Slow-Cooker Vegetable Stew with Chickpeas

Original recipe adapted from Real Simple, here.

Vegetable-based, and containing tomatoes! This should be a deal-breaker for the Squirrel, but he took one bite, and said, "Good!"

I served this over a bed of basmati rice, and added browned ground beef at the end.

Slow-Cooker Vegetable Stew with Chickpeas

Hands-On Time  15 minutes
Total Time  450 minutes/4 hours on high, 7 hours on low
Serves 6

Ingredients
4 large carrots, diagonally sliced into 2-inch pieces (about 5 cups)
2 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (about 3 cups)
1 large onion, diced (about 1 cup)
4 stalks of celery
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 14-ounce can diced (or crushed) tomatoes
1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 16-ounce can chickpeas, drained
Optional: 1 pound ground beef, browned & added with chickpeas

Directions
Combine the carrots, turnips, onion, celery, garlic, tomatoes (with their liquid), broth, salt, cumin, and pepper flakes in a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. Cook on low heat for 6 hours, or on high for 3 hours.
Add the zucchini and chickpeas and cook 1 hour longer on low.