Meatless Monday – Beans, Beans & more Beans

I’ll admit it…I’m all about the beans lately.

Bean soup, bean stew, beans, beans, beans!

They’re just so easy to make and also so very tasty to eat!!

And  I’ve been making them in some form pretty much every weekend in my crockpot.

Here’s what I’ve been up too – easy, yummy, aaahhh.

I found this beautiful package of mixed beans at Costco, but the mix would be super easy to recreate. All you need is to mix together a variety of beans, peas and lentils.

I poured 3 cups of this bean/pea/lentil mixture into my crockpot, added 12 ounces of diced tomatoes, 2 bay leaves and 8 cups of vegetable stock and turned it on high.

Just for fun, in a pan on the stove I heated 1 tablespoon of oil and added 1 chopped onion letting it cook until  the onion was translucent. Then I added slices of this vegan sausage:

This is vegan Italian sausage from Grain Meat Co. and it’s so very YUMMY!!

Oh, I might’ve added a bit of garlic too – the smell was DELISH!

After this was heated through, I tossed the whole thing into the crockpot with the rest of the bean yumminess.

I let it simmer on high for 4 hours and then turned it to warm. Be sure to add salt and pepper to taste if you even need it.

This is a wonderful dish to have prepared through the cold winter months. Mix it up a bit and add some mushroom pieces, bell pepper, or anything else you can dream of. It’s even better as left-overs the next day (and the next day and the next) or over rice or pasta or potatoes.

Add a crusty, warm loaf of bread and trust me, everyone will be happy with their warm, full bellies.

Happy Meatless Monday Everyone,