Sweet Lentil stew

This recipe is from Saving Dinner.  It originally called for 1 jar of spaghetti sauce.  Since it was made in a slow cooker, and so is my spaghetti sauce (which tastes better than any store bought sauce) I decided to just make my own which really changed up the recipe a lot.  It was the tastiest lentil dish I have ever made- usually I'm not a huge fan of lentils, but this was just spaghetti with lentils rather than meat and potatoes rather than noodles - more or less.  I also threw in some carrot because some pasta sauces have carrot.  Here is what I did.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups dried lentils, washed
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1 small red bell pepper, diced
• 2 medium potatoes, diced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 carrots peeled and chopped
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 28 oz can crushed tomato
• 1 6 oz can Italian style tomato paste
• 1/2 Tablespoon each of oregano, Thyme, and Italian seasoning
• 1/2 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 cups water

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker.  Cover and cook 8-10 hours on low or 4-5 on high.
Remove bay leaves before serving.