Making dinner healthier, one slow cooker at a time.
Today we’ll look at making some yummy pasta sauces from scratch. Yes, even in the summer your slow cooker still comes through in a big way. I love the way you can take your csa or farmers market jewels and turn them into sauces for a great pasta dish.
They even freeze well for last-minute meals now or when tomato season is just a vague memory. These sauces are amazing with bread sticks and can even be the base of a grilled pizza!
Sometimes I leave the house without dinner in the slow cooker. For days like that this pasta sauce is easy to put together and tastes like you really put a ton of effort into it. In fact, it’s good enough to serve at your next dinner party!
Tip: Hate trying to carve a giant winter squash? Worry about cutting yourself? Some winter squash are huge and cutting them can be intimidating. Next time try softening it up in the oven first. Poke holes in your squash, place on a cookie sheet, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes at 375 degrees. Take it out and let it cool enough that you can touch it. You should be able to slice through it much easier. You can also use pre-cooked purée from your slow cooker!
Quick and Easy Vegan Winter Squash Pasta Sauce
Serves 4
In a saucepan with a lid, add the prepared squash, bouillon, and add enough water to completely cover the squash. The amount of water needed will vary on the size of pan you choose to use.
Cook with lid on over medium heat for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until you can pierce the squash easily with a fork.
Remove the lid and turn the heat to medium high. Add the sage and mash the squash with a wooden spoon as you stir. Cook down until the extra water has evaporated and it is a thick sauce. (If it was almost cooked dry in step 2, add ½ to 1 cup extra water, then mash.)
Add the liquid smoke, vinegar, and salt and pepper. Taste and add more salt, pepper, or sage if it doesn’t make you happy yet.
Serve over cooked pasta.
I fell in love with all the vibrant colors at the farmers market this weekend! There were various shades of eggplant from lavender to deep purple, peppers of all colors and heat, even Italian tomatoes in red, yellow, and orange.
The colors memorized me into buying more eggplant than I can typically sneak by Cheryl, my resident picky eater, in a week. But then I thought about cooking the eggplant down in a pasta sauce. Usually summer sauces are made with fresh veggies barely cooked and tossed with pasta, but there’s no rule that says that’s the way it has to be.
I used wax peppers in my sauce because they were beautiful and cheaper at the market. Any kind of sweet (as in not hot) peppers will work great.
For the fresh tomatoes it’s best to use Italian since they are meatier and not as juicy. If you use regular tomatoes seed them or be prepared to cook your sauce down longer than 8 hours. You can also seed the Italian ones to make a thicker sauce.
Slow Cooker Summer Pasta Sauce with Fresh Basil
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 6 to 8 hours on low (or 3 to 4 on high)
The night before: Chop the veggies. Heat the oil and sauté the onion and pepper until translucent. Store the onion mixture and together with the diced tomatoes and eggplant in the same covered bowl in the fridge overnight.
In the morning: Combine all the ingredients (except for fresh basil) in your slow cooker and cook all day on low (or 4 hours on high). Season to taste with salt, pepper, and then stir in the chopped fresh basil. Serve over pasta. (Whole wheat angel hair is my favorite.)
You can also purée the sauce with an immersion blender for really picky eaters or for an extra thick sauce.
You can freeze the leftovers for another meal later in the month. (Or make extra pasta and use the leftover for lunches instead.)
When you come home you may need to add extra water if the sauce is too thick. If it is too thin put the handle of a wooden spoon between the lid and the crock then turn it to high. This should help the extra liquid to evaporate. If it is really watery, transfer it to a pot and cook on the stove without a lid to reduce it faster.
This sauce gets puréed before serving so it’s a perfect place to hide some of your families least favorite veggies. Eggplant works great in addition to the carrots or in place of them. I just didn’t have any on hand.
Make sure to think about the color while you are adding more veggies. If it’s not fairly red, they will suspect that something is not right. And those picky eaters have some crazy heightened senses!
Check out the recipe for the homemade Sun-Dried Tomato White Bean Wheat Balls over at my other blog Busy Vegan.
Slow Cooker Hide and Seek Veggie Pasta Sauce
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 6 -8 hours
The night before: Chop the veggies and store them together in a covered bowl in the fridge overnight.
In the morning: Combine all the ingredients (except for basil, agave, salt and pepper) in your slow cooker and cook all day on low. Taste the sauce and add the agave if it needs some sweetness. This will depend on the tomatoes. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and add extra basil if you’d like. Purée and serve over pasta. You can freeze the leftovers for another meal later in the month. (Or make extra pasta and use the leftover for lunches instead.)
