Slow Cooker Vegetable Pot Pie Stew

A lower calorie and lower carb spin on your favourite vegetable pot pie. This stew offers the same great flavours but in a gluten free, slow cooker version.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours 30 minutes

Total Time: 8 hours 45 minutes

Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 yellow onion finely chopped
6 carrots peeled & diced
2 lbs yellow potatoes peeled & cubed into half-inch pieces
1 cup of frozen corn
1 cup frozen peas
4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
1/2 tsp sea salt or to taste
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sage

1/2 tsp thyme
4 tbsp water
4 tbsp corn starch
1/2 cup unsweetened cashew milk or milk of choice

Instructions

Add all ingredients except the water, corn starch and milk to your slow cooker. Cook on low for 8 hours.
Switch the slow cooker to high. Then in a small bowl or jar, combine your water and corn starch and mix well. (I shake vigorously in a sealed jar.) Add this mixture to your slow cooker and cook on high for 30 minutes. This will thicken your stew.
Turn off your slow cooker, stir in the milk and serve.

Notes

The corn starch is essential to get your broth to thicken. Do not omit. If you do not have corn starch, you may sub for all purpose flour (gluten free, if needed) at twice the amount. (So you’d use 8 tbsp of flour, compared to 4 tbsp of corn starch for your slurry.)
Slow cookers vary greatly, so if you find your veggies are not getting soft enough after cooking several hours on low, switch your appliance to high for the remaining cook time.
For added protein, add canned white kidney beans or lentils towards the end of cooking. Or you may use blended silken tofu to replace the milk.
To make this dish even richer (although this will up the fat content), use canned coconut milk (light for less fat) to replace the cashew milk at the end of cooking.Leftovers keep refrigerated for up to 4 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
You may sub the potatoes for sweet potatoes, or do a half and half mix, if preferred.

Credit to: thishealthykitchen