Slow Cooker Stew s/Beans, Sweet Potatoes, and Corn(Vegan)

Good morning, for the second day in a row, lol. Rather unusual, but I made a new soup last night, and wanted to post it for you. But first, I have to go "shift" my washing machine into its next cycle, sigh. The poor thing is dying, but I really can't complain too much, as it was second-hand when I bought it for $125, ten years ago. So, I've definitely gotten my money's worth out of it!! BRB! Ok, I'm back, and you didn't even miss me, admit it!!!

I think I mentioned yesterday that I was supposed to work today, for four hours, which meant that I wouldn't have another day off until next Wednesday, but, miracles do happen, and lo and behold, I have today off, thank goodness. It's chilly(59ºF)and cloudy outside, but since I don't have to go anywhere today, I really don't care, and, quite frankly, I hope it rains again. I've been up since about 5:50AM, and so far have gotten dressed, swished and swiped the bathroom, done the meds/vitamins, prayer/Bible/devotions, made the bed, and started the load of towels, and I think that's probably all I'm going to do today, even tho my teeny tiny little house is a mess, and needs cleaning, sigh. Tsk.

So, about the new soup. I found it on www.veggiemealplans.com and thought the recipe sounded good. Last night I decided to try it.

Slow Cooker Stew w/Beans, Sweet Potatoes, and Corn

1-28oz. can of unsalted whole tomatoes, including the juice.
3C sweet potato chunks.
2C EACH cooked cannelini and lima beans, and frozen corn kernels.
1 lg. onion, diced, 2 lg. cloves garlic, minced.
3C vegetable broth.
1Tbs. EACH paprika and dried basil, 1 tsp. dried thyme.

Dump tomatoes into slow cooker and crush with your hands or back of a wooden spoon. Mix in everything else, cover, and slow-cook, until tender, either one hour on high or about seven on low. Your heat settings and cooking times may need to be adjusted to your slow-cooker or for your own preferences.

Makes enough for 8 servings or more.

And I have no idea why I lost the color, sigh. Doesn't really matter, tho, I reckon.

This made a huge potful of stew. I used canned everything, as that was all I had available to work with, except corn, which I don't eat, because it hates me. I didn't use a slow-cooker, either, altho I do have one. It's in a hard to get to storage spot, plus it's been sitting there so long that it's covered with dust and grease and I wasn't in the mood to dig it out and clean it up. Maybe I should, tho...just in case, right? I also didn't have any garlic, because I smelled my jar of minced garlic, and it didn't smell right at all, so I just put the lid back on and tossed it. Lesson learned: do NOT buy the big jar of minced garlic from now on, JB. Use the smaller jars, ok? 'K. Anyway, I grabbed a jar of garlic powder from the cupboard, shooke in what looked like enough, and as I put the jar back in the cupboard, I realized that it didn't say "powder," it said "garlic SALT!" Uh-oh! Thankfully, it didn't cause the stew to be over salty.

Ok, it wasn't the best stew in the world, but it wasn't the worst, it was edible, and it's worth saving and freezing for later. Will I make it again? I really don't think so, but if I do, I think I'll cook my own beans, and use fresh sweet potatoes. And since I've discovered that I can eat a lot of things that I didn't used to be able to when I ate meat, I just might buy some corn and try it in the soup, just to see what happens. I love corn. Now that I'm not cooking with meat, I've found out that I can eat chili, very spicy chili, with a LOT of beans, and it does...not...bother...my...system...at...all!!!!! Sooooo, maybe I can sneak some corn back into my diet. I plan to try, anyway.

One idea that this stew gave me was to make another one, but different: home-cooked and seasoned pinto beans, onions, garlic, thyme, and the sweet potatoes, either canned or fresh, but NO tomatoes. Sounds good to me...oh, yeah, simmer the pintos with a bay leaf, too.

Guess that's it for today, got to go shift the blasted washer again, sigh. So, until next time, Happy Eating.