I’ve been lurking around your blog for a few years. Thank you for all the wonderful encouragement! I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but it sounds great! I did want to let you know that I bought a slow-cooker last year after my old one finally broke, but not before doing a LOT of research online. What I found out could solve some reviewer’s problems with cooking time not being long enough/ soupy texture. Around 1998, the slow cooker industry began making all new crock-pots heat to a much higher temperature than the older models, due to some kind of legislation, and in order to prevent food-borne illnesses. In my old cooker (made before 1998), I cooked everything for around 12 hours, and all came out perfectly tender and yummy! I got a new slow cooker, and it definitely will burn things in 5-6 hours! So I started looking on Craigslist and garage sales for an old one. Actually, my friend finally found one for free and passed it on to me. So for meats, I use the old one, and for the new hotter version, I cook my beans (which don’t tend to burn, and I don’t leave them in there overnight).

Pretty soon I’m going to see if my husband can make me a homemade contraption called a Crock-O-Stat, found here: http://www.delcollo.us/icp/crockostat.html so I can dial down the electricity on my hot Crock Pot. I hope this helps some readers! They just don’t make the slow cookers the way they used to. Thanks again for your blog- I enjoy it soooo much!

Thanks, Lindsay!

I soaked my lentils for about 24 hours, drained them, and then followed your recipe, except I forgot to add the 1/2 cup ketchup. I used apple cider vinegar and just under 2 cups (about 15 oz) of Muir Glen pasta sauce. In the crockpot, it looked *really* liquidy and I was a bit nervous that the lentils would not be able to soak it up since they were already “full size,” having soaked for so long. But I cooked on low overnight (about 10pm-7:30am) and they didn’t burn at all (this is good to know for working cooks too, like me). At that point I switched to high for an hour and then stirred in the tomato paste. As it cooled in the fridge, it thickened somewhat, but was not as thick as your’s in the photo. I served on brown rice tortillas with fontina and sharp cheddar cheeses that I put in the George Foreman to melt the cheese like a panini. My husband and I thank you so much for another fabulous gluten-free meal!

I also find that I can pull the same trick with smoothies (introduce them sweet enough for the kids to like them and them gradually reduce the sweetener). I’ve even been able to slip some spinach into blueberry smoothies as well as kombucha.

With pancakes and muffins I try to make extra to have on hand through out the week.

If the crock pot doesn’t work well for you try cooking doubled volumes of a favorite recipe and freezing the second half for next week.

For brown bag lunches, I still use plastic bags (I know, I know). As you said, children are unreliable at bringing back the containers.