Slow cooked lentil stew with ham

This year we joined a meat CSA (locally raised meat) and occasionally find ourselves with cuts of meat we're not quite sure how to cook. (Each month we get 10 lbs. of different cuts of pork, beef, lamb and chicken.) This past month, we received a very thick ham steak with big wads of fat at the edges, which didn't quite excite me. I'm not a huge ham fan and didn't like the idea of grilling it and eating it hot off the press. Instead, we cut it up leaving the fat intact and threw it into our slow cooker with a bunch of vegetables and lentils. The result was a delicious lentil ham stew -- perfect for a cool fall evening or for a work lunch. It reminded me of the lentil soup Mom used to make us.

Here's what I threw into our 5 qt. slow cooker for 10 hours:

1 thick ham steak cut up (Bacon is also a good substitute.)
3-4 red potatoes
2 medium onions
3 stalks of celery
1 green pepper
2 cups of rinsed green lentils
6 cups of water
4 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper to taste
thyme

Put everything together in the SC and cook for 10 hours on low.

The slow cooker is my new favorite kitchen appliance. It's a great way for a busy family to make a healthy, delicious dinner during the week.