Black Eyed Pea, Potato and Red Kale Stew

I was mostly trying to use up some leftovers I had in the fridge, but I somehow ended up making an enormous pot of stew in the process. Enough to feed probably eight people. Oops.

Inside that pot: carrots, celery, onion, garlic, one sliced potato, half a bunch of gorgeous red kale from Whole Foods, stems included, black eyed peas, about half a cup of green split peas, and 3 plum tomatoes, diced. Pretty basic method: Sauteed garlic, onions, carrot, and celery until softened, added a splash of white wine, then about 6 cups of water, a bay leaf and some salt and pepper. I then threw in the black eyed peas (which had soaked overnight in water to cover), the potato and the kale stems. After about 10 minutes, I added the split peas. Then about 15 minutes after that, the kale and tomatoes went in, along with some red pepper flakes. About 10 minutes later, it looked like the picture.

This was delicious of course, but just way too busy. I guess clean-out-the-fridge stew is just not my favorite. If I would make this again, I would probably cut out the celery, maybe the carrots, definitely the split peas (they practically disappeared in the jumble), and probably the kale stems, for while they were a beautiful purple color when fresh, they turned...kind of...gray in the stew. I would also add more tomatoes and dice the carrot smaller if I did keep it in the recipe. The broth was savory and sweet and just felt healthy it was so fragrant with vegetables.

Overall, this definitely needs some tweaking. I had enough to store in four different serving size freezer containers, so I won't be making anything similar for a while regardless. Ha.