Sausage and Lentil Soup

Today I came up with a new recipe. I needed something to cook in the crockpot because Craigan and I were going hunting and I wanted supper to be ready when we got home to avoid the usual take out meal that is our go to when I have not planned anything and we get home late. I have been trying to be diligent in planning meals so that we aren't tempted to fall back on the take out meal. I'm not one to be able to do any long term meal planning but I have found this week that if I take a few minutes in the morning to plan the days meals it makes a huge difference. I am in the process of becoming more organized in all aspects of my life and planning meals has been the easiest to accomplish. Once I realized that just by deciding what I will fix that morning I have been able to save money and time. So that lead me to a new recipe today. Like I said, I was looking for a crockpot meal and last week I had planned a "rough" weekly menu which included using ground sausage to make a stew or soup. I wasn't really sure what it would be but I had an idea. That is usually how I cook. I have an idea of what I want and then make it up as I go. Most of the time I do not use a recipe with exact measurements (unless I am baking, which is not a norm for me) so the following recipe contains estimates. I am typing it out to give me a guide the next time I fix it, but feel free to give it a try if you want.

One pound of ground sausage ( I used deer sausage because that is what I had, I think it would work with any kind of ground meat, but would probably need a little more spices if using plain ground meat.)
Diced tomatoes (I used some I had put up in the freezer from our garden. I would guess it would equal to about 2 cans of diced tomatoes.)
Dried Lentils (I used probably about 1 to 1 1/2 cups)
Beef Broth (3-4 cups depending on how "soupy" you want it. I used beef bullion granules with water.)
One chopped onion
1/2 - 1 cup chopped bell pepper
3-4 cloves of garlic
Spices (I have no clue how much of each but I will estimate)
salt and pepper to taste
chilli powder 1/2 teaspoon (I probably could have added more because it wasn't spicy, but I wasn't sure how spicy the sausage was so I was hesitant to add too much.)
ginger 1/4 teaspoon
dried thyme 1/4 teaspoon
paprika 1/4 teaspoon

I cooked the sausage about half way, then added all ingredients into the crockpot and it cooked on low about 5-6 hours.

It was a hit with my family. I fed my family of five and my in-laws and there was none left. The only one who didn't like it was my son Cayden but he has not discovered the joys of trying new things. I'm not sure if he actually tried it or not. Hopefully this phaze will end soon.