I’ve been craving a hearty and chunky vegetable stew for a couple of weeks now. Something ‘Autumnal’.
I don’t know about you, but Autumn is my favourite season. Yes, there are some downsides, such as:
- Being cold.
- Having increased heating bills.
- Not being able to dry our washing outdoors as fast as usual.
Yet, we can enjoy:
- Getting wrapped up and going to feed the squirrels in leave-strewn parks.
- Snuggling up under a blanket with a hot mug of tea and a good book or film.
- Filling up on yummy, stodgy, home-cooked food.
* Image courtesy of Dreamstime.com
Feeling grotty today and not wanting some rather sad looking vegetables to go to waste, I pulled out the slow cooker. So much easier than regular cooking and I knew that if I began to feel more ill (I did), at least I’d made dinner!
Here’s the Recipe:
- 2 red onions (finely chopped)
- 2 leeks (finely chopped)
- 4 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
- 4 small carrots (cut into large chunks)
- 4 small sweet potatoes (cut into large chunks)
- 4 small Maris Piper potatoes (cut into large chunks)
- 150g dry red lentils
- 2 litres of hot vegetable stock (made with 3 veg stock cubes and a teaspoon of vegetable bouillon – because I ran out stock cubes).
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon of dried parsley
- Gravy granules to thicken, at the end of the cooking session.
(Or instead, you could omit the gravy granules and mix some cornflour with water and add).
Method:
- Peel and chop up the veg.
- Make up the stock with boiling water.
- Put all the ingredients into the slow cooker.
- Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 5-6 hours.
- Thicken if desired.
- Add dumplings if desired.
- Enjoy!
This made enough for me to put a few container fulls into the freezer, for nights when neither Mr.B nor I want to cook.
I had this for dinner this evening and it was scrummy!
It’s a cheap, healthy meal and won’t bust the budget. It’s also suitable for vegetarians and vegans (even the dumplings were vegan-friendly!). Many supermarket stocks and gravy granules are also gluten-free. By using them, this stew can also be enjoyed by people with with gluten intolerance.
Let me know if you try this recipe. Though not exactly the same, I based the recipe on one from my Sarah Flowers slow cooker recipe book, which you can find here.
Do you have any good vegetable stew or soup recipes that you’d recommend? Please share, so that we can all enjoy!
For more soup recipes, check out my Frugal and Healthy Spicy Lentil Soup,my Vegan Friendly Frugal Tomato Soup and my Carrot, Orange, Coriander, and Ginger Soup.
Bunchy The Budgeteer 