Prepare Today Homemade- Sweet Lentil Stew
Don't let the title mislead you because the sweet refers to the sweet potato in this yummy stew. I have been going through my crock pot recipes to find some dinners to make in my Saratoga Jacks thermal cooker and this one sounded perfect! This is a healthy stew and perfect for a cold winter day.
The ingredients are simple and most are shelf stable. I could have used freeze dried sweet potatoes and dehydrated potatoes but I wanted fresh for today. If you had your potatoes in cold storage this would work perfect for you.
To use a thermal cooker, like the Saratoga Jacks or a wonder oven, you will need to boil your food for several minutes before placing the pots in the cooker. Notice I have water boiling in the smaller insert pan. This is to fill all the negative air space in the cooker. You don't want a thermal cooker with a lot of air space because this will cool the food down too quickly, and it needs to be kept in a safe temperature zone. My stew didn't fill the larger pot so I used boiling water to fill in the space.
The pans have both come to a boil and now they are sitting on top of each other and ready to be "cooked" in the Saratoga Jacks thermal cooker.
Dinner will be hot and ready when we get back from gymnastics tonight. I love the feeling of having dinner ready and I didn't have to prepare it during the crazy after school hours. I am making some french bread to make it a meal.
Sweet Lentil Stew
1 3/4 C dried Lentils washed
1 lg sweet potato peeled and chopped to 1" cubes
1 lg potato peeled and chopped into 1" cubes
1 jar spaghetti sauce (I used Hunts canned sauce)
1 medium onion chopped
2 garlic cloves
3 C water
1 T olive oil
This recipe is originally made for a crock pot. If you want to slow cook it just add all the ingredients except the olive oil into your crock pot and cook on low 8-10 hours. Stir in the olive oil just before serving.
To make in a thermal cooker or wonder box: Add all ingredients to a large pot. Bring to a rapid, rolling boil with the lid on, for 4 minutes. If your stew doesn't fill the pot all the way, heat the smaller insert with boiling water and add both pots to the thermal cooker. If using a Wonder Box cover your pot and secure in cooker. In the Saratoga Jacks cooker layer both pots with lid on and close the cooker. Let stew "cook" for 5-8 hours. Stir in the olive oil just before serving.
Serve with rolls and a salad.
Yum! This looks so good. Do you use a special kind of lentil, or just the typical brown lentils you can find in any grocery store? And how sweet is "sweet?"
ReplyDeleteIt was really yummy!! I just used the brown lentils and it isn't sweet at all. I could taste the tomato sauce more than anything. If you like sweet potatoes then you'll really like this.
ReplyDelete