My friend Courtney has shown me the light. She uses her crockpot to cook all sorts of things, from soups to stews to lasagnas. I use mine for beans. And that’s it.

I decided to expand my crockpot repertoire, so last week I threw a bunch of veggies in the crockpot and voila! We had this lovely soup for dinner. I think the best thing about it is walking in the door after a long day at work and smelling those lovely aromas, and knowing that dinner is already done.

I don’t have a real recipe for this one, since I kind of just kept tossing things in the pot until it was full, but here are the basics:

Summer Squash and Bean Soup

• A few summer squash, diced
• A bit of chopped onion
• A few cloves of garlic, chopped
• A can of diced tomatoes
• A couple of cans of veggie broth
• A good dose of dried basil, dried oregano, and black pepper
• Salt to taste
• A bag of fresh beans (mine were purple hull beans)

Stir it up, turn it on, and let it cook. I cooked mine on low for about 5 hours, but I think having it on high would have been fine. I would have liked everything to be a bit mushier, but I tend to like my veggies soft.

We served this over a scoop of rice and topped it with Parmesan cheese. It made quite a bit, though…I have to learn that I don’t have to fill the crockpot to the top. 🙂

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Source: poco-cocoa