CrockPot Roasted Winter Root Vegetables

Day 340.

I learned back on February 5, that roasting vegetables in the crockpot was easy and fool-proof. We've eaten a lot of roasted vegetables since, but I always kind of stick to my comfort zone and pick out the same ones at the grocery store. Not this time. I wanted some sort of traditional winter-y vegetable dish to share at our upcoming holiday dinner. So I googled winter vegetables.
Carrots.
Parsnips.
Rutabagas.

I know carrots (quite well), and I did buy parsnips for the first time this year (they look like big white carrots!) but have never bought a rutabaga. The produce guy was eager to lead the way, and for the rest of the afternoon I sang "rutabaga sits in the old gum tree" even though I know darned well that those aren't the correct words. I just couldn't get it out of my head.

The Ingredients.

--2 pounds carrots
--2 pounds rutabagas
--2 pounds parsnips
--1/2 cup chopped parsley
--3 T olive oil
--1 tsp kosher salt
--1 tsp black pepper
--1 tsp basil

The Directions.

This is enough food to feed about 12. I used the 6.5 quart crockpot. Peel all of your vegetables, and cut into 2-inch chunks. Feed scraps to the guinea pigs. I'm usually a huge fan of the baby carrot (because of laziness), but wanted a more rugged look for this dish. If you would like to use baby carrots, go for it, and don't cut them. Chop the parsley.

Put all the vegetables into your crockpot, and add the olive oil, basil, salt, and pepper. Toss with your hands to coat fully coat the vegetables.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4-5. The vegetables are done when they have reached desired tenderness. I cooked ours on low for 6 hours, then on high for about 90 minutes.

The Verdict.

I love the ease of roasting vegetables in the crockpot. I would have needed to cook this much food in batches in the oven, and stirred them a few times to keep them from burning (I am no good with the oven!) but in this case, I put the veggies on in the morning and was out for most of the day. The kids picked out a few carrots, but found them to be spicy.