Spicy Bean and Vegetable Stew

The problem with this was the sweet potato. I added it according to the recipe and set out to simmer until it was tender ... and after well over an hour of simmering and testing and simmering some more, I decided to go ahead and eat it because I was too hungry to wait any longer. At this point the pieces of sweet potato were still distinctly crunchy in the middle, though the rest of the vegetables were cooked to a near puree. Not sure what the reason was, though I have sometimes encountered problems with getting other vegetables to soften when cooked with tomatoes so next time I try this I'll either add the tomatoes after the sweet potato is tender or parboil the sweet potato before adding.

Flavour was pretty good. I ate one helping as a main course and processed the rest (minus the crunchy sweet potato) into soup for this week's packed lunches.