We recently joined a community supported agriculture association, and have been so lucky to receive a small box of locally grown organic produce every other week. The fruit and vegetables are spectacular. They are ripe, juicy, and always in season. Plus, they deliver this magical produce box right to our door. The only problem is that sometimes we have a handful of greens and things that we’re not quite sure what to with. This recipe is a result of being delivered a bunch of vegetables, and wanting to do more than simply roast them. This recipe really only requires shopping and chopping. It is that easy. Just like last week, we’re doing this one in the slow cooker as well. If you haven’t rushed out and bought one yet, now is the time. This is what we work with: <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-MSC-600-Central-6-Quart-Multi-Cooker/dp/B008YEXC22/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1412549183&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=cuisnary+multicooker”>Slowcooker</a> .

Can you tell I’m excited for autumn?

Tikka Masala Slow Cooker Vegetables with Tofu

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch carrots
• 1-2 lbs. fingerling potatoes
• 1 acorn squash or other winter squash
• 1/2 white onion
• 1 pack firm tofu
• 1 can Safeway Tikka Masala or Butter Chicken “Simmer Sauce” (sold next to the pasta sauce at Safeway)

Serves: 4 (with leftovers)

Time: 10 minutes preparation/6-10 hours in the slow cooker

Directions:

Grab your slowcooker, put it on your counter, and cut everything up! First, drain the tofu, and sandwich it between two paper towels. You want to get as much water out of the tofu as possible, so that it will soak up all the other delicious flavors. Let the paper towels soak up the excess water while you’re doing your chopping.

Wash and dry all your produce, and then chop it up. I started with chopping my carrots into inch long pieces:

Then, cut up your fingerling potatoes into 1-inch pieces as well:

Clean and cut your acorn squash.

Acorn squash is gorgeous, but it’s really difficult to cut through. If they sell pre-cut squash at your local grocery store, I would recommend buying it. Cutting up the squash was the most challenging part of making this meal.

Last, cut up your onion. If you put your onion in the refrigerator before chopping, you’ll cry less. I promise.

Once you cut up all your produce, chop your tofu into 1″ x 1″ cubes. They don’t have to be perfect — don’t get out your ruler!

Transfer everything into your slowcooker. It should look something like this:

Cover everything with the simmer sauce,

and give it a good stir:

Sometimes I kind of feel like it’s cheating to just use a store-bought sauce, but this stuff is so good, and it makes dinner super easy. It’s ok to get a little help from the grocery store every now and again. We are hungry and tired, after all.

Set the slowcooker to “low”, and go to work.

When you come home from work, ladle your delicious dinner into bowls and enjoy. 

You can serve it on top of your favorite grain, with a side salad, or just by itself.