Adapted from The Moosewood Collective. Moosewood restaurant cooks at home. (1994). New York: Simon & Schuster. Page 220.

My Comments: The Moosewood recipe calls for beer or vegetable stock. The beer would have been an intriguing addition, but I wimped out and used vegetable stock here — less Weight Watcher points.  Our New England weather has been — well, let’s call it hideous — with snow storm after snow storm after snow storm. Looking out my kitchen window all I can see is a wall of snow which is at least 7 feet high! Needed something warm and comforting on this mid-winter night.

Wondering about tonight’s pictures? Well it’s an extra long story that starts out in Cambridge with an all-day photo shoot, a dead car battery, trucking equipment through the streets of Cambridge in the frozen slush, and a 10+ year old car on it’s last legs. Didn’t have the heart to insist. We’ll update them the next time.

Ingredients

2 onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
2 celery stalks chopped
2 TBSP olive or vegetable oil
2 medium carrots
2 parsnips
2 large potatoes
10 oz. green beans (about 2 cups trimmed and halved) — here’s where I used frozen
1 TBSP fresh chopped dill (1 tsp dried)
1 TBSP chopped marjoram (1 tsp dried)
1 cup beer or vegetable stock
1 1/2 cups water
1 green or red pepper
2 cups sliced mushrooms (about 6 oz)
1 TBSP Dijon mustard (or more to taste)
1 TBSP molasses (Blackstrap is too strong – keep it subtle)
salt and ground pepper to taste

Method

1. In a heavy pot, saute the onions and celery in the oil until the onions are translucent.

2. While the onions saute, peel and coarsely chop the carrots and parsnips. Stir them into the pot.

3. Cut the potatoes into 1-inch cubes, and stem and halve the green beans. Add these to the sauteing vegetables along with the dill, marjoram, beer or stock, and water. Bring the stew to a low boil.

4. Coarsely chop the bell pepper and stem and slice the mushrooms; stir them into the pot.

5. Add the mustard and molasses and continue to simmer for about 10 minutes (wishful thinking? I’d keep it going until the potatoes and root veggies are cooked through).

6. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4.

Weight Watcher Points = 4.