Sweet Potato Stew

When the weather gets cold, I love to prepare warm, mushy, and stewy foods. Last night I made a dinner in honor of my father in law's birthday. This sweet potatoe stew recipe "stole the show". 

I love using organic root veggies for this recipe because organic produce tastes better (as we talked about in the past) and because organic produce eliminates the need for peeling and saves valuable prep time. I've also made this recipe with steamed tempeh in the past. If you are interested in using tempeh, you can add it in with the potatoes. 

Ingredients:

1-2  yellow onions, peeled and diced

2-3 carrots, washed and diced

2-3 stalks of celery, washed and diced

3-5 sweet potatoes (preferably organic so that you can just wash and cube them without peeling to preserve all the goodness)

2-3 regular potatoes

2-3 bay leaves

1 12 oz can of black beans

1 14 0z can of diced tomatoes

1 tablespoon cumin (ground or whole)

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon turmeric

a pinch of cayenne or chili powder

some salt

some ground pepper

some olive oil

a handful of dried cranberries, currents, cherries or blueberries (if available)

1 bunch of parsley or cilantro

water as needed

 

Directions:

1. Sautee onions in olive oil until soft or golden.
   
2. Add celery and carrots and continue to sautee for another 5 min.
3. Add cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili powder or cayenne, salt and pepper and bay leaves. Mix all of the ingredients in the pot.
4. Add a can of diced tomatoes, regular and sweet potatoes, black beans, dried cranberries, cherries, blueberries or currants.
5. Add enough water to cook the potatoes without burning, but not to make this recipe it soupy
6. Cook on low simmer, stirring often, adjusting water as needed until the potatoes are soft.
7. Add cilantro or parsely at the end.
8. Enjoy!