Pete, Do your heavy cooking in the cool of the morning like they used to in the South before air conditioning. Then it can simmer or hold warm till dinner time or supper time. In the old southern way of cooking vegetables, they had to be started right after breakfast to be ready at noon.
I don't know who I have told this to, but I will share it here, maybe again. I often cook delicious frozen mixed vegetables I buy at Costco. I put two servings worth in a Silit pan with a 6 inch diameter that holds less than 2 quarts. I add about a quarter cup of water and some salt & cover it. I put this on a 3000 watt/230 volt induction unit and turn it on to 20, the full power level. In TWO minutes, by the clock, the veggies are defrosted, boiling vigorously and completely, not just around the edge, and are ready to be turned down to level 3 to finish cooking.
I remember when frozen vegetables came in an almost square block in a coated heavy paper box and took forever to cook on our gas stove. The water would be boiling around the edges of the pan and that frozen block of vegetables just sat there, daring to be thawed even as we turned it over. At least with an electric surface unit, the heat comes up through the entire base of the pan so the vegetables thaw faster, but that 3000 watt induction unit cooks like dragon fire without the wasted heat.