Five easy vegetarian crock pot recipes that make great meatless meal options.
A crock pot can be a vegetarian's best friend in the kitchen. Not only can most soups and beans be cooked inside these lovely little appliances, many vegetables, such as potatoes and squash can be baked. Some bread can be cooked in crock pots as well as desserts.
Below, I've included five easy recipes to get you started, but the possibilities are endless. All of these recipes are cooked on low. By cooking on high, you can cut approximate times in half. If your crock pot has an auto feature where it will start on high and then turn itself down to low after an hour, it will reduce cooking time by about eighty percent.
Sobered Up Baked Beans
4 16 ounce cans of small red beans
1 cup Chili sauce
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon molasses (or honey)
1 16 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup coffee
1/2 cup bourbon
Mix all ingredients into the crock pot. Cook on low for six to eight hours. If necessary, thirty minutes before serving turn to high and remove the cover, to cook off any excess liquid.
Stuffed Bell Peppers
4 - 6 medium bell peppers
3/4 pound TVP
1 can tomato soup
2 cups rice, cooked
1 onion, chopped fine
1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce (or soy sauce)
Salt and pepper to taste
Prepare peppers by cutting off tops and removing seeds and veins. Combine the remaining ingredients, reserving 1/2 of the tomato soup, and stuff the peppers by spooning in the mixture. Spray or otherwise grease the inside of the crock pot and stand peppers in the bottom. Spoon the remaining soup over the tops. Cook six to eight hours on low.
Rockefeller Tomatoes
6 firm tomatoes
1 tablespoon each chopped onion and garlic
1 cup spinach, cooked
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped fine
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs
Cut tops off tomatoes and scoop out approximately half of the tomato from the inside. In a skillet, sauté onion and garlic in butter till soft and transparent. Add remaining ingredients including the scooped out tomato and stir. Spoon the mixture into tomato bowls. Butter the inside of the crock pot and set tomatoes inside. Cover and cook four to six hours.
Squash Stroganoff
1 eggplant, sliced thin
1 yellow summer squash, sliced thin
1 zucchini, sliced thin
1/4 pound mushrooms, your choice, sliced
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 - 2 cups red or white wine
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooked noodles or rice
Prepare vegetables and stir together in crock pot. In a bowl, mix soup with 1 cup of the wine. If you want a thick stroganoff, stick with 1 cup, for a thinner stroganoff add up to 2 cups. Add soup mix to vegetables and stir to blend. Cover and cook 8 hours on low. Serve over rice or noodles.
Ported Rhubarb
2 pounds rhubarb, fresh
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 Port wine
Mix sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Wash rhubarb and then cut into approximately 1 inch slices. Put rhubarb into crock pot and sprinkle evenly with the sugar mixture. Add the port wine, cover and cook for approximately three hours.
