Lentil and Ham Soup

I have been neglecting my slow cooker for a while as I explored other recipes. So I thought that this recipe might be a good way to get back to my slow cooker cooking again since I have a few bags of lentils sitting around in my pantry. I bought these lentils for the baby, but I think the experiments didn't go well, so I ended up with a bag each of yellow, red and green lentils. =(

I have been searching around for recipes on lentils and polenta (not to cook them together!), and found this soup recipe on Allrecipe.com. The long hours of cooking (11 hours!) was torturous. Why? The cooking aroma of the soup permeated every corner of my house and making us hungry in our sleep (cos we started the cooker going at night). The cooked lentils gave the soup a creamy texture. Though I think it would be good enough as a standalone, Hubby felt that we needed to buff it up with carbo and hence the pasta. All said, this is a hearty and wonderful soup which I think is definitely a keeper!

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Lentil and Ham Soup
(adapted from Allrecipe.com)
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1 cup dried red lentil
1 med carrot, diced
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
170 gm shoulder ham, diced
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp black pepper
1.2 litres water
1 Knorr chicken stock cube
1 (8oz) can tomato sauce

1. Wash the lentils until the water runs clear. Scrape into slow cooker.
2. Combine the remaining ingredients in the slow cooker. Stir to combine.
3. Cook on LOW for 11 hours.
4. Discard bay leaf and serve with corn bread if desired.