Great Northern Bean Stew
- 1 to 2 pounds grass-fed ground beef
- 2 small red onions, diced
- 4 cups Great Northern beans, cooked
- 4 to 6 cups clean water
- 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
- 2 to 3 teaspoons sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
In a stockpot, brown the ground beef over medium-high heat. Keep it chunky. Add the onions and let saute until translucent. Turn down heat to medium.
Whisk tomato paste into 4 cups water until smooth. Add to pot. Add beans and all remaining ingredients to pot (except additional water). Let come to a boil, then turn down heat to low. Let simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes. Taste, and adjust seasonings if necessary. Add more water to desired thickness.
Serve with whole-grain bread or over brown rice.
© Copyright 2008 by Wardeh Harmon
About Wardeh
Take the guesswork out of what to fix, what to buy and what to prepare. This week:
Class materials compiled into easy downloads: 
Looks delicious, I love great northern beans.I just bought nutritional yeast for the first time (red star brand) I was just wondering what brand you use. In the NT book is says some have msg because of the way they process it. Now I’m not sure if what I bought is good. Also, do you use nutritional yeast only for savory dishes or do you ever use it in sweet foods? thanks
love, tiffany
I don’t know what my brand is, only that I buy it in bulk from Azure. Hmm… I wonder if mine has MSG in it? I do know that processing creates MSG in foods, but I never thought about my nutritional yeast. I haven’t ever used it in sweet dishes, just in soups and sauces and with noodles for the cheezy, creamy texture. Jeff says it looks like fish food (going in)! But we all love the flavor. I’ll be curious how you and your family like it.
Recipie looks great! I printed a copy and plan to try it soon!
Hi Wardeh,
I just want to tell you how much I’m loving the e course! Your doing a great job and I feel really blessed to have found your blog. I’ve been practicing Nourishing Traditions for about 3 years and have been feeling overwhelmed. The e course is giving me the confidence I need to cook tasty wholesome food for my family. Thank you so much.
God Bless you and your family!
Melissa Lucaj
Melissa – Oh, that makes me happy! Thanks for blessing my day. I feel so fortunate to be able to work with wonderful people like you!
Hi Wardeh~
I am so enjoying your ecourse and learning so much. Having started eatting more whole/ unprocessed foods since January, I feel there is so much to learn and I appreciate the multiple avenues your course provides with videos, written material, reading the forum comments, etc. It’s been nice to catch up over spring break (almost 4 lessons behind – yikes!!)
I’m planning to make this soup recipe upon returning home and want to make sure I have this right. First, I would want to find dried great northern beans (is this possible? I’m going to WF in a few days). Then, I would soak about 2 cups beans, 2 T acid and about 6 cups of water as described. Soak, rinse, cook and then follow the recipe. Is that right??
Thanks!
~Sheri
Sheri – That’s exactly right! But w/ 2 cups dried beans, you’ll probably get between 5 and 6 cups of cooked beans. You can use them all in the stew, just add more seasonings if necessary.
You should be able to find the Great Northern beans at Whole Foods. These are some of my favorite beans – so yummy!
Here’s an update on the nutritional yeast question from Tiffany, above:
http://gnowfglins.com/2009/04/06/nutritional-yeast/