Tomato Leek Veggie Medley Stew

I really like soup and I like throwing a bunch of stuff in my large slow cooker and coming back hours later to a delicious meal.    This stew was supposed to be a soup and was supposed to have a lot more stuff in it but my eyes were bigger than my slow cooker when I was at the grocery store.  I had a fridge full of veggies and just started grabbing random veggies I thought would taste good together...I hoped.

Time:  30 minutes prep, 5 hours in the cooker (3 hours if you cut everything smaller)
You will need:

• a slow cooker  You could also do this in a pot on the stove on low or even in the oven around 250 degrees. I used a large slow cooker so you may need to reduce the ingredients for your vessel.  

Turn the slow cooker on high and pour in 2 cups of veggie stock (I like Imagine's veggie stock) and 4 cups of hot water.  Let the liquid pre-heat until it is hot to touch...this will help the stew come together more quickly.  

Add to the liquid, when ready: 

• 4 medium beefsteak tomatoes, chopped into cubes
• 2 large leeks, halved and sliced
• 2 medium portabello mushrooms, chopped into cubes.  Don't like these? Skip them or put in a different mushroom! I really don't like mushrooms but they mostly dissolve in the stew and give it a great earthy flavor.  
• 1 medium celery root, chopped into cubes.  Can't find celery root?  3 celery stalks sliced would work!  
• 1 bunch of kale (leaves only), sliced into thin strips
• 10 sprigs of thyme (I know this sounds like a lot...but it totally compliments the veggies)
• 5 cloves of garlic, diced
• 2 tbs of extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1.5 tablespoons of red pepper flakes
• 2 bay leaves

Now cover it and leave it alone.  Once an hour, check on it...take a sample and add salt and pepper or whatever you want as you go to round out the flavors.  

After 3.5 hours, add: 

• 1 box of frozen cut corn, heated in the microwave. Adding the frozen corn will drop the temp of your stew and slow things down.  
• 2 tbs of butter or margarine
• 1 can of pink beans (or your fave, navy beans would be good in this), drained and rinsed

Again, cover it and leave it alone.  In an hour, check on it:  Is the celery root done?  Does it need any more seasoning?  

If it is ready to eat, you hit a conundrum...you are probably starving by now but the longer you leave it in the slow cooker the better it will taste!  

Serve the soup with something to dip in it because it is a flavorful earthy soup.  I made some not-so-good gluten-free, lower-fat biscuits that were not that bad when soaked in the soup.  

The soup is chocked full of veggies and little bad stuff.   It will keep for weeks and is a great soup to snack on.    

Feel free to take the recipe, take out those things that you don't like and add anything that you think will kick it up a level.