From my kitchen: Slow Cooker Ham and Lentil Stew

I think that stew gets a pretty bad rap most of the time. 

Stew is like the homely girl standing in the corner at the school dance wearing five different shades of brown.  She looks boring and most people just gloss right over her and never give her a second thought.  Why pay attention to something that appears to be so blah and uninteresting?

Well, I will tell why.  Because once you get to know her, you learn that she is interesting and full of warmth and flavor.  In fact, she is so awesome that you can't believe that you have not been friends this whole time... And yes, I am still talking about the stew.

Stew is the underdog of the culinary world.  It sure isn't the prettiest dish with its various shades of brown.  But once you eat great stew, you are constantly rooting for it and singing its praises from the rooftops.  Let's scream it all together now... Stew is robust and melt in your mouth delicious!!!

For those of you who have had great stew, you know what I am talking about.  For those of you who have not, I am about to rock your world!

Slow Cooker Ham and Lentil Stew

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion 

2 carrots

1- 2 parsnips

 4 cloves garlic   

3-4 cups water
1 package of dried lentils
  4 cups diced ham (diced)
1 ham bone (this is the best secret ingredient!)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

1 bunch greens (this could be spinach, kale, chard, whatever you have on hand)

Directions:

To start out, pull out your trusty slow cooker.

Drizzle your olive oil over the bottom of the slow cooker pot.  Then, roughly chop your onion, garlic, carrots, and parsnips.  Throw those into the pot.

 Rinse and drain your lentils, removing any rocks or weird looking lentils.  Add your lentils to the pot. 

Add the ham and the ham bone to the pot as well.  NOTE: If you do not have a ham bone, use chicken or beef broth instead of water.  The ham bone provides a LOT of flavor and you will need to make up for it.

Pour your 3-4 cups of water to the pot.  If you want it more like stew, use less water. If you like to have it more soup like, use more water.  Sometimes, I replace a cup or two of water with dark beer.  But I live wild that way!  No matter what though, you want to make sure that you have enough liquid to fully cover the lentils.  But it is okay if the ham bone sticks out a bit.

Cover the slow cooker pot with a lid and set it to cook at least 4 hours.  But if you can try to set it up to cook for as long as you can.  I usually let mine cook in  the slow cooker for about 6 hours.  FYI... your house is going to smell so good.

When those 4-6 hours are up, take your washed greens, tear them up a bit and throw them into the pot.  When you mix it all together, the heat of the stew will automatically wilt the greens and give such a great pop of color amongst all the brown.

Then just serve it up in a bowl with a slice of crusty bread and a glass of red wine and enjoy.  It is velvety and rich. And it seems like something that should be really bad for you, but it isn't.  It is full of fiber and it is relatively low fat.

FYI... This stew freezes really well.  I usually package the leftovers into individual servings so that they are really easy to just pull out of the freezer, pop them into the microwave and eat within a matter of minutes.  So much better than those freezer meals you find at the store.