Slow cooker trick

The giveaway winner is at the end so you can skip ahead to that part if you want.  Otherwise read on for a random little flavorful-meal-in-a-jiffy-short-cut.

I made this slow cooker dish a few weeks ago and I wasn’t going to post about it because it’s not really a recipe, but I figured maybe others would like to know how much of a time saver a slow cooker can be.  Combined with the seasoning trick up my sleeve – well, you may never spend over 5 minutes in the kitchen again.

This took me 3 minutes to “make”.  Not joking.  I was getting ready to go on a run and figured I should think about making Kyle dinner before I headed out in case he got hungry while I was getting my exercise on.  No, my runs aren’t that long, but I already knew what I was having for dinner [leftovers] and knew I should get his food in the works too.  So I grabbed some things from the pantry and chucked ‘em in the pot (all while wearing untied sneakers and a sports bra!).  Impressed?

Here’s what I came up with (I’m estimating measurements because I definitely didn’t get cups or spoons out).

• 1/4 cup uncooked barley
• 1/4 cup dried TVP
• 1/2 cup dried lentils
• 2 cup veg broth
• 1 packet Savory Herb mix <— that’s the trick*

*I never buy the boxes of flavored grains but a while ago I received a shipment of Lundberg Farms’ seasoned brown rice couscous.  I’ve been using just the couscous and setting aside the seasoning packets, so I figured it was the perfect thing to add to the slow cooker to give the grains and beans some flavoring.  Best part of all was I didn’t even have to taste test to know the herbs would be balanced and yummy.  I poured in the packet and set it all to high heat for 2 hours.

Now how simple is that!?!

After my run, I showered, went to Whole Foods, put our groceries away, unloaded the dishwasher, and then threw 1/2 cup of peas into the slow cooker so there was something non-brown in the dish.

15 minutes later Kyle was digging into this.  The smell was outstanding (he had two huge servings).

Winner!

In case you were wondering, I’ve been trying to make Kyle some meals with extra protein now that he’s veg.  TVP is rough on my stomach, so I’m using up the last of my pantry stash in his food.  It’s a pretty simple way to bulk up the protein in a soup/stew/sauce.

And now for the randomly generated Svelte protein drink giveaway winner…

#74 jen wrote “this would be awesome in a bowl of oats or cereal… especially the spiced chai!”

Congrats Jen!  Send me your mailing address so I can get your delicious shakes on their way.

I have ANOTHER giveaway coming tomorrow so stay tuned 🙂