Vegetarian Pinto Bean Sloppy Joes

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 medium carrots, sliced
• 1 large white onion, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 cup dry pinto beans, soaked (see Tip)
• 1 large red bell pepper, diced
• 1 8-ounce can no-salt-added tomato sauce
• ½ cup water
• 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce or tamari
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 cups very thinly sliced green cabbage
• 1 medium zucchini, chopped
• 1 cup corn, fresh or frozen (thawed)
• 3 tablespoons honey mustard
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 10 whole-wheat hamburger buns

Instructions

• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add carrots and onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to brown, about 8 minutes. Stir in garlic and chili powder; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Remove from heat; stir in vinegar and scrape up any browned bits.
• Coat a 6-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Drain and rinse the soaked beans; transfer to the slow cooker. Stir in bell pepper, tomato sauce, water, soy sauce (or tamari) and tomato paste to combine. Spread the carrot-onion mixture over the bean mixture, but don't stir the two together. (The layer on top helps keep the beans submerged during cooking so they don't dry out.) Cover and cook on High for 5 hours or Low for 9 hours.
• Stir in cabbage, zucchini, corn, honey mustard, brown sugar and salt; cook on High for 30 minutes.
• Serve the mixture on buns.