The Frugal Slow Cooker-Vegetable Minestrone

Tuesday is one of those days where I tend to say "I don't have to leave the house, thank God". Monday is the day I jump out of bed at what (at least for me) is the unnatural hour of eight am in order to be at my volunteer gig, where I spend half the day.

This morning I crawled out of bed at nine am, and spent my morning waking slowly, eating breakfast and getting moving, as is my wont ever morning but Monday unless very early church calls for some reason. I spent part of the morning playing on the computer, visiting blogs, checking out the news and as always looking at Pinterest. Meanwhile, I also made about ten bucks online-which may not sound like much until  you consider that I was doing other things most of the time and barely presentably dressed.

I did, however, have to leave the house, since there was not a dishwasher tab in sight, not a one. The area I live in is quiet, reserved and off the beaten path. Once you get out on the main road, however, there is traffic in EVERY direction as the road crews try and get the work done in the next month before roads freeze and so on. Then I came home, grabbed lunch, and walked for half an hour.

This afternoon I spent my time working on the quilt blocks-the one with the little squares that is, and cutting many pieces of fabric into Christmas cocktail napkins. After feeding my puppies I now sit with my afternoon snack as I watch Shetland while I type this missive.. 

Right now common sense says that I should do at least something around this house (which of course may, or may not happen). The good news  is that I don't have to cook, as such! Yesterday, I grabbed two freezer bags out of the freezer, one with leftover minestrone soup, and one with dinner rolls (why is it that dinner rolls are always sold in packages of like ten?).  After throwing said soup into a pan to heat up, I am good to go.

Minestrone is one of those things that's frugal-if only because you can make it out of what's  on hand. You can make it with pasta-or without. You can even make it with meat-or without. And because it's made in the slow cooker, you can put fresh vegetables, frozen vegetables and even canned vegetables in together  I also love it because I don'teat beans very often-I don't love beans and they're high in carbs, but I know they are good for me on occasions-so thanks, chili and minestrone.

Now, my son would call minestrone "trash can soup" but don't let that fool you.  When the chef of the house is home, we have this dish with popovers. The rest of the time, whole grain rolls.

On this particular go round, I had a lot of canned goods.  In began with a can of red beans, a can of white beans, and a can (or two, I forget) of Italian diced tomato's. I added green beans, sliced carrots, onion,  a carton of vegetable broth, and a small can of tomato sauce (I've been known to use V-8 juice for the tomato). I added some Italian seasoning, and let it all cook for a good 8 hours. At the last half an hour, I added mini pasta and spinach. I froze half of this immediately for another day (today). Half of this recipe lasted three people for one dinner, some reall good lunches.

This time, when I pulled it out, I added a little more broth, and some sliced sausage (I live with a carnivore extreme). Sometimes I add mini meatballs, I put it in a pot on the stove and we are good to go.

And now, I don't know. Watch the World Series?  Read the newest John Sandford mystery, knit or quilt?  Or just sit here and cuddle with the dog.  Tomorrow? Book group, a short visit to knitting group and time for my carotid artery scan (much more comfy than it sounds). And for dinner then? I have absolutely no idea, none!