For Christmas, Chris and I got several slow cooker cookbooks—to use with our new slow cooker/rice cooker/steamer. Though we’ve made a lot of rice and steamed a lot of veggies with it, today was the first time we actually used the slow cooker setting.

This afternoon, after making some brown rice, I started this recipe for Slow Spanish Beans and Rice from Robin Robertson’s Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. When it came out of the slow cooker tonight, we served it over the rice and with a side of leftover vegetables.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium-sized yellow onion, chopped
• 1 small red or green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 15-ounce cans kidney or pinto beans (I used one of each)
• 1 14.5 ounce can diced tomato (I used stewed)
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• salt and pepper

Vegetable Tasting Plate

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Cover and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and chili powder and stir to coat.
2. Add the onion mixture to your slow cooker. Add the beans, tomatoes, water and soy sauce. Season with salt and pepper and cover. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
3. Serve over rice.