Guest Post: Royal’s Crockpot Mondays – Carrots 'N' Cake

Friday, November 14, 2008 at 10:51 AM

Guest Post: Royal’s Crockpot Mondays

On Mondays in my house, it is a bitter sweet day. Bitter because well it’s freakin Monday, which means it’s the beginning of the work week, and let’s face it, Mondays are always so hectic! The sweet part about Mondays in our household is what we like to call Crockpot Mondays! Hoooraaay for Crockpot Mondays! No two Mondays are ever the same! With my crockpot, the possibilities are endless, and I would be lying if I said there has been a bad crockpot Monday yet! How can you possibly go wrong, you set it and forget it! Okay, that was sorta lame, almost scary infomercial lame.

For preparation to the gloriousness, I start by deciding what I want to make in the crockpot. With me there are no limits! Once I have decided what I delectable goodness my crockpot is going to cook for me (I make my decision based on what sounds good, what I would like to try, experimentation and so forth, I go to the store pick up my ingredients. Sunday night I prep the crockpot by putting in most (if not all) of the ingredients in the pot, which is then placed in the fridge. Come Monday morning, the only thing left to do is plug that mother in! No matter the kind of day you are having, once you enter our garage and smell the aroma that is coming from the inside, from the sweet, sweet crockpot… all of your stresses have gone away because you know, you are only moments away from enjoying a savory concoction that has cooked for us all day long! We rush in to the kitchen with our spoons and bowls at hand, fill up our dish and at the table we sit….just marveling at the goodness that is inside of the bowl! Never has there been a meal that we did not love! And what’s more? Clean up is minimal! Who wants to deal with pots and pans, and clean up after a stressful day at work? Not I!

I opened a can of Progresso lentil soup and became inspired. “I bet I could totally cook up a mean pot of lentil soup in my crockpot! Eureka! Crockpot Monday is going to be lentil soup!” Never having made it before, I really didn’t know what to expect, nor did I have a clue as to what I should put in it. I googled a few recipes and from each one that I found I selected and compiled my own recipe!

Crockpot Royal Lentil Soup

1 lb bag of green lentils (rinsed and drained)
8 cups of low sodium chicken broth
3 real carrots (by real I mean real! No babies will suffice!) chopped in to coins
5 celery sticks diced
1 large onion
5 cloves of garlic chopped.
A whole bunch of fresh parsley (Couldn’t tell you the measurement. I love it, so I add as much as I want!)
A few pinches of dried oregano
Basil, again didn’t measure used as much as I wanted.
1 14 oz can of Italian stewed tomatoes with juices. (You can use diced, chopped, whatever your preference)
A dash of salt
Dash of fresh cracked pepper

• So I put all of the ingredients in the crock pot minus the lentils. Keep this refrigerated overnight. In the morning add the lentils.
• Cook on low in crockpot for 8 to 10 hours.
• Take 2 cups of the cooked soup and place in food processor for a few seconds until the soup is a mushy consistency.
• Put the mush into the crockpot with the rest of the soup, stir once or twice and you are ready to go! Add salt and pepper if you’d like!

This is absolutely to die for! I cannot tell you how amazing it turned out and the mere fact that I paid $2.11 for that can of Progresso makes me shutter! Once you have this, you will never ever ever eat the canned crap again!

Thanks Tina for allowing me to enlighten your readers with the glory that is Crockpot Monday! Stay tuned… you never know what next Monday may bring!!!

Posted by: Tina 13 comments

Posted in: Uncategorized, guest blogger