Yellow Stew

Okay...so it doesn't have the best name but I can't think of anything better.  It started out being a white meatless chili but then I did not have enough peppers and the slow cooker was too full for enough beans to be considered chili.  So it is Yellow Stew and despite its Sesame Street-esque name, it is delicous!

I opted for the slow cooker for this one on high the entire time.  From the moment I started tossing things in until I served it, it took a total of about 4 hours of stewing.

Step 1:  Turn on Slow Cooker on High and add 3 tbs of olive oil.
Step 2: Nuke 3 cups of Potato Leek Soup.  Why nuke it?  Because then it will be hot when it goes in the crock pot.  Getting the slow cooker hot is 1/2 the battle and if you are putting in a lot of ingredients from the fridge, it will take forever.
Step 3:  Add all of the following in whatever order your heart desires:

• 1 whole yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3 russet potatoes, chopped small with the skin on
• 3 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 cup of vegetable stock
• 2 yellow bell peppers, chopped
• 3 parsnips, chopped
• 1 bunch of scallion tops (I had them leftover from a salad that used the white parts)
• 1 head of cauliflower, chopped (no stalks)
• 1/2 pound of mushrooms, chopped small
• 2 tbs of salt 
• 2 tbs of peppers
• 1 tbs of garlic powder
• 2 tbs of each rosemary, thyme, sage
• 3 cups of boiling hot water
• 6 dashes of tabasco sauce for some heat
• 1/2 tbs of red pepper flakes

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.