This hearty casserole melds contrasting textures and flavors in a heart-warming stew. The beans add richness, the kale a slight bitterness, the sweet potato, well, sweetness! Somehow it all comes together, topped with veggie sausage, to create a rich and satisfying melt-in-your-mouth winter meal. This was another slow-cooker experiment for me—and it worked beautifully cooking all day and filling the house with wonderful aromas—but it can also be done successfully in a dutch oven or large sauce pan at a slow simmer for 45 minutes. Either way, kale is added towards the end of cook-time, and sausage comes on post-pot.

1 large onion
2 cans of white beans (cannellini beans)
2 medium sweet potatos
1-2 parsnips
1-2 carrots
Bunch of lacinato kale (or any dark greens)
pinch of thyme
bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup of water
2 Tofurky Italian Sausage

Slow-cooker method: Sauté the onions until translucent. Put in ceramic cooker pot. Add the bay leaf, thyme, carrots, parsnip, beans and sweet potato. Season with salt and pepper. Add one cup of water. Cover and cook on low for eight hours. During last half hour of cooking, stir in chopped kale.

Slice the veggie sausage into small bite size chunks and light brown in frying pan. Dish your bowls of stew into serving dish, and put a sprinkling of sausage pieces on the top.

If you are cooking stove-top, use 2 cups of water instead of one, simmer for half an hour. Add kale and cook for another 15 minutes. Serve as above.

I doubled the recipe for my family of five, which gave us a good sized dinner with some fresh bread and salad on the side—and leftovers for lunches.