Vegan crock-pot Marinara sauce - Great for canning

I made this wonderful marinara sauce last week with tomatoes from our deck garden that we added to some others we bought from a farm stand, and some that were given to us by friends.  It's wonderful and I ended up putting 13 cups in the freezer for the winter.  Hopefully I'll make another batch to have on those cold winter days when we want comfort food. 

Marinara from fresh tomatoes (vegan)

Fill the crock of your slow cooker with fresh tomatoes.  This will let you know how many you’ll need.  Now take them out, wash them, core them, and cut them up.  You can peel them if you want but it’s not necessary.  (To peel, drop them one by one in boiling water for just a moment, then plunge into ice water.  The peels will come off easily.)  Replace them in the slow cooker and add a few extra tomatoes if you want to fill the crock up more. Cook for 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low.  When they’re done, you can use a blender to crush them further, or put them in a food processor, or smash them with a potato masher.
The marinara recipe calls for 6 cups of the above cooked tomatoes.  My pressure cooker holds about 17-18 cups so I triple the recipe below.

 Marinara ingredients (I tripled these for my crockpot):

1 tsp olive oil

1 large onion, minced (I only doubled the onion amount, the onions were pretty large)

3 cloves garlic, minced (I do the onion and garlic in my food processor so I don’t have to cry while cutting them)

6 cups cooked diced tomatoes (above)

1 TBSP agave nectar or sugar (Agave nectar has a lower glycemic index than sugar and is absorbed on a more gradual basis by the body.  They have it at most grocery stores, and H-Mart)

1 tsp dried basil.  I used my own spices from my garden but you have to adjust the amount.  I chopped up the rosemary leaves really small. I kept tasting the marinara and adjusting.  Don't get too carried away, the herbs become stronger when they sit.

1 tsp dried oregano

½ tsp dried thyme

¼ tsp dried rosemary

Salt and pepper to taste.  I used very little since I usually add my sauce to some diced tomatoes when I’m making pasta and canned tomatoes have lots of salt in them.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat and sauté the onion until translucent, about 3-5 minutes.  Add the garlic and sauté for 2 minutes longer.  You can do this the night before you make the sauce, just store it in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Then combine all the ingredients in your slow cooker.  Cook on low 6-8 hours.  About 10-15 minutes before serving, add water if needed.  Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Freeze the extra in ice cube trays, resealable freezer plastic bags, or freezer containers.