Red Beans Slow-Cooked Stew

During the winter time I love to use my crock pot and cook easy recipes that takes a few minutes to prepare to create a fabulous dinner. The key is to plan ahead and have the ingredients at home, handy. One of my long time tips about beans, is to buy dried beans of any kind, soak in plenty of water for 24 hours, then drain, and place in a ziplock in the freezer. They can last for a long time. When you cook a stew or a soup or any dish that requires beans, you have them ready to go. It shortens the cooking time tremendously and help to reduce beans side effects:). Always prefer to by the dried beans versus the canned, to avoid preservatives. The good thing about this recipe is that you pour all the ingredients into the crock pot at the same time and you let it do the work. No need to sauté anything. Super easy. It is by far my comfort food for the cold weather in Oregon:)

Ingredients: 

2 shallots, diced 

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 carrots, sliced

2 medium red potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 cup Pearl barley

2 cups red beans, soaked overnight and drained

2 tablespoons red miso

2 tablespoons no chicken paste

1 teaspoon old bay seasoning

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 large bunch of fresh dill, chopped 

6 cups water

salt

pepper

Directions: 

in a large crock pot add all the ingredients, turn the heat to high and cook for about 8 hours. (It depends how strong your crock pot is).