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Photo of Italian lentil and sausage slow cooker stew by WW

Italian lentil and sausage slow cooker stew

8
4
4
SmartPoints® value per serving
Total Time
7 hr 25 min
Prep
20 min
Cook
7 hr 5 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy
The slow cooker work its magic on this soup, which takes just 20 minutes to pull together. We tame broccoli rabe's sophisticated, slightly bitter flavor with a long cooking time. For an even milder flavor, substitute regular broccoli for half the broccoli rabe and consider using a mild Italian sausage instead of a spicy one. For the lentils, they don’t require soaking like dried beans do, but you do need a good rinse. And you should pick through them to remove any shriveled lentils, debris, or rocks. As for which lentils to choose, green or brown lentils hold their shape well when cooked. Red, orange, or yellow lentils are tasty but they do tend to get mushy when cooked, which works well in sauces, soups, and stews.

Ingredients

Olive oil

2 tsp

Garlic clove(s)

1 medium clove(s), minced

Uncooked onion(s)

1 small, chopped

Dried shiitake mushroom(s)

1 cup(s), caps, sliced

Dry lentils

1 cup(s), washed and picked over

Bay leaf

2 leaf/leaves

Cooked spinach (salted)

3 cup(s), coarsely chopped

Cooked chicken sausage(s)

12 oz, spicy, sliced into 1/2 inch-thick pieces

Fat free chicken broth

3 cup(s)

Table salt

½ tsp

Black pepper

¼ tsp

Instructions

  1. Heat oil in medium skillet. Add garlic, onion and mushrooms; sauté until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Place vegetables in 3- to 4-quart slow cooker; add lentils, bay leaves, broccoli rabe, sausage, broth, salt and pepper in order listed.
  2. Cover slow cooker and cook on low setting for 7 hours; remove bay leaves and stir well before serving. Yields about 1 3/4 cups per serving (including some cooking liquid).