Slow Cooker Beans & Tomatoes ♥ for Meatless Monday

Fresh green beans and tomatoes cooked in a slow cooker and served with rice. A great recipe for spanning the seasons, late summer through early fall. Gluten Free. Paleo. Not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real".

So.Here's.The.Thing. Slow cookers? You drive me C.R.A.Z.Y. The inspiring recipe from a trusted recipe source, one I have great success with again and again, said to cook these beans and tomatoes for seven hours in a slow cooker. Seven hours? Lucky I checked, mine were done in one hour although I did let them cook another half hour.

And then because dinner wasn't planned for another few hours, I just let the beans/tomatoes cool down and served them later at room temperature on top of rice. The result? A wonderful late-summer and season-spanning supper, easy, simple and satisfying.

RECIPE for SLOW COOKER BEANS & TOMATOES

Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Time to table: 2 hours (or more, depending on your slow cooker)
Serves 4

SLOW COOKER
1 14-ounce can coconut milk, light or full-fat
1 tablespoon (or more to taste) green curry paste
2 tablespoons fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
2-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 pounds green beans, tips trimmed, broken into bite-size pieces
3 cups diced fresh tomato

TO FINISH
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Cooked rice, for serving (my total favorite? Oven-Baked Brown Rice)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds or other nuts

Set slow cooker on High. Add the coconut milk, curry paste, ginger, garlic and salt, stir well. Add the beans and tomato as they're prepped. Cover and let cook until beans are cooked but not mushy, this took about 90 minutes in my slow cooker.

TO FINISH
If you like, drain the beans/tomatoes, reserving the liquid to use as a "gravy". Stir lime juice into beans. Arrange cooked rice on a platter, top with beans/tomatoes. Sprinkle with cilantro and toasted nuts. Pour "gravy" over top.

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
COCONUT MILK I really expected to "taste" the rich coconut milk but no, that didn't happen. To save a bunch of calories, next time I'll be tempted to use vegetable broth instead of coconut milk.
TOASTED NUTS These too, could be left out to save some calories. But especially for main dishes, I find that texture contrast is much welcome.
CARBS So I was surprised to see how the carbs added up in this dish, nearly 100% from the tomatoes and the beans. Both are "in the middle" with net carbs, see How Many Carbs Are in Vegetables?, but with a main-dish serving, yeah, they added up.

TODAY'S VEGETABLE RECIPE INSPIRATION Adapted from Southern Living.

NUTRITION INFORMATION (not including rice) Per Serving (assumes light/full-fat coconut milk): 265/294 Calories; 13/18g Tot Fat; 7g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 812/773mg Sodium; 30g Carb; 11g Fiber; NetCarb 19; 8/9g Sugar; 8/10g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS: WW Old Points 6 & WW PointsPlus 7/8

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COOKING IN SEASON: THIS SAME WEEK ACROSS THE YEARS

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