I'm sorry for the confusion- Ruth is right, I am a vegetarian and I do use the link and balance system
As for the lentils- I buy all different colors and mix them in my bean jar. Brown (regular) lentils are very earthy (like dirt according to my youngest), red lentils are very mild, and French lentils are slightly sweet- so a good mix really tones down the earthy flavor . I scoop them, rinse them, and throw them in the pot- no presoaking is required like you would need for a larger legume.
The Morningstar 'steak strips' are veggie protein. You might want to use some sort of beef sliced very thin ( I don't know anything about meat- I'm sorry). My mom uses ground beef in hers - about 1 pound for a 5-6 quart crock pot. She browns it in bit of oil right in the crock pot and then throws the rest of the ingredients in.
Ruth- as for the potatoes - they really shoot my numbers up- but in this amount - you get about 3-5 slices in a cup (less than 1/2 ounce) and the beans are so full of fiber that I have never seen an effect. I have used a yam - and it is tasty, very tasty.
There are two type of potatoes- waxy, and starchy. Waxy types have a lower glycemic index than the starchy types. Fingerlings are the least starchy of all- I think if you have a favorite type and you googled - potato name, waxy, starchy- you'd be able to find out fast how starchy it is- again there is so little (8 oz for 20 cups) that I don't think there will be any effect on the BG.
My recipe is virtually fat-free so if you use meat, you'd have to adjust the protein and fat content a bit. If any one is interested, I'd be happy to post my recipe for 'beef"(veggie beef ), barley, veggie soup- let me know and I'll start a new topic with it on Monday.
It's also a crock pot soup- I couldn't cook without my crockpot and breadmaker -
sandy