Vegan Bean Stew (low sodium)

Hey, ducks,
 
So here is the recipe I made for drop-off the other day. I figured I’d share it, as it’s a slow-cooker recipe and more than a couple of you might find it handy.
 
 
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Vegan Bean Stew
 
Combine the following in a slow-cooker and cook on “low” for about 20 hours (topping up with extra water as needed):
 
1 tin romano beans – drained and very well rinsed
1 tin mixed beans (unmarinated) – drained and very well rinsed
 
5 dried tomatoes, cut into slivers or diced
+
1/4 C mild tomato peach salsa[1]
 
1/4 C celeriac, peeled and diced
1 large-ish sweet potato, peeled and diced
1/2 C barley (pearl or pot is fine)
6 cubes[2] of frozen ruby chard
1 half-cup jar of apple-cranberry chutney[3]
3 cloves garlic (or to taste), roughly chopped
 
1 C red wine
+
6 C water[4]
 
3 sprigs of fresh thyme (remove half-way through cooking)
2 (big) sprigs of fresh rosemary (remove half-way through cooking)
1/2 tbsp black pepper
 
 
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So, there you have it. It’s tasty. It uses a mix of winter veggies and various preserves (plus some fresh herbs that came to me post-wedding – otherwise I’d have used dried). It cooks while you do other things, and it’s healthy, and it’s delicious comfort food on top of that. 🙂
 
Enjoy!
 
 
TTFN,
Meliad the Birch Maiden. 🙂
 
 
[1] Alternative: 1 tin of crushed tomatoes in lieu of the salsa and slivered dried tomatoes. Will be more tomato-y. You decide how you feel about that.
 
[2] I freeze them in ice-cube trays – If you freeze them in muffin pans, you could probably get by with 2-3 blocks.
 
[3] I wanted to add a little bit of sweet-and-sharp to it, and I thought this would go nicely with the sweet potato. I used my own recipe but, since I don’t have that recipe posted, here’s one you can try if you’re so inclined. 🙂
 
[4] You can futz with the proportions on these two, use white wine, or something else if you’re so inclined.