[stay tuned for giveaway instructions at the end of this post]
What do you come home to after almost two weeks on the road of sight-seeing, adventuring, visiting, and vegan beer + food consuming? A cold. Well at least in Jeremy’s case. I’m still fit as fiddle. Fingers crossed.
We got home Sunday night. Sometime Monday afternoon the hollow head feeling befell Jeremy followed by sore throat and drainage.
All he wanted was a warm bowl of soup or stew and our cabinets were bare.
We didn’t even have a can of diced tomatoes to get things going. That didn’t stop me. I just kept staring at the cabinets willing something to form in my brain space and it did!
I knew we had frozen peas, sweet potatoes, potatoes, almost-but-not-quite dead celery, onions, and tomato sauce. I figured I’d make the rest up as I went along.
The final result reminded me of the hearty beef stew Dinty Moore—minus the beef and canned flavor.
This stew uses fresh potatoes, carrots, and onion and cooks in less than 40 minutes.
To achieve a uniform cooking time and perfect mouthfeel, chop all of your potatoes and carrots to a similar size. Mine were about 3/8 of an inch (just below half).
Not-So-Dinty Moore Stew [vegan]
Ingredients
- 15 oz can tomato sauce
- 3-4 cans of water (use tomato sauce can)
- 3/4 cup red lentils
- 1/2 large onion, diced
- 2 small-medium sized potatoes, cubed
- 1 small sweet potato, cubed
- 1 large carrot, cubed
- 3 celery ribs, diced
- 1 tablespoon Better Than Bouillon no-beef base
- 2 teaspoons vegan worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic (from a jar or fresh minced)
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Za'atar spice
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
- dash of nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
Instructions
- Start by prepping all of the veggies, it's much easier that way and then everything can cook evenly together.
- I intended to water sauté the onions, garlic, and celery together, but I accidentally added the tomato sauce first. Everything turned out great so follow my lead and add to the pot: tomato sauce, water, red lentils, onion, potatoes, sweet potato, carrot, celery, bouillon, worcestershire, garlic, Italian seasoning, za'atar spice, cinnamon, ground pepper, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil and cook on medium or medium-low heat for about 25-30 minutes—until the potatoes are tender and lentils are cooked. Add in the frozen peas right before serving or during the last few minutes.
- Cook with a lid on or off-up to you
- No additional salt is required as there is sodium in the bouillon and celery
- I used a 4.5 quart stainless-steel pot
- Keeps in the fridge for 5-7 days
- We ate anywhere from 1-2 cups at a time
I added red lentils for nutrition and protein—they surprised me by adding a really nice texture, turning it from a lovely soup into a hearty stew. Perfect for the cooler weather and changing leaves.
Beyond the beautiful fresh plant foods there are a few quintessential spices that complete the dish. This bouillon I ordered from Vitacost. It’s a paste that really adds a rich umami-like flavor. The second special spice is Za’atar—a blend of sumac, thyme, sesame seeds, hyssop, and oregano. We first had the seasoning on mini pita pizzas. A small pita brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with za’atar. Quite amazing.
What I would like to do is giveaway 2 – 2oz jars of Za’atar seasoning so you can make this dish as well as many others. Please follow the rafflecopter instructions and I will draw two winners at the end of next week! Good luck! xx
I live seeing your blog posts in my email – always so interesting and informative!
za’atar is great in beans