Clean Out The Pantry Stew

Sorry folks! I did not take any pictures of this meal but we all enjoyed it for dinner one night and lunch twice for 5 people. I was just trying to use up some odd amounts of beans that I had left in the pantry.

1 pound of venison sausage

2 cups dry split peas (I used a green and yellow mix)

1 cup dry red lentils

3 Tbsp pearl barley (not quick cooking)

1 cup dry white beans (I used navy beans)

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

2 bay leaves

Homemade beef stock

Salt and Pepper

The night before, place you split peas, lentils, white beans, and barley into a bowl or pot to soak covered by plenty of cold water overnight. In a skillet, brown your venison sausage until cooked, breaking it up as you cook it. Refrigerate your cooked meat until the morning when you will assemble the meal. (You can use any ground meat or even stew meat of your choice. I just had this sausage on hand so I decided to use it.)

In the morning, drain and rinse your beans and grains in a colander. Transfer to the crockpot along with your cooked meat. Chop all your veggies and add them to the crockpot. I used my Pampered Chef chopper to chop them really fine because my kids sometimes will complain about large chunks of veggies. You could also add other veggies at this point like zucchini, mushrooms, parsnips, etc. Add your bay leaves and fill the crockpot to within 1 inch of the top with beef stock. I used homemade stock but you could certainly use water and bouillon or use chicken or veggie stock depending on the type of meat you used. Give everything a stir and cover and cook on high all day (up to 8 hours on high and then switch to low for another 4 hours if you feel it is necessary. Sometimes split peas are still a bit hard after 8 hours on high.) Remove your bay leaves and season to taste with salt and pepper. I did not add any salt or pepper because my venison sausage had a little kick to it which sufficiently "peppered" my stew and my homemade stock had salt added already.

I served this with a loaf of homemade beer bread with homemade honey butter and some grated cheese for sprinkling on the stew. It was very good and my boys loved it. It was very filling.

I am linking up with Crockpot Wednesday over at Dining With Debbie.