When you come home you may need to add extra water if the sauce is too thick. If it is too thin put the handle of a wooden spoon between the lid and the crock then turn it to high. This should help the extra liquid to evaporate. If it is really watery, transfer it to a pot and cook on the stove without a lid to reduce it faster.
As seen at:
I love my greens and making up new ways to get my other half to eat them. Sometimes I’m successful and she even asks for more! This Collard Pesto was one of those successes. Mixed in with the soup it was a relationship that will definitely be celebrated in my house again soon.
You can serve it over pasta, on top of polenta, or swirl it in a soup. It adds a punch of citrus brightness and a beautiful green accent where ever you add it. It’s perfect to liven up your Dark Days dinners.
This pesto recipe calls for some specialty ingredients, but you can make it without them. I’ve suggested substitutions in the pesto directions.
Slow Cooker Potato Turnip Soup
Add everything except salt, pepper, and almond milk to your slow cooker. Cook on low 6 to 8 hours.
Remove rosemary sprig and discard. Puree using an immersion blender. Add almond milk and blend it in. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with a swirl of Collard Citrus Pesto (recipe below) on top.
Serves 4
Dark Days Collard Citrus Pesto
After you prep the greens add the water with chick’n bouillon mixed in to a saute pan. Add collards and cook on medium heat. Cook until collards are tender, but still bright green (about 10 minutes). The water will also be evaporated at this point. You can add extra water in cooking if needed.
Put all ingredients into a food processor and process until grainy or finely minced but not pureed. Add extra olive oil, water, or pumpkin puree if the mixture is too thick.
Makes 1 to 2 cups
This winter I’m participating in the Dark Days Challenge that’s run by the (not so) Urban Hennery. The challenge to eat at least one meal a week made up of SOLE (sustainable, organic, local, ethical) ingredients.
As usual, I will try to incorporate the slow cooker in the challenge as much as I can. But I must warn you that this post is not slow cooker related. I’m hoping to make a slow cooker version of my pasta sauce later on, but for now I’ll post what I did to make my dinner tonight.
Tonight I attempted to make pasta for the first time. One of the farmers at the market sells whole wheat flour, corn meal, and grits. I figure I better get pasta making down for the challenge, it and polenta will be playing a bigger part in my diet this winter. My pasta attempt wasn’t really a failure, but it certainly needs refining. I made the noodles too thick, so the next batch will be thinner for sure. I used Vegan Dad’s pasta recipe as a starting point, but I used only whole wheat flour. I did get a beautiful pumpkin at the market and cooked it up to include in the pasta and my oatmeal for the week.
I made the pasta way too thick as you can probably see, but that’s ok it was still tasty if dumpling like. Plus I’ll have all winter to perfect the technique!
The sauce is all local except for a little balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper that I used. The tomatoes were the last from my garden. I picked them green and they ripened in the house. They are an assortment of green zebra, yellow pear, and mortgage lifter. I harvested some rainbow chard from my front yard garden and used broccoli that I got at the farmer’s market.
I just chopped the tomatoes skin and all and threw them into the sauté pan and cooked them down with a little salt and a crushed clove of garlic.
Then I added about 2 cups chopped Swiss chard and the broccoli and covered the pan and cooked it until they were tender. Then I added salt and pepper, and a little balsamic and served it over my homemade pumpkin pasta.
Photo by Bill Bettencourt, Property of Fair Winds Press
This is definitely not the ragu from your supermarket shelves! It’s a great meal to transition hard core meat eaters into a meatless night. And, of course, serve to all your omnivore friends. (I define omnivore as a person who eats tofu and meat.)
If you are watching your fat or calorie intake it’s the perfect topping for pasta or grilled polenta. You can just buy a tube of polenta and slice it, then crisp it in the oven or on a grill.
You do need to cook the veggie sausage ahead of time, so why not go ahead sauté the onions too? It does take more time, but trust me it’s worth it.
This recipe makes enough for a dinner party and still have leftovers. The best thing is that it freezes great. You can freeze in ice cube trays to have a quick cooking single serving size. Once the cubes freeze, just pop them out into a ziplock bag.
Meatless Sausage Mushroom Ragu
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 6 -8 hours
The night before: Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add onions and sauté until translucent. In the same skillet that you cooked the onions, now cook the package of Gimme Lean. Chop it with a large spatula as you cook to break it up into sausage crumbles. It will be fairly sticky until it browns. It’s less mess to slice it into patties first and break apart after you flip them.
In the morning: Combine all the ingredients (except for wine) in your slow cooker and cook all day on low. Add water if it needs it, extra seasoning and the wine about 10 – 15 minutes before serving.
The Virtual Vegan Potluck is over, but the virtual feast lives on!