Hearty Lentil Stew

It's been getting quite cold here in San Diego so I wanted to make something filling, warm, and delicious. We went out to the Farmers' Market and snagged most of these vegetables there. My dad also sent me a crockpot after mentioning that I wanted one after making peanut ginger soup. Thanks, Dad! I knew I had to make something with lots of yummy veggies and let it slow cook while at work.

Ingredients:

6 c. water

3 vegetable bullion cubes

2 c. brown lentils

1/2 c. quinoa

1 medium zucchini, chopped

1 medium red potato, chopped

1 medium carrot, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

1/2 c. corn

1/2 c. peas

1/2 c. low sodium tomato sauce

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. cayenne

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp. curry

1 tsp. garlic powder

pinch of salt

pinch of black pepper

Handful of spinach, chopped

Handful of kale, chopped

Instructions:

- Throw all of your ingredients into your slow cooker, stir, and let cook for 10 hours! I made sure to stir every so often because of the bullion cubes.

- When it's done cooking, throw in your spinach and kale.

- Serve!
This is mighty good! The recipe makes it look like there are a lot of spices but I didn't add too much of each, making sure to let the taste of each vegetable stand out. I probably could've added more quinoa but that 1/2 c. was the rest of what I had. It was still really really good, though, and was nice to keep on hand for lunch or dinner during that week. Stews and soups are easy to make when you're in a time crunch -- just grab whatever vegetables, beans, etc. you have, throw them in a crockpot, come home from work and enjoy! I can't wait for this cold weather to let up so the farmers at the Farmers' Markets will actually show up and sell me some of their goodies!