THE APRON GAL

My favorite Sunday meals are in the crock pot. Here are a few reasons why:

1. I can throw all the ingredients in before church and come back to a finished (or almost finished meal).  Plus it makes my house smell yummy!

2. Even though the point of slow cookers is that you don't have to watch them, sometimes they still make me nervous. Plus, when I can be gone for up to 10 hours at work (and my husband too) even the crock pot turning to "warm" can ruin a 6 hour roast if I come home 3 hours after that. So I prefer to slow cook at night or on the weekends. Or the rare weekday that I know I am guaranteed home at a specific time I will do crock pot as well. Sundays allow me to check on the progress at 3 (ish) hours and stir, add more water or seasonings as necessary.

3. Since I usually am only cooking for 2 and most slow cooker recipes serve at least 6, it is the perfect way to start the week off: with leftovers for lunches. That means less thinking and less work for me each morning!

So if that hasn't convinced you that you need to slow cook on Sundays, I don't know what will!

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On to this specific slow cooker recipe. Let me tell you what I know about lentils....absolutely nothing. I think I saw them in the bulk food section one day and thought, "I could make those one day." Then I forgot about them until I was perusing crock pot recipes on Weight Watchers yesterday. This soup recipe intrigued me because it had very few ingredients and I happened to have all of them on Sunday night (miracle of miracles!).

This comes together quickly and is such a comforting fall recipe. It has just the slightest hint of smokiness and it is surprisingly rich and satisfying for not having a single fattening thing in it. You can, if you are prepared, add ham or bacon to the recipe but I didn't have any and surprisingly, neither my husband nor I missed it. I do think it would give it even more depth of flavor so if you have it, go ahead and use it!




Crock Pot Lentil Soup
recipe adapted from WeightWatchers.com

Serves 8, 1.5 cup servings, 5 points plus each

Ingredients

	2 medium carrots, peeled, cut into chunks    2 ribs celery,  cut into chunks    1 medium onion, chopped   2 cloves garlic, minced 2 cups dry green lentils 3 bay leaves 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar 1/2 teaspoon cumin  3/4 teaspoon table salt, or to taste    1/2 tsp black pepper, or to taste    8 cups canned chicken broth 4 oz uncooked Canadian-style bacon, diced (4 or 5 slices)   you could also substitute with regular bacon or ham chunks or omit meat altogether
	Directions
	Cut up vegetables into small chunks. Add all ingredients to crock pot and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Remove bay leaves and serve.
	Enjoy!