Instructions: I bought a vegan cookbook at a used-book store not long ago, and weve been enjoying some yummy recipes from it. Its a British book, called The Vegan Gourmet by Heather Lamont. Not fatfree, but usually low fat and mostly easy to modify. Heres my version of a delicious dish I adapted from this book recently. Aussies will recognize a familiar ingredient-Vegemite, also known as yeast extract. For those who dont know what it is, its

*definitely* an acquired taste, and not one I would go to any trouble to acquire. But our son brought back a jar of the stuff from Australia, and I figured, what the heck, we only go around once. (Original called for 1 Tbsp; could probably be eliminated, but I suspect it added to the richness and complexity of the flavor without being identifiable.)

Saute onions in broth for 5 minutes. Add carrots, celery, leek, and garlic and saute for 5 more minutes. Add kidney beans, tomatoes with their juice, stock, yeast extract, and salt and pepper. Mix well.

Place in casserole dish. Arrange potatoes over the top and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spray lightly with cooking spray and cover casserole.

Place in oven (350 deg F, 180 deg C, Mk 4) for 2 hours. Remove lid for last 30 minutes to brown potatoes.

Serves 4 hungry people, or maybe 6 with a generous side dish. (I tend to get lazy and do one-dish meals.) Or 2, if you want to save the leftovers for tomorrow night.

This was scrumptious! I might try adding a layer of portabella mushrooms in the middle, next time. (Maybe my son will think they are meat...:-)).

But it didnt really need any help of any kind. The leftovers are good, too!

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