Throw-Everything-In Slow-Cooker Veggies

Sometimes we get so many different veggies in our farmers' market produce box and we're busy with so many other weekend activities that we don't have time to prepare special dishes with each type of produce. That's where this dish comes in. It's the perfect summer entrée, and it doesn't require any messing with the oven or the stove—an important attribute of any dish on a hot day.

I used a 5.5 quart slow cooker. Ideally you'll want to fill whatever size slow cooker you have about 3/4 of the way full, since that's when it's working at optimal efficiency. You may need to adjust the amounts of ingredients, depending on the size of your slow cooker.

Ingredients

• 1 26-ounce jar of your favorite pasta sauce (I like marinara sauce)
• 1 diced onion
• 8 ounces quartered mushrooms
• 4 sliced small carrots
• 1 chopped eggplant
• 3 medium bell peppers
• 1 sliced medium zucchini
• 1/2 to 1 pound green beans, cut in half or thirds, depending on size
• 8 ounces shredded cheese (I used rice-based mozzarella flavor)

Directions

1. Pour some of the tomato sauce into the bottom of the slow cooker, and swirl it around so it's evenly coated.
2. Add all of vegetables.
3. Pour the rest of the tomato sauce over the top.
4. Cover the slow cooker and start it on low temperature for 8 hours.
5. During the last hour of cooking, add the cheese on top.

She said

If you won't be home in time to add the cheese during the last hour, you can add it on top of the veggies and tomato sauce before you cover and start the slow cooker. I've noticed that if I add the fake cheese at the start, by the time the veggies are done cooking, the cheese has melted and broken down into something that sort of looks like ground meat. It's very bizarre. So, I like leaving the fake cheese for the last hour or so; that way, the cheese melts but stays on top of the dish, and each scoop can have some of that cheese on top.

I absolutely love the combinations of flavors in this meal. You can vary it depending on what veggies you have on hand and which ones you like best. You can even throw in some meat or beans for a good source of protein. I even enjoy leftovers, and I sometimes freeze some of it for quick, microwavable meals.

He said

I would suggest a bit of care with use of tomatoes. The pop of sweetness you get from a whole cherry tomato doesn't last through eight hours of cooking. Instead a less pleasant, somewhat bitter taste replaces it. So if you're going to add raw tomatoes, consider removing the seeds, or sticking with roma tomatoes. With that bit of care, this yields some yummy breath-of-summer comfort food indeed.