Thank you Kristen!

I’ve sometimes looked at Melanie’s various recipes & balked at the addition of sugar. I usually taste it before the sugar and decide. But pretty much every time I go for it with the sugar as she suggests, and it’s like night & day when you follow as written! It makes certain things sooo much tastier! Even when ingredients seem strange, she really knows what she’s doing, I recommend trusting her!! 💛

You could omit it and just add a little water to make up for the loss in liquid if necessary. Some sweetness in tomato and chili recipes really helps bring out the flavours which is why it's there but it will still be good without!

I couldn't go back to a slow cooker after using my Instant Pot! Ha ha. It's so convenient. I have not tried this recipe in my Instant Pot though. My worry would be, that it needs to remain pretty thick so you can use it as a taco filling without it running out all over the place, and if you don't add enough liquid to the IP you end up getting the burn message and it doesn't cook properly. You could make it with more liquid and use it for another purpose instead of tacos though. It would be nice served over rice or quinoa, or in a burrito bowl kind of meal. I think you would need to use at least 2 cups of water, maybe 3? It's so hard to say without trying it. For the time, I have an Instant Pot Dal recipe using red lentils and that takes 8 minutes. I think as these are green lentils and they take a bit more cooking, maybe 15 minutes high pressure with a natural pressure release?
Let me know how it goes if you try it. I'd be interested to know!

Thank you so much. I'm thrilled you enjoyed them so much, and what a lovely friend you have! A keeper for sure. Thanks for subscribing to my newsletter. Just so you know, things are pretty quiet on my website and the newsletter right now because I am in the midst of writing my first cookbook. I hand in the manuscript at the end of September and then normal service will be resumed here. I just thought I should mention it in case you think my newsletters aren't getting to you!

The lentils will be ok for 4 - 5 days in the fridge. They freeze well too. The slaw is probably only good for 2-3 days max though but it's really quick and easy to make so you could probably get away with making a little bit of it up fresh when you need it. You could chop the cabbage ready and keep it in a container in the fridge to speed thing up. Hope that helps!