Veggie Stew & Smoked Cheddar Corn Muffins

I've had a head cold all week, which has not lead to a bright outlook on life.  It is hard to see the nice things when your sinuses are so congested they make your teeth & eyeballs ache.
Today, when I'm starting to feel more like a human being, it decided to be overcast and rainy.

Comfort food definitely became the order of the day!
This thought was redoubled when I got of the bus and was promptly drenched from about the waist down in a downpour.  The umbrella managed to keep the rest of me mostly dry.

Partner managed to avoid most of the rain, so he did the bulk of the cooking, but we've both made veggie stew fairly regularly. 

To make your own veggie stew is also really easy!

You will need:

1 tin tomato paste

2 cans beans of your choice - we used one tin of Romano and one of fava/chickpea mix today

2 peeled and chopped carrots

2 washed & chopped ribs of celery

4-5 mushrooms, sliced

3-5 potatoes, diced

1 onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, diced

1 beet, diced (we used a golden beet)

wine! (preferably red, but white works too)

1 mushroom or vegetable bouillon cube, dissolved in 1 cup water

thyme, oregano and pepper to taste

Start by browning your onions and garlic in the pan with a little bit of oil.  Add the rest of the veggies and let them saute for a few minutes, so they get a little bit of colour.  Then add your bouillon, tomato paste and spices.  Thin with a little bit of wine (or a lot of wine).  If you don't have any wine, you can thin with water.

Let simmer until the veggies are all cooked through and your house smells amazing!

While your stew is bubbling away, feel free to make some biscuits or cornbread muffins to go with!  I originally was going to make herb biscuits, but then I realized that all the butter in the house was frozen.  Darn!

However, I then remembered that cornbread muffins don't need butter, and they are just as quick.

I used this recipe as the base of my muffins.  However, I used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose, reduced the sugar to 1/2 tsp and I grated what was left of the smoked cheddar we had in the fridge into the muffin batter. 

They were the perfect accompaniment for the stew.

Here's to hoping that the rest of the summer stays warm & gets a little sunnier than it has been lately.