Lentil & Cauliflower Stew

Miss 17 and I watched a movie called Fork Over Knives. It's a movie about the benefits of eating a plant based diet and eliminating meat. It was very interesting and occasionally shocking. She has now decided she would like to become vegetarian. As she is still growing, her dad and I have agreed that we, as a family, will eat more vegetarian meals in support, but we won't eliminate meat totally. We will, however cut down our meat consumption. At present we eat meat 6 nights a week, so agree that we can cut down to two or three times a week.

Therefore Miss 17 went hunting for some more vegetarian dishes to try. And because I've recently bought a new slow cooker, I insisted that she find some slow cooker vego recipes too. This is the first one we came across.

Ingredients:

• 375 gram packet of dried green lentils, rinsed and drained
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 400g cauliflower, chopped into small florets
• 2 leeks, white and green parts, halved, washed carefully and chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon cayenne
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 8 cups low sodium vegetable stock
• 2 x 400g tins diced tomatoes with juice
• 2 cups chopped kale

Optional toppings:
Greek yoghurt, crumbled fetta, graten parmesan, low-fat sour cream.

Method:

1. Place all ingredients into the slow cooker, except the vegetable stock and tomatoes
2. In a large jug mix together the stock and tomatoes and pour gently into the slow cooker
3. Toss gently and cook on high for 4hrs or low for 8hrs
4. Serve topped with any of the optional toppings D-E-L-icious XD