ok, after years of being the crockpot queen, and going thru many of them, I have found the best to be the Cuisinart. True, its probably the most expenive of all of them, but I figure over the years, all the money I have spent on Rivals and Westbends etc....I have already bought one!! The Cuisinart has 6.5 quart black removable dishwasherble (lol) crock, 8 hr. timer, retractable cord storage too.....I got mine at Kohls for 99.00, the Cuisinart website says 150.00 but I have never seen it for that much anywhere. Comes with a rack and a cookbook too. Here is a link to the website for specs http://cuisinart.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi/en/item.cgi?item_id=CSC-650#specs

As for veggie AND meaty recipes, my favorite book is Fix It And Forget It. Has couple hundred recipes and a couple sections on veggies and bean main dishes. They are tried and true recipes from homemakers.
Hope all this helps! Hope everyone is having a good Sunday!
Marlene