of vegetables in the main course.

Last summer when farmers markets/and our garden produce was ample, I made sloppy joe veggie packets and froze them.  So literally, I could just grab the vegetables out of the freezer, sautee, brown the meat and make a quick sauce….super simple dinner.  Even though our garden isn’t producing yet, we were craving this simple meal this week and our EarthFare just had grass-fed beef on sale, so I had some on hand.  The vegetable options are endless, but we typically use: onions, carrots, zuchinni, bell peppers, and celery.

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You can also serve the finished dish in a variety of ways.  Sometimes, I use gluten free bread, sometimes lettuce wraps, and other times, I serve it over rice.  Use your imagination, there are a lot of ways to serve this quick, veggie loaded dish!  I also use plain tomato sauce as my base, because I don’t like it super sweet, you can always substitute ketchup, but take that into account when you are adding your maple syrup in.

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Loaded Sloppy Joes (an evolution in veggies) - gluten free
Author: 
Recipe type: Main Dish
 
Ingredients
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 2 cups chopped celery
  • 2 cups chopped carrots
  • 2-3 medium zucchini, diced
  • 2 bell peppers, diced (we like red and yellow)
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
  • 1-2 Tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 - 2 lbs of ground beef (you can also use ground chicken, turkey or pork
  • 1 - can of plain organic tomato sauce (15 oz)
  • 2-3 Tablespoons of dijon mustard
  • 2-3 Tablespoons of maple syrup (add more if want a sweeter dish)
  • salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Dice all your vegetables into small chunks (if kids are picky, dicing smaller helps hide them in the sauce)
  2. Sautee your vegetable combo, garlic and olive oil in a large skillet, until vegetables soften
  3. Add in ground beef and brown
  4. When beef is browened, drain off any extra grease
  5. Add in tomato sauce, maple syrup and mustard (adjust maple syrup for desired sweetness)
  6. Salt & pepper to taste
  7. Serve over lettuce wraps, toasted bread or rice.

 

Pecan Oat Stawberry Rhubarb Crisp (Gluten Free)

Pecan Oat Stawberry Rhubarb Crisp (Gluten Free)

I am one of those people who loves spring.  I barely survive winters in Indiana and can not wait for green grass, blossoms on trees and signs of life spouting out of the ground.  Along with spring and early summer comes an over abundance of two of my favorite foods – strawberries and rhubarb.

We grow strawberries along the side of our house (below are some pictures from last years harvest).  They are obviously not ready yet for this year, but there has been a lot of really tasty strawberries on sale recently at our local Earth Fare. So I picked up some fresh strawberries and rhubarb to satisfy my early spring cravings.

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If you have read previous posts on my blog, you know I create a lot of crisps, because they are so easy to make and you don’t have to be exact. Typically in gluten free baking, being exact really matters and honestly, I don’t really like to measure things.  This recipe is a simple combination of pecan pieces, gluten free rolled oats, tapioca starch and coconut oil.  Many celiacs can not tolerate oats, but I can in small amounts as long as they are not cross-contaminated. I use Bob Red Mills certified gluten free oats in my baking. This recipe is also pretty tart as I like to highlight the rhubarb and keep my sugar content lower.

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Pecan Oat Stawberry Rhubarb Crisp (Gluten Free)
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 8-10 cups of strawberries (cut is halves)
  • 4 cups of chopped rhubarb
  • ⅛ - ¼ cup evaporated cane sugar (depending on desired sweetness)
  • 1¼ cups gluten free rolled oats (I grind to coarse in my Vita Mix)
  • 1 cup chopped pecan pieces (finely chopped)
  • ½ cup tapioca starch
  • ½ cup coconut sugar
  • ½ cup melted coconut oil or butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
  1. later chopped strawberries and rhubarb in a 13 x 9 pan
  2. sprinkle with an ⅛ of cup of evaporated cane sugar
  3. in a different bowl, mix together coarsely ground rolled oats, pecans, tapioca, coconut sugar stir.
  4. slowly pour in coconut oil and vanilla and incorporate until topping starts to clump.
  5. sprinkle topping evenly across the strawberry rhubarb layer.
  6. bake for 10-15 minutes at 400 (watching to make sure it doesn't burn topping) and then reduce the heat to 300 and bake for about 45 minutes, until topping is lightly brown and strawberry rhubarb layer is bubbling.
  7. **you can increase sugar amounts if you do not like the tartness of rhubarb.
  8. **you can also add in additional add ins, like chia seeds, ground flax seed or even coconut. if you do you may need to increase the coconut oil slightly so everything is fully incorporated

two of the notes that I put in the recipe:

**you can increase sugar amounts if you do not like the tartness of rhubarb.
**you can also add in additional add ins, if you do you may need to increase the coconut oil slightly so everything is fully incorporated

I change up our crisp recipes all the time, sometimes I toss in some chai and flax seed, especially if I am going to give it to my kids as breakfast, (I want the higher fiber content) or add coconut, or almond flour etc.  You can be pretty flexible.

I can’t wait to see what this year’s garden harvest of strawberries brings!

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