chapter 7: slow cooker suppers.

For my birthday this year, my parents got me a kitchen item I was in desperate need of... a slow cooker!  I have an entire recipe of slow cooker suppers to make, so this was a must have:

The sweet part about this slow cooked is it's timer!  The one my parents have just has high and low, and you have to time yourself.  The slow cooker has a timer (goes in 30 minute increments), and when your dish is done it automatically switches to a warming mode for up to 14 hours (and then it shuts off).  This is great - I can turn it on to timer mode before I leave for the day, and not worry about overcooking my food.

So, of course I was anxious to make a dish in my new slow cooker!  For my first dish, I picked Lentil and Mixed-Vegetable Casserole.  This was my first time ever making lentils myself, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I can only think of a handful of times I've eaten them before - all at Indian restaurants.  I must admit - it wasn't the greatest. 

Maybe they needed more cook time, but I felt like the lentils were not as soft as I would have liked.  Overall, the dish also lacked flavor.  The mushroom soup flavor was maybe not strong enough.  I'm not giving up on lentils yet, but I definitely think this dish needs something to spice it up!  I have plenty of leftovers, so I will have to try a few things. 

One thing it definitely needs is more veggies!  There seemed to be very few compared to the plethora of lentils.  Betty Crocker's website suggests melting cheese over it... but I'm not sure that even sounds good.  I'll let you know what I try and how it turns out!

In other news, I went running after work today.  Unfortunately, I was experiencing quite a bit of pain in my feet.  Both Achilles' and the bottom of my left foot were really aching throughout.  After 20 minutes, I decided I should stop and stretch.  When I started running again, it only took about 2 minutes to see that the pain wasn't gone.  So, I decided to play it safe and walked home.  I'm glad I did, because my feet hurt the entire way... and my right foot actually went entirely numb.  Now that I'm home they still hurt, so it's time to bust out the ice packs.

While I ice, I'll be watching the SEASON FINALE OF THE BACHELORETTE.  Who will Ali choose?  I'm so excited to find out.  Stay tuned for a sweet recap post tomorrow... trashy tv tuesdays returns!