Zucchini and tomatoes

Last week, I ended up with a lot of tomatoes, zucchini and summer squash.  I needed a quick way to use some of it up and thought; "Why not put it in the crockpot?".  My husband had also brought me a pound of ground buffalo when he came down to visit last weekend.  For some reason, we were not able to find time to cook it up, and it needed to be cooked, so that will be my protein.  Since I am part Italian, I tend to default to a basil/oregano based sauce, but I would imagine you could season this any way you prefer.

Slow Cooker Buffalo Garden Vegetable Sauce

• 1 lb ground buffalo
• 1 lg cloves garlic, minced*
• 3 lg tomatoes*
• 2 small summer squash*
• 1 med zucchini*
• 1 (11.5 oz) can low-sodium V8
• 1.5 tbsp dried basil (you may use fresh, I just didn't have any)
• 1 tsp dried oregano (this may be fresh too)
• salt & pepper to taste

Heat a skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic and buffalo; saute until buffalo is no longer pink; drain.  Wash squash and tomatoes.  Cut each squash in half legthwise and then slice into 1/4 inch slices; place in crock.  Cut each tomato in half and then into thin wedges; add to crock.  Pour buffalo and garlic over the vegetables.  Sprinkle with basil and oregano.  Pour V8 over entire mixture.  Cover and cook 6-8 hours on LOW.  Adjust seasoning and serve over pasta (not included in calories below). Makes about 8 servings.

This is served over garlic-chive pasta* from Ohio City Pasta Company.

*CSA ingredients

Calories         122.8
Total fat             6.6g
  Sat fat              2.8g
  Poly fat            0.4g
  Mono fat         2.5g
Cholesterol      35.3mg
Sodium            58.9mg
Potassium      449.5mg
Total Carbs       4.6g
  Dietary fiber    1.2g
  Sugars             2.3g
Protein             11.1g