Meat Free Monday: Slow Cooker Snobby Joe

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dinner, lentil, meat free, recipes, slow cooker, snobby joe, vegan, vegetarian

A few years ago, I discovered a love for lentils. I discovered my lentil love when I attempted a lentil sloppy joe recipe. Aside from not having any meat in it, it really tasted like those delicious and oh so messy joes from the middle school cafeteria. Only these were lean and healthy (but just as, if not more, messy).

I’ve made this recipe before but to save time, I decided to use the slow cooker. It worked out really well!

Ingredients (serves 6-8 ppl)

1 cup of dry lentils (+ 4 cups of water to boil)

1 bell pepper, diced

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup tomato sauce

1/4 cup of tomato paste

1 tsp mustard

3 tablespoons of maple syrup

3 tablespoons of chili powder

1 tsp salt

Optional: kaiser rolls

1. Prepare all the ingredients the night before and set in the fridge. In the morning, set the slow cooker on low and allow to cook for 8-10 hrs or 5 hrs on high. (the night before trick is helpful as the soaking of the lentils allows them to be tender and fully cooked at the end of the 10 hrs)

When ready to serve, lightly toast a kaiser roll and place a cup of snobby joe mix onto roll.

I served with oven fries.

These were great. They were quite messy as one would imagine. They were also really flavorful. I might have been a tad sneaky by not telling BR these were meatless. But he loves lentils and loved this dish. The lentils are very filling so a little bit goes a long way. I ate the leftovers chili style with bread for dipping and sopping.

This freezes well too!

Slow Cooker: Lentil and Sausage stew

Tags

dinner, lentil, sausage, stew

I am zapped.

With this heat and humidity in NYC, I am definitely losing my cool. During the weekends, I find solace in the local pool. But during the week, I foolishly keep busy and neglect a very important element: H2O. Its important to remember that when the temperatures soar, you should up your water intake.

Simple tips that have been around since forever and I still go on about my days neglecting to increase my water intake.

cue dehydration. The thing that totally ruined me was when I had the opportunity to hydrate, I chose an ice cold beer. I was sunburned. Already at the peak of needing replenishment and then I done did it. a freaking beer. I can’t recap the entire experience without cold sweats but imagine being the most thirsty you have ever been, drinking an ice cold water and minutes later involuntarily purging the thing you wanted so badly to make you feel better.

Two days later and I am getting my coconut water, gatorade and water fill and vow never to let that happen again. No matter how much I have going on, I will stop to hydrate! I have also slept quite a bit and no matter how much I sleep, I still feel like I could sleep for days.

I decided to rely on an oldie but goodie with a few tweaks for dinner since I was too out of it to look at the old recipe.

Sausage and Lentil Stew adapted from A Year of Slow Cooking (Makes 4-6 servings)

Ingredients

1 lb of spicy turkey sausage (casings removed)

1 cup of dry green lentils

1 can of diced tomatoes

3 cups of chicken broth

1/8th tsp garlic powder

1/8th tsp onion powder

1 bay leaf

salt to taste

5 oz fresh spinach (saved for the last 30 minutes of cooking)

 

directions:

Over a medium flame, cook the sausage thoroughly making sure to break it apart as you go. When it is fully cooked, transfer the crumbles to the slow cooker.

Add the rest of the ingredients for the exception of the spinach.

Cook on low for 8 hrs or on high for 4 hours. With 30 minutes remaining, crank the slow cooker on high and add the spinach.

I served mine with coconut rice but this stew is great on its own. I shared this with my new neighbor (my mom) and she thickened hers with tomato paste and poured it over pasta.

Its versatile and its nearly effortless. Perfect for when you recover from a bout of dehydration.