♥crock-pot-lovin♥

As it is well documented in my blog – I am a new vegan and a lover of my crock-pot. If I can combine the two – I am a HAPPY HAPPY gal! And especially for lentils; (link takes you to a site for the amazing nutrional values of lentils) which I fell in love with at the Indian restaurant that Brian I had dinner at a few weeks back for our *anniversary*.
So imagine my glee when I found some vegetarian (okay they were technically from the *meatless* section) recipes via Fix-It and Forget-It magazine – The Quick & Easy Slow-Cooker Meals Edition. (pg. 73)
Now I did have to adjust a few things to make this recipe truly vegetarian but I will post the recipe as is with my noted changes. (There are other variations of this same recipe if you were to Google it of course.)

Lentil Tacos
Makes 6 servings
Ideal slow cooker: 4-quart
(I doubled this recipe)

¾ cup chopped onion
1/8 tsp garlic powder (I used fresh garlic – 4 cloves chopped)
1 tsp canola oil
8 ozs. Dried lentils, washed
1 Tbsp chilli powder
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 cups fat-free low-sodium chicken broth (I used vegetable stock of course)
1 cup salsa
12 taco shells
Toppings for tacos

1. Sprinkle onion with garlic powder and saute in oil in a skillet until tender. Add lentils and spices and stir 1 minutes.
2. Place lentil mixture and stock in slow cooker.
3. Cover and cook on low 3 hours for crunchy lentils or on low for 6 hours for soft lentils.
4. Add salsa.
5. Spoon aout ¼ cup mixture into each taco shell. Serve with desired toppings.

Now – I did not serve this dish in tacos. I served it over some basmati rice (just like I had it at the restaurant) and while it wasn’t exactly the same as the dish I fell in love with – it was really flavorful, YUMMY, and super filling!
I did add a bit of water at the end – so I might up the stock a bit. And I felt it needed a wee bit of salt and we also added red crushed pepper fakes (about a tsp or so) to give it some ZING as we l♥ve ZING!

I will definitely make it again and it made a GINORMOUS ammount of food that I will be enjoying throughout the week for lunch! (YaY for not having to cook or worry about lunch for a week!)

Oh and for the record – the green stuff on the side is frozen chopped spinach, red onion, canned mushrooms, red crushed pepper flakes (told ya we like ZING) sauteed in some canola oil. A family side dish standby and sooooo YUMM-o!

Happy crock-pottin’!
♥cyn♥