In the base of the slowcooker add water, stock and disolved vegetable boullion cube (use 4 ½ cups of liquid in total), diced onion, garlic, lentils and dried Italian seasonings. Set slow-cooker to high heat. Plan for a total cooking time of 3-4 hours.
After 2 hours check to see if lentils are tender, if mostly tender add tomaote sauce and diced tomatoes. Cook for another hour or so until piping hot. At this point, you can set this to keep warm until about 30 minutes before serving.
30 minutes before serving, return heat to high. Add no-boil noodles and cook until tender, 10-15 minutes. Then add spinach and fresh basil. Cook until just wilted. Serve
Notes
Nutritional information excludes vegan ricotta, see separate post for nutritional info.When you throw everything into the slow cooker to start the soup, toss your cashews into warm water to start them soaking for the vegan ricotta. Its quick to make, just the cashews need some soaking time.If vegan ricotta is not your thing you can use dairy-based ricotta and stir in a couple of tablespoons of pesto.I used no-boil noodles for this recipe.